Our Vision for Hope Community Church

What follows are excerpts from the preach Pete Askew gave summarising the vision of Hope Community Church. The full audio recording is also available by clicking on this link.

Here’s the first Vision – Reaching New People // Luke 5:18-20

“Some men came carrying a paralysed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’”

Today I just want to point out 3 simple things before moving into some application:

1. Jesus is the Hero (Capital H) of this story, as He is of the whole Gospel.
2. But the heroes (lower case h) of the story are these friends of the disabled man. Because they love this friend, not just in a sentimental way, in a self-sacrificial, almost crazy way. And they are so concerned for him that they will do anything to bring him to Jesus. Even if it means carrying his body, vandalising someone’s house by tearing the roof off, even if it means breaking social niceties.
3. And this is what I want God to stir up in me, in us, in you.
   1. This deep love for not-yet-Christians – neighbours, co-workers, relatives, friends and even strangers… whoever God has placed us around.
   2. This desperation to connect Jesus with other people. God, will you grow that in us!
   3. This imagination to find new ways to make that happen when the conventional ways don’t always work in East Manchester.

I believe that this year, in Hope Community Church, just as in every year, in every church, God wants us to reach out to people who don’t yet know and love Jesus. He wants us to share the love of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people. And if they won’t come to our services, let us go to them, let us visit them wherever they are most comfortable – at their homes, in the pub, in a café, wherever. Jesus did it a wedding in Cana in Galilee. He brought the better wine to the party. What can we bring to other people in East Manchester that they don’t already have? Is it not the life of Christ? His hope, love joy, holiness, generosity?

People becoming Christians, growing in faith, love and obedience – it’s all the work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t do it. But I know He can work with us and through us towards this end in the year ahead.

So, Let’s REACH OUT in 2016!

So here’s the 2^nd Vision – Growing in faith // Colossians 2:7

“Let your roots go down into him [that is Jesus], and let your lives be built on him, Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

I want to say just a couple of things here:

1. Our strength comes not from numbers, from clever plans or human wisdom, it comes from being rooted deeply in God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2. The result of this is that we will grower strong in God’s truth and we become a more thankful people. As we see the truth about God, as it makes us more thankful, this, in turn, should help us to love Him – and those whom He has made – more deeply. To love more like these friends of the disabled man we read about in Luke 5, who carried him to meet Jesus.
3. As we do this, this will also help us handle better the ups and downs of this life, as we look forward to a day when we finally meet Jesus face-to-face, where there will be no more tears, or pain or suffering for all those who are in Jesus Christ.

Lastly, the 3^rd Vision – Raising Up Leaders // Numbers 13 and 14

There is too much to read here today, but if I can give you a summary, Moses and Aaron have been used by God to bring God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. But Moses and Aaron are old, the people of God are many, and new leaders are needed to bring them into the Promised Land.

• So Moses and Aaron look for 12 men from the Jewish community – they take 1 from each of the 12 tribes, and send them to spy out the land, just as God commanded them.
• Before they start their spying mission, Moses changes the name of one of them from “Hoshea” – which means salvation – to “Joshua” – which means The Lord Saves – the same basic name as the Greek name “Jesus”. And it meant a change of identity, with confidence placed in the right Person. Joshua means The Lord Saves. This is mentioned so briefly in 13:16 but a change of name for Jews was a big thing. I think it shows that Moses has been mentoring Hoshea, that he was raising up the next generation, as we want to RAISE UP in our own time and place.

Back to the passage: the 12 spies come back in 2 groups. 10 of them say it’s impossible to take the Promised Land because there is opposition – there are fortified cities and “giants” in the land.

Technically, every detail of their report was correct, but their conclusion based on this report was wrong. They have forgotten that God had called them out of one place and had promised to bring them into Canaan. And the other 2 spies – Caleb and Joshua, had a different conclusion, a different report. They had probably also seen the opposition and the fortified cities, the practical and personal problems. But they also saw the opportunities, the land flowing with milk and honey. And they remembered God’s promise. This is what they said:

“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” said Caleb in Numbers 13:30 – maybe a bit self-confident, but otherwise right, keen, zealous, full of energy and optimism. We need new leaders coming through like this. We need to raise them up.

“If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land… The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them” said Joshua in Numbers 14: 8-9. Moses seems to have mentored him well, because he concludes almost the same as Caleb, but shows where his confidence is placed: God not himself.

And as I read this recently, I realised that Joshua and Caleb are the kind of leaders God wants to raise up in churches. These are the sort of people – just generally – who God wants to make us more like. People of faith and courage who remember God’s goodness and promises.