Half In Hope Chapel
Three of the six Wednesdays will be based in Hope Chapel. The wider church community all together. Starting with dinner. Zoom option for those who need to be at home. 7:30-9:30pm
In Hope Chapel: 14th Oct, 4th Nov, 18th Nov
“As I have loved you…”
six weeks of formation in the love of God in community
John 13-17
More information below...
We love what God is doing in Hope. And we believe there is more for us to discover for ourselves, each other and for people outside the church. So for six weeks, we're going to make that space across the whole church.
Everyone's Invited!
If you're new to Hope this will be a great way to get connected. If you're part of life group or boat already, come as a group. And please feel free to bring friends along too.
"The way you love one another will show the world that you are my disciples"
Questions...
What will happen in the evenings?
We'll start with dinner at 7.30pm, around small tables for the Hope Chapel weeks and in the homes for the home weeks.
The first two weeks will be centred around knowing the love of God ourselves. The second two will be on loving each other as church community. The third two will be on loving people outside the church.
There will be short teaching blocks on these themes and then conversation, prayer and testimony times. If you've done a Living Free course at Hope in the past then the approach will be similar to that. Inspiring, punchy and practical application for life. We're expecting God to do stuff in us through these weeks.
For the weeks that are in the homes, video content will be provided for the hosts to play to take you through the evening. Chris and Alice will be leading on the teaching with others bringing some input too.
Tell me more about the vision and purpose of this.
Well you could listen to Alice's talk from Sunday 20th September. She sets the stage for us here: https://www.hopechapel.co.uk/episode/from-critical-mass-to-critical-yeast
How will the groups meeting in homes be organised?
We'll have host homes in different parts of Bristol city and region and aim for people to be hosted as close to their home as possible. Existing life groups may like to continue to meet as the same group in their same location. As usual with Hope arrangements will be a mixture of organised and organic so let us know if you have any requests. The teaching content will be recorded and shown on video in Homes.
Why is it called a sprint?
This is a short and sharp time of input rather than an ongoing commitment. Sprint felt like a good way of describing that.
How can I help?
This has potential to be a great growth and community building time for us as a church. Help us make it that by talking about it with others in Hope and those who are new and exploring. Encourage them to come along. Help with food serving and washing up is always appreciated, both in Hope weeks and in Homes. For the Homes week you could offer to take some food or drink to contribute. And pray for us as a church that this is a rich and formational time.
How much does it cost?
There won't be a charge for the course. Hope is funded by those who are part of the church giving tithes and gifts as part of their worship and support for the church. We do sometimes fund these courses by people paying to come but we've decided not to for this course.
Any other questions?
Do send through any other questions to the Hope office or via the sign up form.
And what’s with the Van Gogh painting?
Glad you asked!
The painting at the top is called Cafe Terrace at Night by Vincent Van Gogh (1888). Notice that there’s a person in white serving twelve people seated at tables (with the twelfth person lurking in the shadows). There’s a cross in the window behind. It’s all beneath Van Gogh’s extraordinary star-filled sky. The suggestion is that an apparently ordinary scene of people eating together may carry a hidden sacred dimension. And there’s something in this, and the warm glow of the painting that speaks of God’s love and presence, that’s what we’re going after in this 6-week sprint together.
Vincent Van Gogh was once a passionate young Christian who dreamed of giving his life to preaching the gospel. He trained as an evangelist and eventually went to live among desperately poor coal miners in the Borinage in Belgium. Vincent gave away his possessions, surrendered comfortable accommodation, visited the sick and injured and chose to live in the same desperate poverty as the miners themselves. His radical approach alarmed his church authorities who thought priests should live in more comfort and, despite recognising his extraordinary self-sacrifice, they decided not to support his ministry.
Jesus, may we be a church that takes risks in loving people like you did and like Vincent did. And may we be a church overflowing with the warmth of your love, knowing it for ourselves, showing it in the way that we love one another, and showing it in the way that we love people outside the church. Amen.