HOPE CHAPEL NORTH SHORE EXISTS TO LOVE GOD, AND LOVE PEOPLE IN SUCH A WAY AS TO INSPIRE OTHERS TO LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE.
LUKE 10:27-28 (NIV) …He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
The Bible and the Holy Spirit serve as our guides for how to accomplish that purpose. We see the Bible break down that one purpose into five areas listed below. These happen in two settings: one is the whole church gathered for the worship celebration on Sunday morning, and the other is smaller meetings, bible studies that meet--usually in homes--throughout the week (we call these mini-churches).
ACTS 2:46-47 (NIV) "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Both meetings are essential for us as a church to accomplish our God-given purpose. Our goal is to be always growing, always reaching out and providing a place for others to do that too.
Hope Chapel North Shore exists to love God, and love people in such a way as to inspire others to love God and to love people.
If we are going to do that then we will be found doing these 5 things…
EXALT HIM
It all starts with Him!
We exalt God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and help seekers of God grow in intimacy with Him through worship, prayer and the creative arts. We do it all - for an audience of One.
REVELATION 4:11 (NIV) “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
HEBREWS 2:9-10 (NIV) "But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered."
So our first and foremost purpose is to exalt God. In fact we are created and then redeemed for that purpose.
WELOME IN
We welcome in believers to our local church family for love, growth and support through Christ-honoring relationships.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:27 (NIV) Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
JOHN 1:12-13 (NIV) Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
GALATIONS 3:26-28 (NIV) So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
It is God’s design that each member of His body be in committed and growing relationships in a local church body. In the local church we can provide and find the fellowship and support He made us for.
It is in the company of the church family that we are intended to feel really welcome, safe and loved so as to foster the growth, healing and intimacy the Lord desires for us. Welcome In done rightly softens the soil of the heart.
BUILD UP
We build up the church family to become "doers of the Word," not just "hearers." We seek to grow in our understanding of Truth and then put it into action.
JAMES 1:22-23 (NIV) Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror
JOHN 14:23 (NIV) Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Jesus prayer for His followers was…
JOHN 17:17 (NIV) "Sanctify them by[a] the truth; your word is truth."
How we know what truth, love and wisdom really comes through the Word of God, the Bible.
2TIMOTHY 3:16 (NIV) "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"
God speaks to us and changes us as we study it, hear it taught, and do it.
As He changes us, He uses us to help change others.
SERVE WITH
We serve with each other, and help ohana members discover, enjoy and use their God-given design - Serving with Jesus, with ohana, and with design.
2 TIMOTHY 1:9 (NIV) He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.
EPHESIANS 2:10 (NIV) For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:27 (NLT) Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
We are individually designed to do the work God planned for us long ago.
As each part of the body of Christ does their part, then the body becomes healthier and better able to love others and teach them to love God and love others. Our service in the church is the single greatest testimony to the world of who we are as Christians, and who Jesus is as Savior and Lord. It is our involvement here which enables the church to do all we are called to do.
Together, we can Reach Out, Welcome In, Build Up and Exalt Him as we Serve With.
REACH OUT
We reach out to others, knowing that in a loving relationship with Jesus, people will find true freedom, healing and their ultimate source and purpose for life. We are committed to reaching out with the grace and truth of Jesus to a hurting and lost world.
MATTHEW 28:18-20 (NIV) Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
2 CORINTHIANS 5:19-20 (NIV) "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God."
We mention this one last, but it is by no means last in importance. This is in many ways the pulse of a Christian and a church. A healthy Christian and a healthy church is looking for people to reach out to with the love of God in Jesus.
We can’t say we love God and others and not be reaching out with the message of the gospel.
"OUT, IN, UP & WITH - FOR HIM!"
As we grow as individuals and as a church in these 5 areas we will be able to “love God, and love people in such a way as to inspire others to love God and to love people."