August 2023 newsletter

House-to-House

Family of Hope House Church                             August 2023

Three and a Half Decades Of A Lived Dream

This month marks 35 years since Alma Jean and I transitioned from a 20 year period during which I was pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church south of Broadway to the beginning of what became Family of Hope House Church. The Zion congregation had been experiencing significant growth and was in need of either planting another church or expanding its meeting space. 

     At this point, some of us, with the blessing of the congregation, began having some prayer and discernment meetings with a few like minded persons who were, like us, more interested in the former than spending nearly a half million on the latter, noting that most of Zion's members commuted there for Sunday services from outside our rural community.

     Over time, after becoming involved in ministry to homeless and transient people in the run down former Star Gables Motel, we evolved into Virginia Mennonite Conference's first and only house church. Some Eastern Mennonite Seminary couples, including Ron and Laurie Czecholinski and Guy and Margie Vlasits helped the congregation grow into two separate but affiliated living room size  groups who formed one unified congregation. 

     When a significant number from the second group affiliated with the Twelve Tribes movement in the 90's we became just one group again, and have remained so in the years since. 

     Our aim has been to provide an alternative kind of New Testament-based church family for those who are less comfortable with traditional forms of church life that require paid staff and the maintenance of real estate used primarily for only a fews hours a week. A house church model utilizing the gifts of its own members was seen as one where participants' spiritual and other needs could receive attention at every gathering, and where all would be focused on being God's people in training to minister to people wherever we live and work, and not simply a group primarily inviting others to well planned inspirational services.

     Judging by our numbers, we haven't been very successful in attracting new people or in recruiting and training new leaders devoted to keeping the dream of that kind of missional church alive. Thus we are at a place where we are are asking whether God will create new wine and raise up new models of church life where existing churches are in decline.

Notes, Prayers and Praises
IN OUR AUGUST 6 SERVICE we will be hearing what the Spirit is saying about our future, and about whatever we may have experienced in our church visits July 23 and 30.

AUGUST BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS  to Kent Palmer, 8/10. Also, Alma Jean and Harvey Yoder’s anniversary is August 8, and James and Ruth Stauffer’s is August 30. Blessings to all!

AUGUST STUDY THEMES (below) are only suggested texts, not a part of the lectionary, and whether or where we meet is up to the group. If we choose to use these texts, each participant should come prepared to respond to the question for that Sunday and reflect on how the passage might apply to us today.

Proposed August Study Questions 

6   "What kind of house does God need?" Stephen affirms a revolutionary, tent-dwelling God in Acts 6:8-53

13 "Who is welcome in God's household?" Philip baptizes former outcasts and outsiders in Acts 8:4-40, 10:1-48
20 "What kind of church leaders does God choose?" A former persecutor becomes the church's lead evangelist in Acts 9:1-31
27 "What should God's people require of new members?" A summit at Jerusalem comes to a dramatic, Spirit-driven consensus in Acts 15:1-35

Proposed August Services, 3:30-5:00 pm 
6  Location: online 
Worship and sharing: Elly Nelson

Bible Study: c/o Harvey Yoder
13 Location: TBD 

Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera Wenger

 Bible Study: c/o Dick Dumas
20 Location: TBD
Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer
Bible Study: c/o Elly Nelson
27 Location: TBD 
Worship and Sharing: everyone brings a hymn, a scripture, a word of testimony
Bible Study: Harvey Yoder