New Hope Church

Who are we?

New Hope Church is a community of people who care deeply for East Hamilton.  We are being changed by the grace and power of God’s love and want to make that visible through our life, our words and our actions.  We seek to participate with God in restoring and renewing hope in the homes and neighbourhoods of the east end of Hamilton.

New Hope Church is a site of First Hamilton Christian Reformed Church and part of the Christian Reformed Church of North America.

What is important to us?

New Hope Church is a community of people who hold dearly to these following beliefs that are shaping us:

God’s good news (the Gospel) changes everything
The Gospel is the “power of God” that changes everything.  The Gospel is the power of God to change lives.  Grace is the key to renewal. 

God is actively working in our world to restore it
The gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ) is that through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the power of God to restore the entire world is at work.  We will always speak, show, and live the Gospel – pointing to this power of God that can heal and restore our world.

Like Jesus Christ, we need to be actively present in our community
Jesus was God in the flesh.  He walked through the pain and joys of life, bringing love and forgiveness through very real participation in a hurting world.  We too must bring love and forgiveness as Jesus did. We believe that what we do should be shaped by the realities of our local community. We believe that we, like Jesus, serve our community, alleviate pain where we can, speak into injustices, and bring a message of hope and forgiveness to our community.   

Outward Face
We believe the church exists for the sake of the world.   The church (people and not the building) is how God chooses to bring His healing restoration to the creation and his forgiveness to everyone who accepts Him.  The Gospel gives us deep respect and great hope for every person.  The Gospel frees us to not live for ourselves but for our friends, neighbours, and community members who have no connection to a church.   

Relationships are very important
People come to know who Christ is through relationships.  People grow best in community.  All people are deeply valued and treated with respect.  We also value team work in all that we do because we believe it is a vital way to foster relationships, to encourage one another, and to develop leaders. 

Diversity of people is beautiful
God created diversity and creativity – it is the flare and beauty of all aspects of this world, and we should enjoy and celebrate the uniqueness of differences.  God’s good news for us is the breaking down of barriers to respecting and loving each other as fellow human beings.