HOPE FAMILY NEWS 2009

Hope Adelaide : Africa Wiatoto Choir



On the 17 Aug 2008, Hope Adelaide had the privilege of hosting the Waitoto Choir from Uganda. The Waitoto Choir is an african christian choir consisting of 25 kids and 5 or more adults.

Around 300 from the church and community turned up for the event. The event was advertised on the Christian radio around Adelaide. It was a good way to make our presence known in the community.




The Waitoto Choir is about raising children up specifically orphans to be leaders of tomorrow. The kids sang many songs with interesting hand actions and energetic dances. Each child also had came up to share about their aspirations for their future and also testified about God's goodness.


Ps Brendan culminated the day with a short 15 minute preaching session on the gospel. Overall everyone had a good time and we praise God for blessing the day!

Pastor Brendan & Helen Kirby
Hope Adelaide, Australia


Hope Sydney: Miracle Office



On the 8th August, 2008, the Beijing Olympic Games commenced for the watchful eyes of the world. At the same time Hope Sydney Christian Church acquired the keys to an office in Sydney to support our ministry. This may not seem exceptionally unusual, or a 'miracle', until you hear the background.

The previous year we had been investigating the purchase of a building in or near the city for our services and as an education centre for teaching purposes. The costs were astronomical and way above what we could reasonably afford. Mid 2008 the decision was made to search again for a smaller office and teaching centre, this time for lease. A submission was made to a Chinese company for an office that seemed ideal. Another business, however, clenched the location ahead of us. I know the faithful hand of God in my life over the years since accepting Christ. After seeking the Lord in prayer Lisa and I searched again and came across our present, amazing location.

The special 'miracle' is in the unusual sign of the numbers involved, indicative to us of God's pleasure at this moment. Note first that we definitely do not follow 'numbers' in making decisions. It was just in this case that the numbers followed us! In addition to the unusual start date, 8/8/08, very significant to Chinese, the office address is Suite 7, 88 Mountain St, Ultimo 2007. On top of this a telephone number was allocated which at first seemed of no special significance, i.e. 9211 1004. Then a Korean sister informed me that this was a very special number in her country. “1004” has the same sound as “angel”.

God answered beyond our imagination not just in the numbers but most importantly in suitability and location. The office has proved to be extremely useful for meeting people, conducting training classes, leaders meetings, some life group meetings, as a resource centre, and as an administration and pastoral office.

Ephesians 3:20, 21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

John Rhodes
Pastor, Hope Sydney


Hope Auckland: Christmas Service




The morning of the 21st of December was buzzing for Hope Auckland Christian Church as we celebrated Christmas. Despite the many members returning to their home countries for Christmas, the lecture theatre was filled with about 90 people there that Sunday. The packed service was opened with a fantastic hip hop dance (dancing and acting) and included many showcases of the talent in church with items such as an African song performance by the Voices of Hope, and the final installment in our three-part Christmas skit.




All these contributed to this year’s Christmas theme of Hope and led into the message. Despite all these festivities, it can be safely said that the best part of Hope Auckland’s 2008 Christmas were the 3 salvations we had over our three-Sunday Christmas build up!

Pastor Bernard & Angela Soh
Hope Auckland, New Zealand


Hope Newcastle, Christmas 2008



In approaching Christmas, we often ask ourselves "what does this holiday really mean?" Is it a time to give presents of is the focus more on getting them? Is this holiday a time of rest - or do we need a rest-period AFTER Christmas due to the busyness of gift-hunting, meal-preparation, parties and the like? For the average Australian, all this clutter makes it hard to find out what Christmas is really about. So, in Hope Newcastle we tried to host a service that might make discovering the real meaning of Christmas a little easier.



Aussies generally know that the main message of Christmas has something to do with a baby, gifts and wise-men...so we tried to take a different angle in ways that your everyday person could relate to. This involved providing an atmosphere that visitors could feel comfortable in (using Christmas colours, themes and carols to set the scene) but then taking a slightly different angle through the use of mult-media clips. It was here that we all became onlookers watching a pair of humorous angels as they tried to understand The Almighty's 'plan of salvation' by working out WHY on EARTH HE would send His Son to, of all places...EARTH!!!



