PRACTICING THE WAY

At Hope Community Church, we are committed to our apprenticeship to Jesus and practicing the way of Jesus is our main goal.  We practice the way of Jesus by:


Loving & Worshiping God so that we can Be With Jesus

  1. By submitting our lives to the work of the Holy Spirit in worship and spiritual habits

  2. By worshiping God together and creating space for the Spirit to transform the Church


Loving & Equipping One Another so that we can Become Like Jesus

  1. By building relationships and caring for one another’s needs so that each person is able to thrive

  2. By equipping one another through discipleship relationships so that everyone grows to be like Jesus through Holy Conversations.


Loving & Serving Our Community and Our World so that we can Do What Jesus Did

  1. By building relationships with people and organizations in the community and around the world, so that the church is aware of ways that God’s love can be known where people live

  2. By sending people out into the community where we live and around the world, empowering them to love their neighbors and provide the resources they need to fulfill their call in God’s Kingdom


Below, you will find resources we've compiled to help you practice the way of Jesus. 

Be with Jesus

Resources to help you be with Jesus.

Become Like Jesus

Resources to help you become like Jesus.

  • There is power when we gather together around a table. The table is used as imagery for the Kingdom of God several times throughout scripture. Even in modern times we understand that conversations happen around the table, there is a power in a family meal, in someone taking you out for dinner. 


    Jesus was often found teaching and being with people at meals. Robert Karris said “in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.” 


    There is also power when we live together as believers in community to empower, encourage, equip, and hold accountable one another as we practice the way of Jesus. 


    At Hope, dinner groups are one way that we gather around the table with others apprenticed to Jesus to be formed by the Spirit together. We eat food, and work together on spiritual practices that help us practice the way of Jesus in our daily lives.


    Recommended Reading:

    A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community & Mission Around the Table by Tim Chester


    Opportunities at Hope:

    Dinner Groups - Launching this fall!

  • Coming soon



  • Dallas Willard said "God has yet to meet anyone except where they actually are.” There is a connection between our formation to Jesus and our understanding of and wrestling with our authentic self. 


    Augustine said ‘Grant, Lord that I may know myself that I may know thee.” 


    We have all been implanted with the Imago Dei (Image of God) within us. As we learn about who we are, how we have been formed by our past, our culture, our history, our experience, and our uniqueness as a human being, we learn how to best apprentice ourselves to Jesus and practice the way answering the question “What Would Jesus Do, If He Were Me?” 


    At Hope we believe that learning about ourselves can help us connect more deeply with God’s calling on our lives and with our Identity in Him.


    Recommended Reading:

    Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero

    The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile

  • Coming soon

DO what Jesus Did

Resources to help you do what Jesus did.

  • Each week, we speak a phrase from our stage at Hope: “A community of people, gathered together, passionately pursuing Christ with our lives, doing our part to make our community look more like the Kingdom of Heaven.” We take this responsibility seriously. 


    Jesus taught us to pray that God’s Kingdom would come so it would be “on earth as it is in heaven.” We believe that part of the responsibility of following Jesus is to do kingdom work to usher in God’s Kingdom. 


    One of the ways we can do that is by making our community a better place to live. A place where people’s needs are met, where people are valued, loved, seen, and known, because in the Kingdom of God, that’s how it is. So we mobilize in our community collectively and individually to help accomplish those goals.


    Local Partners:

    Life Plan - Caring, confidential support to people facing pregnancy and family related issues

    Hope Ministries - Providing housing, food, and healthcare to  people heal, transform, and thrive

    Reach the Forgotten - Providing Christ-centered hope and healing through biblically-based, chaplain led, volunteer jail ministries

    Spero House - Helping individuals struggling to beat addictions, single parent homes, and poverty through charitable offerings

    Salvation Army

    Luvability Ministries

    Serve at Hope

    Feeding America Mobile Food Pantry




  • We live in a world that is increasingly isolated. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the speed of that movement. If we feel this weight as followers of Jesus who gather regularly together and work to build community into our rhythms, it’s a safe bet that those living in our neighborhoods are experiencing the same. 


    We often spend time wishing that we had more opportunities to do Kingdom Work, to show people the love of Jesus. Perhaps one of the easiest ways we can do that is by starting in our actual neighborhoods with our actual neighbors. Jesus called us to love our neighbors, and yes he applied that to even our enemies, but often we take that parable to use it as a reason to NOT love the people who are our actually neighbors. We don’t think that was Jesus intent. 


    Being a great neighbor could be one of the most impactful ways you can expand God’s Kingdom on earth as your neighborhood grows in love, support, and community with one another.


    Recommended Reading:

    The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon


    Resources:

    The Art of Neighboring


    Teaching Videos:

    The Art of Neighboring - RightNow Media



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