verse4today: "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12).
Posted on 2010-07-29 via Twitter
Find the answers to your questions about Living Hope Church here. If you don't see what you're looking for, just send us an email at .
We find the phrase "Living Hope" in the Bible. In I Peter 1:3 we read, "We have been born again to a living hope..." In that phrase, living hope refers to the promise of eternal life. The phrase also provides a summary of the blessings that God pours into our lives. He not only gives us hope when we face death, but he grants us hope for all the things that really matters in life-Living Hope!
We receive variety and diversity as a gift from God. We're not too comfortable in homogenous situations. We prefer a multi-generational congregation where kids and adults are not separated during worship. We also intentionally seek to be multi-ethnic. And while one denomination has given us birth, we affirm several others and thereby consider ourselves multi-denominational.
Some would call it charismatic, but we like the phrase "minds in love with God," which points to a convergence of our hearts and our minds.
As a result of our love for variety, we use various styles of music in our worship services. We tend toward music that has been identified as "Gospel."
We had been thinking that God might lead us to a vacant, "big-box" retail space in Crestwood, IL, one that we could transform into a multi-use facility for our ministry. More recent thinking has us dreaming about multiple locations, including the southwest side of Orland Park.
We are Reformed Christians, which means we find affinity with an old-time theologian named John Calvin. For more information, check out: www.crcna.org/pages/reformation.cfm
As a new congregation, we have not yet developed many programs for kids. We encourage our families to take advantage of the excellent ministries offered by our neighboring congregations. We are, however, planning to develop a multi-generational discipleship hour on Sunday mornings. And during the morning service, we hope to provide preschool kids with specialized instruction for a 30-minute period. See links to GEMS and Cadets at on the LHC "links" page for details.
While "membership" is not a biblical concept, it is has several benefits, including allowing individuals to establish a vital relationship with a local church. We have designed two types of membership: Covenant and Associate. For more on that, check out our Publications page.
Right now we are working with the apostolic model of a founding pastor or church planter. In time, just like in the New Testament, we envision elders being appointed to provide spiritual leadership for the congregation.
We are a new congregation with about 50-100 gathering for worship each week. Only the Lord knows what size we will be in the near future.
You may attend our gathering dressed as you wish. When you come, you'll see folks in jeans and others in suits or dresses.