Open House

OH - a late entry, but we had our Open House on June 13, 2008 (or the weekend of) and the weekend was a great 'success'. Along with a fun evening of entertainment on Friday night where we were dazzled by several bands, we had a great number of people come on Saturday to our barbecue, rummage sale, kids games and to listen to the local children's band "Turkey Rhubarb". And, now that we finally have our New Hope sign up, we can say good-bye to Sam Merulla - horray! God is blessing us as a community by continually answering our prayers far beyond what we could imagine and the number of people who are starting to become a regular face at New Hope is quickly matching the number of those who were part of the 'Launch team'. Cool eh!

CrownPoint Update

We have had our 4th meeting as a newly emerging community focused group. Consistently we have had attendance of 15 or more people and the enthusiasm and eagerness of the group to begin to do things in the community is fantastic! Along with narrowing down an identifying name for ourselves (we are located in what has traditionally been referred to as CrownPoint), getting familiar with one another, assigning roles for our meetings and highlighting particular areas that we would like to address within the community, we have identified two specific projects that we will work towards. The first is on August 1, 2008 where we hope to have a table at the Open House/Carnival that the AAT school is putting on. There we will begin share who we are and what we are all about - why we exist (which, by the way, is to make CrownPoint community a better/healthier place to live). Through exposure like this we hope to invite more residence to join our meetings so that they can share in the work being done to strengthen our neighbourhood's resources, and work towards filling the gaps that exist. The second event is the Ottawa St Festival on September 27, 2008 where we hope to have more promotional material and perhaps offer an interesting table/activity and serve the organizers of that event, as best we can. Book those two dates in your calendars as well as August 18, 2008 which is our next CrownPoint meeting. Let's be part of transforming this community!

Crown Point Community

Nothing like God’s timing to put things in perspective and affirm He is still active in our world and continues to orchestrate great things in Hamilton. Had you asked me a year ago what’s so great about Hamilton, I would have probably first mentioned the host of natural and creational beauty all around the city (seen in the escarpment, waterfalls and green spaces). Now I would talk about how the city of Hamilton has begun to momentously address the effects of poverty. One strategy that is catching fire is the introduction of community “launch pads” in different neighbourhoods across the city. New Hope has been able to be a part of such a ‘grass roots’ initiative of organizing the community in the area that our church finds itself located in – Crown Point Neighbourhood. The 2 meetings we have had so far included a cross-sector of service providers, businesses and residents. The focus of these meetings was to share the positive assets that already make this a great community and what things we would like to change. The main goal is to build on a large representation of local residents who are already aware of the strengths of this community as well as the needs that are within this community. These residents will not only voice but work towards addressing these issues in a way that uses their strengths and using the help of resources within Hamilton where necessary. The number of people who have attended has been more than we expected, and the positive momentum that has filled the room when we have met just proves that God is shaping and leading Hamilton and particularly our community towards some healthy efforts of community development and capacity building. We are so excited that as one church (among several others represented at the table) we can be an example of what God calls our churches to be and do, and that is to seek the peace of the city. Jeremiah 29

A Community of Hospitality

Let me introduce "our" neighbour (let's call him Robert) to you. Robert is an artist who lives in an apartment on Main St East near New Hope. Let's remember and pray for Robert and others who contribute to the success of an art studio (www.cottagestudio.ca) that is located on James St South.

Let's also pray that New Hope strives to be a community of hospitality. Hospitality, says Christine Pohl in her book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition "emerges from a willingness to create a time and space for people (179)."

Others part II

It is a death [of a church] that will take us from a maintenance mentality to a mind-set of mission-before-everything-else; from a concern about formal membership to a commmitment to call men and women to radical and authentic discipleship; from an emphasis on denominational policies and practices to an energising pragmatism that is willing to try whatever works in communicating the whole gospel to the whole person in the whole community; from a strategy of invitation, which tries to figure out how we can get people to 'come to church', to a missiology of incarnation which is willing to take the church and the Lord of the the church to the people wherever they are...pg 68 Chick Yuill

Others

"The ultimate test of our relationship with God, of our desire to know him and our willingness to serve him, is found not in the aesthetic quality of our ritual acts of worship or even the emotional and spiritual depth of our religious or mystical experiences. Rather, the ultimate test of our relationship with God is in how we react to our fellow human beings who are created in his image, especially those in need." p13 Chick Yuill

...and He shall give you even MORE than you ask for

On April 29 we had our first Crownpoint community meeting to address poverty. Marg from the Hamilton Roundtable helped facilitate this meeting while Hans and I got more anxious about the outcome of this meeting as each day approached - just praying that we wouldn't have felt like we wasted people's time. Well, the meeting has come and gone and what can I say, but God is good. Its not to say that there weren't still some nerves about yesterdays meeting, but God certainly answered our prayers for our community meeting.
More people showed up then we had anticipated! There was a great diveristy in representation [variety of residences, schools, community leaders and agencies - even Larry Dianni snuck in the back part way through (previous mayor of Hamilton)]. The conversation, dialogue and 'energy' in the room when talking about this community, its assets, needs and what to do about it, was full of life and interaction - many people contributed (and probably wanted to stay to continue talking)! AND...one of my worries (along with many others) was that at the end of the meeting, when talking about the 'Next Steps' and who would like to take leadership in and continue to work at addressing these 'realities' of our community, that no one would step up to take it on. Well - if my counting of this list is correct ... 24 people!!!! 24 out of about 31 people who were there want to move this forward (and many were mentioning names of others who should be at the table).

Ha!

Thank you for your prayers, God has shown that He continues to be at work in this community, and He responded to our prayers!