Talking about New Hope

“God is good.” “Maybe the word is getting out.” “We are not a typical Baptist Church.” I heard these three statements from three different members of New Hope this past week.

Lois Cox, our Church Clerk and head money counter, emailed the news to me about our $4480 offering last Sunday. She wrote, “God is good.” Last Sunday was a special day in the life of New Hope Church. One hundred thirty four people attended our two worship services and gave that great offering.

I told our John Burlingame about the high attendance and the offering when I visited him at Sandlewood rehab facility on Wednesday, and John said, “Maybe the word is getting out!” That stayed with me. I thought, John is proud of his church, and he wants people to know about New Hope and join us as we try to do good work for God.

I overheard Judy Hutchinson say to another member of our Tuesday Grief Support Group, “We are not a typical Baptist church.” She is so right.

Let’s get the word out. If you are a member of New Hope, how about telling anyone who needs God and a good church that we are alive and serving. What could you tell people about us? How about these things for starters?

· We are learning to live by what Jesus said is the most important thing in the world. "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them" (Matthew 22:37-40 The Message).

· In our small groups we walk beside each other and care for each other.

· We are a thinking church as opposed to one in which members are supposed to hew to a strict list of “official” doctrines.

· We are aware of the wideness of God’s mercy and try to show that mercy in the ways we relate to each other and to people who are not like us.

· God’s Spirit is working in our lives as we learn how to love each other as Christ loves us.