What Does New Hope Believe?

At New Hope, we believe that God has called us to share the life-transforming love and truth of Jesus through word and deed with those across the street and around the globe. This is fundamental to who we are as a church.

What does New Hope believe about the Bible?

• We believe that the Bible is the authoritative Word of God.

• We believe that the Bible, as God’s Word, is the source of all truth. It was written by human authors under the supernatural inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We believe that while Scripture needs to be interpreted, it cannot be changed or manipulated to meet our needs.

• We believe that the Bible is a living document which has the power to transform hearts and guide people in every area of life.

• We believe that every part of God’s Word points to Jesus Christ as the one God sent to redeem the world and demonstrate to all people the full extent of God’s love for them.

• To be rooted in God’s Word means we are established firmly and deeply in Jesus Christ; he is one voice that we seek to direct our paths.

What does New Hope believe about Jesus?

• We believe that our world is a broken place and all human beings are born with the inclination to sin and move away from God.

• We believe that God loves every one of us with an expansive love and seeks to be in an intimate relationship with every single person. To have a relationship with God, we must believe in and accept Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord of our lives. In doing so, we acknowledge that we can’t do life alone. We need God!

• We believe that salvation through Jesus is a free gift from God. There is nothing we can do to earn it. We must simply believe and accept God’s amazing grace and love.

• We believe that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus demonstrated God’s extravagant love in all he did: through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection. God may be hard to understand but Jesus is very real. Jesus gives us a picture of what the love of God looks like.

• We believe that accepting Jesus Christ means that we gain eternal life. This eternal life begins now, experiencing the peace and hope of Jesus in this world, but it also means life after death. As Christians, we believe that we will have everlasting life with Jesus in heaven.

• We believe that Jesus calls his followers to share this good news about him with others. Jesus has especially tasked the church with reaching others with his love, truth, peace, justice, and hope.

• We believe that we need Jesus to have meaningful and purposeful lives. We firmly believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

What does New Hope believe about the Holy Spirit?

• We believe that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of the Living God) comes and dwells within us. As Christians, Jesus lives not apart from us, but within us.

• We believe that through the power of God within us, we can be renewed and revived. God can change us from the inside out! This means getting rid of the old, unhealthy, and worldly parts of our lives and allowing God to do something new within us.

What does New Hope believe about Baptism?

• We consider baptism a sacrament; that means it is a visible and tangible sign of God’s grace at work within us. We also believe that baptism is an act of God. While someone may decide to get baptized, it’s actually God doing the work, God’s grace at work in the life of that person.

• For adults, baptism declares that you are a follower of Jesus Christ. It is a public confession of your faith in Jesus and your commitment to follow him. It is often the next step after salvation and is an important foundation for Christian life.

• At New Hope, we also baptize babies and young children, because in baptism, God is doing the work and claiming that child for Jesus Christ. Obviously, in the case of young children, the Christian parents are making a public statement that they will raise the child in the church, as well as teach them about Jesus and model what it means to be a follower of Christ until they are ready to make that commitment themselves.

• When older children and adults are baptized, it’s also a sign of new life in Christ. The water is a beautiful symbol of cleansing of sin and purification – the old life has gone and new life in Jesus Christ has started.

• In our tradition, we don’t rebaptize because we believe God did it right the first time. That being said, we do encourage people to remember their baptism. Oftentimes, a lot of history has occurred from the first time someone was baptized to right now and remembering your baptism is a wonderful way of recommitting your life to Jesus. Again, you are making a public declaration that you are a follower of Jesus and wholly dedicated to him. The old is gone and new is here.

• At New Hope, we baptize by immersion, pouring, and sprinkling.

What are the theological distinctives at New Hope Church?

Because we have a long history in Methodism, we view faith and Scripture from a Wesleyan theological perspective. Thus...

• We have a strong focus on grace. In fact, you will hear us talking about grace a lot. Grace is God’s unmerited love toward us and we believe God’s grace is available to all people. We talk about:

  • prevenient grace - God’s grace at work in our lives before we even know him

  • justifying grace - God’s grace which allows us to say yes to Jesus and receive salvation

  • sanctifying grace - God’s grace which helps us grow in our walk with Christ

  • All are important at different points in our faith journey.

• We also have a strong focus on free will. While grace is available to all, not all people choose to accept it. God won’t force himself on us; he wants us to freely choose to follow him.

• We believe that God has called us to continue Jesus’ mission in the world, to put things right, and to bring more of heaven down to earth. We want to alleviate suffering and help those who are hurting because of who we are in Jesus.

• We have a high view of Scripture. It is the authoritative Word of God.

• We have a high view of the Sacraments. We have two sacraments, baptism and Holy Communion (or the Lord’s Supper/Eucharist). Both are visible and tangible signs of an inward grace. We take them both seriously.

• We believe that the Holy Spirit guides us and is at work in our daily lives.

• We believe that both men and women can equally serve in all forms of church ministry, including pastoral ministry and church leadership.

• We believe that we should seek holiness in our lives.

• We believe that spiritual warfare is real and that Christians should be aware of the battle in the spiritual realm, as well as actively push back the powers of darkness.

• We believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. He is the way, the truth, and the life.