It was from this perspective that Chris proceeded to share a message called "Pure Genius". This message presented Christmas as God's idea of coming TO us in order to EXPLAIN HIMSELF to us by becoming ONE OF US (then of course, dying FOR us).

A number of visitors including people's family members and friends attended and overall we, in Hope Newcastle, had a memorable Christmas celebration finishing with a dinner together.

Chris & Ann-Marie Skinner
Hope Newcastle, Australia


Hope Perth Christmas Outreach




We just want to first of all thank God for an exciting, blessed and fruitful 2008 Christmas celebration that we had at Hope Perth!

This year’s celebration theme was entitled 'Celebration of Freedom’ with the purpose of celebrating the freedom we can have in all areas of our lives and the victory over any bondages through the empowering and loving relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise God that we had more than 126 people attending the celebration service with the entire venue almost completely filled. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the service and the atmosphere was full of excitement, warmth and joy. This year’s special items included a contemporary stage drama, a choir performing various carols and a special Christmas lunch.



Most importantly, on this special occasion, many members, friends and visitors were truly touched by God’s sacrificial love as they heard the message preached by Ps Stephen.

It was a blessing for many brothers and sisters as well as those who worked together in unity during the preparation phase and contributing their talents, effort and time sacrificially to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. The event certainly encouraged the whole church and reaffirmed to them that God loves us and he is faithful at all times!

Pastor Stephen & Hannah
Hope Perth, Australia


Hope Melbourne Waverley Centre: Christmas Service



Hope Melbourne, Waverley Centre celebrated Christmas with over 150 attendance on Christmas Day. The celebration was over four days of family celebration events. Early in December, Kids For Christ presented an awesome work with the children running the whole Sunday main service. The children, chaired the service, led praise and worship, preached and performed to present the Christmas mesage. It was inspiring and an eye opener to the congregation especially the visitors. Closer to Christmas day, the Church had a night of caroling night and fellowship at one of the members' home.

Just before Christmas, the Sunday service was colored by a drama performance presented by our in house actors! Pastor Ian Foley shared a message of how God is always with us at all times, not just on Christmas day. The day concluded with our finest in house pasta, accompanied by a friendly Best Cake Galley, a cake decorating competition where children from 6 years old participated to win prizes and cardboard Christmas tree competition participated by all the LifeGroup.



Christmas day was filled with glorious Christmas carols, dance performance, inspired praise and worship and a life-changing message! The whole Church participated differently in celebrating this year's Christmas, from decorating the hall with cardboard Christmas trees, by all the LifeGroup, to providing pasta for lunch for everyone.

Reported by Ruth Hii (Hope Frankston)


Hope Melbourne City Centre: Special Christmas Outreach



Praise God for our recent Christmas service on December 21, 2008. Through prayer and perseverance, we managed to secure a theatrette inside Melbourne State Library to make it more special. As a church, we want to bless as many people as possible. The committee put up posters in many of the public places in Melbourne. Some people went further by asking the local council for permission to set up sound equipment for street evangelism on the day itself. They sang Christmas carols in multiple languages as well as sharing from the Bible to those passing along the street, while some went out to give invitations and share the gospel.

We were so encouraged to see an attendance of 263 people (more than the available number of seats) from the City and Darebin Centres including adults and children: it was a record attendance!



We give all glory to God as everyone enjoyed a night of singing carols, watching a drama presentation, sharing the love of the Lord and being encouraged by the message of how God gave us the biggest Christmas present we could ever imagine: the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ!



Praise God too for a total of five salvations and one rededication. We acknowledge the effort of our committee who put in lots of effort in organising this service and thank all members for their contribution in every way. Lastly, we would also like to praise God for His gift to us which is the true reason we celebrate Christmas. God is good, Amen!

Reported by Simon Hardy (HOPE Darebin)