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With thanksgiving and praise for our Christ-honoring history as Crystal
Evangelical Free Church, on February 4, 2007 the church family affirmed
our future ministry name as New Hope Church. As of July 1, 2007 our name
officially changed to New Hope Church. What isn't changing is our unswerving
denominational affiliation with the Evangelical Free Church of America
(EFCA) and unreserved commitment to an evangelical view of Scripture and
practice of ministry.
Christ Centered for Our Future
We serve Jesus Christ and our identity is in him. Becoming New Hope Church
is simply a move to honor to our city of location and provide an easier and
more inspirational name to remember. We praise God for our honorable and
fruitful history as Crystal Evangelical Free Church, even as we anticipate
our future effectiveness and outreach as New Hope Church.
Christ Centered for All People
In conjunction with considering the name change, over two years ago we began
an intentional, biblically-guided journey as a church in becoming a
welcoming, affirming, Christ honoring Body for all people. Not just in
theory, not just as it is seen in Scripture, but in practice. God has
blessed our commitment and begun the change. We are becoming more racially
and culturally diverse. What an absolute joy it is to see God calling many
new friends to make this their church home. This is a great blessing and
wonderful gift from God. It is the heart of Jesus for all His people to
gather in worship, fellowship and ministry reflecting the reality of our
oneness in Christ now and our eternal destiny together in heaven.
Christ Centered for the Church
We believe God created all people in His image. We believe He is Lord of
all
races and ethnicities. We believe His Church is composed of folks "from
every tribe and language and people and nation." We believe Christ
has
called us into one Body and that His Spirit calls us together in unity. We
believe that God has promised to bless those who honor and serve one another
in love.
Therefore, we do not believe Jesus intends His followers to gather together
in racial isolation based on the comfort level of the familiarity of our
skin colors. Christ has only one Body, only one Bride. She is not African
American, she is not European, she is not Asian, she is not Chinese, she
is
not Indian. The Church is Christ's Bride, including all who are redeemed
by
His blood. We long to be a true reflection of this beautiful picture.
As we continue to seek God and depend upon him for our future as New Hope
Church we look forward to experiencing his amazing power, grace and
redemption upon our church, community and the world around us.
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