Hope Fellowship Welcomes You

Pastor's Welcome:

Does the idea of belonging to a diverse, loving community of Christians excite you? It does me! One of my favourite Bible verses is Revelation 7:9 where John sees "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb."

This Biblical picture of diversity is a reality in my own family. I long for the same kind of diversity in my church family. My personal vision statement for my ministry at this exciting church expresses that longing:

"Hope Fellowship Church is the hope of a
   multiracial,
   multicultural,
   multigenerational,
   multi-ability multitude
Worshipping the Triune God without restraint
   in all of their lives
   as if they were already standing
   before the throne
   and in front of the Lamb."

Please accept my personal invitation to take your place with us in the fascinating mosaic. Join us in picturing what God will perfectly complete in the vibrant and colourful future that he has planned for you on the new earth.

The Lord wants you and needs you. So do we.

Pastor Peter Slofstra.

Our Past

The Christian Reformed denomination was birthed out of the 16th century Protestant Reformation
1857 Christian Reformed immigrants from the Netherlands began to settle in Michigan, USA
1905 The first Christian Reformed Church in Canada met in a little white clapboard church near Nobleford, Alberta
1950 Rehoboth Christian Reformed Church, in Bowmanville, became the first C.R.C. in the Durham region
1999 Zion C.R.C. in Oshawa multiplied to become two congregations - Zion and Hope Fellowship Church

Our Present

In 2003, on our 5th anniversary, God providentially blessed us with the former South Courtice Public School as our church offices. On December 7, 2008, just shy of our 10th anniversary, we began to worship in our new ministry centre.

We are so thankful for our continuing affiliation with the Christian Reformed Denomination. We are also members of the Willow Creek Association.

Our worship is contemporary and the preaching is biblical, culturally relevant and Christ centred. We are a "small groups" church, offering numerous groups and ministries based on age, interest and need.

Our Future

Our new facilities include a 500+ seat auditorium suitable for worship, conferences and concerts, a library/bookstore, a cafe, a prayer room and space for ministry-based tenants.

God has blessed us with 20 acres and we are in the beginning stages of imagining what we can do with the rest of the property. Although we may be years away from actually developing the property, we feel motivated to begin prayerfully considering various ideas.

We have been called to serve God by serving others, and we hope to be a blessing to our community. We continually ask ourselves this challenging question: "Would Hope Fellowship be missed if we were to close our doors?" We hope that the answer to that question would be a resounding "Yes!"

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, each of the six ministry zones - congregational life, service & missions, worship, youth, children and administration - will continue to work on specific goals related to Hope Fellowship's purpose, namely, "to bring people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ."

To meet our staff, please stop by the office, visit our Staff Page or join us on Sunday. Additionally, feel free to visit the different pages on this website to get current information about our programs and events. You will also find several staff blogs, audio versions of Pastor Peter's Sunday messages and excepts from our church bulletins and the Hope Fellowship Sun, our bi-weekly newsletter.

The information above is taken from the Visitor Welcome Package available at the Info Centre in the atrium of our church. You are welcome to stop by and pick up a copy along with a CD of worship music that we would be pleased to bless you with.