HOPE CHURCH is committed to the following principles:

  • Personal Relationships

  • Practical Communication of God’s Truth

  • Evangelism and outreach

  • Prayerful Commitment

  • Perpetual Growth

Personal Relationships

With God

The most important relationship anyone can experience is one with God. We enter into that relationship because of what Jesus Christ accomplished through His death and resurrection. It is only through this kind of personal relationship with God that we can experience an abundant life now, and a life eternal (John 10:10; Romans 6:23). It is essential that we direct people into a high growth relationship with God so they can enjoy this most precious privilege.

With Others

Flowing out of our love for God is a demonstrable love for others. Our relationship with God, and subsequent relationships with others is the foundation of the Christian faith (Matthew 22:35-40). All believers have the responsibility to build relationships with individuals within their circles of influence. The effectiveness of the church in reaching the unchurched will be in direct proportion to the believers who are willing to build bridges with the "seekers". Therefore, HOPE CHURCH plans to supplement these bridge building efforts by providing a "seeker service" to which they can invite their unchurched friends.

Practical Communication of God’s Truth

Culturally Sensitive

(1 Corinthians 9:19-22) Most of the individuals who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior do not understand "Christianese" (Christian terminology). Many of them have little knowledge of the basic truths of Scripture and are often reluctant to attend church services because they perceive them as boring or irrelevant. Because of this, HOPE CHURCH has designed a Sunday morning service with the "seeker" in mind.

Creative

By communicating with creativity, relevance, and a contemporary style, we can create an environment where the seeker feels comfortable to explore Christianity. We will use relevant, high-quality messages, contemporary music, excellent drama, and any other reasonable medium to present the message of God's unconditional love and forgiveness.

Commitment to Excellence

Every aspect of HOPE CHURCH will reflect a quality effort and not a compromise to expediency. We will not strive for excellence simply for the sake of excellence, but because we serve an excellent God. We have the greatest message in history! We will present all we do in the best format possible!

Evangelism and Outreach

We all must respect the individual's process of "seeking" as they realize their need to accept God's gift of salvation. We know there is a moment of time when a person is birthed into God's family through faith. However, this event may occur after God has gone through the process of drawing the person to the point of readiness to make such a choice. The seeker will be given the "space" necessary and freedom to examine the claims of the Christian faith.

Prayerful Commitment

For HOPE CHURCH to be effective in making an impact for the Kingdom, we recognize the need for the core members to be prayerfully committed to the Kingdom work. This commitment involves:

  • Time:
    • A commitment to spending time in the growth and nurturing of our personal walk with God.
    • A commitment to spending time building bridges with unchurched people with the hopes of leading them into the Kingdom.
    • A commitment to spending time with the corporate body of the church for mutual edification.
  • Talents: Since God has uniquely gifted every believer and designed a ministry where that uniqueness can be maximized, HOPE CHURCH will be a church that seeks to mobilize these gifted people into service.
  • Treasures: HOPE CHURCH will challenge individuals to exercise their spiritual responsibility to give of their resources back to God through their tithes and offerings.

Perpetual Growth

Individual Discipleship

When a "seeker" becomes a "believer" is our objective to assist that person into a high growth relationship with God. This involves life-sharing discipleship with others who are devoted to growing in their relationship with God as well.

Corporate Body

HOPE CHURCH purposes to be a high impact church that will reach the unchurched population. This means that we will pray for and plan for continued numerical growth as long as God provides. By His grace, we will continue to grow as long as there are unchurched, lost people in our area.

Planting more Churches

HOPE CHURCH is committed to fulfilling Christ's command to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:18-20) by establishing a "beach head" church that is committed to "multiplication" through planting of other churches in the Tampa bay Area.