Many churches have slogans that have been cleverly crafted and serve as a marketing tool. There’s nothing wrong with such posturing, though it seems rather artificial at times. Here at New Hope we have a saying that evolved over a period of time–it kind of grew on us. It stuck, not because we adopted it, but because it actually reflects what we are.

The saying is this: We care more about where you’re headed than where you’ve been. It’s based on the premise that we’ve all messed up our past in some measure. But God promises to restore the potential of our lives. New Hope exists to help you bring that about.

We belong to the Missionary Church, an evangelical denomination of 160,000 people in 28 countries. Because of our commitment to church planting and world missions we have become one of the fastest growing denominations in America.

Our music leans toward contemporary rather than traditional. Our worship service favors informality rather than ritual. We’re not highly scripted, so if you’re looking for a media production, there are others that do it better. To us, authenticity is more important than performance.

We’re not among those giddy Christians who live in denial about the failure of the American church. We are losing our culture to secularism while the believers drown in “Christianity lite” — as our pastor calls it. If you’re looking for a band-aid on your spiritual needs,  you may find Pastor Sims’ sermons too challenging.

By the way, we own two buildings and let them out to two other congregations. Restoration Hope Bible Church worships in our white building (655 N. Saginaw St.), and St. Matthews Anglican Church uses our brick building (1009 N. Saginaw St.). All of us have agreed to schedules that coordinate with each other’s ministries. If this seems unusual, it’s only because of the widespread disunity and competition within the Christian church. We choose not to feed that narrow-minded sectarianism. We acknowledge our unity with all other Christian churches in Lapeer County.

Another thing. This website is under a major reconstruction. There’ll be much more information forthcoming over the next few weeks. We hope to have Pastor’s sermons available for downloading, as well as some postings regarding the Sabbath and the day of worship.
Gerald K. Sims, Pastor
New Hope Missionary Church