BACKGROUND

In 1981 Charlie Forrest and two others were on an outreach in Onehunga Mall, when God gave Charlie a vision of a new work based in Onehunga.

 

Over the years the vision has continued to grow.  In 1987 Charlie and Brenda moved to Hong Kong to work with Asian Outreach, heading up a work called Hosanna Ministry. This involved ministering into different countries such as China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mongolia. At the end of 1994 Charlie and Brenda returned to NZ for sabbatical leave and worked alongside Pastor Dennis Grennell at Valley Rd Church. In 1995 a prayer group was formed to pray regarding the Onehunga vision and the timing of it. This involved four couples, including Larry and Julie Murphy who had felt the Lord call them to come to NZ from Ireland in 1992. During 1995 Charlie led a team from Valley Rd Church to Cambodia for a short-term missions trip. Larry was a part of this team, as was Pesa Wilson. This was an important time for Charlie and Larry and Pesa to get to know one another. At the end of 1995 the group meeting to pray for the Onehunga work felt that it was not yet time for the vision to be fulfilled. Charlie and Brenda returned to work in Hong Kong for a further three years. During this time Pesa and Liz Wilson moved to Florida, USA, to do a YWAM course followed by a missions trip to Brazil, returning to NZ at the end of 1998.  Charlie and Brenda also returned to NZ at the end of 1998 and met with Larry and Julie to discuss and pray about the vision again. At this stage Pesa and Liz were invited to be a part of the team as well. During this period the leadership at Valley Rd Church were kept fully briefed as to what was planned. At the end of February 1999, Valley Rd Church released the three families with their full blessing to start the new work in Onehunga.

 

On March 7th New Hope Fellowship started meeting in Charlie and Brenda's house with the three families.

 

Charlie and Brenda Forrest, Larry and Julie Murphy, and Pesa and Liz Wilson still make up the leadership team with Malcolm and Jenny Lowe who joined the team in 2004.

  
WHY THE NAME "NEW HOPE"?

 

"I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord GOD."I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick."       Ezek 34:15-16

 

 

New Hope is more than just a name to us; it symbolises what we are about.

 

Today many people have lost hope. They have put their hope in the wrong thing or person and have become disillusioned. 

 

Even the meaning of "hope" has become lost.  Hope has become a vain desire for something in the future or a weak thing, like "I hope it is fine tomorrow".

 

Some say, "don't hope, have faith" as if hope and faith are in opposition to each other.  However faith flows from hope; faith is the assurance of things hoped for.  If you don't have hope, you can't have faith.

 

    Heb 11:1

    Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

 

In fact, the biblical meaning of hope is quite strong.  It is a confident, favourable expectation of good for the future.  It is not something weak.

 

The hope we have is not based upon people or institutions but upon Christ Himself and His finished work at the cross.

 

Our desire is to see men and women come into a New Hope in Christ, to expect good things for the future and from the hand of the Lord in their daily walk with Him; to expect to be different and to make a difference where they are.

 

 1 Pet. 1:21 &Who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (NKJ)

 

Col 1:26-29

He has kept this secret for centuries and generations past, but now at last it has pleased him to tell it to those who love him and live for him, and the riches and glory of his plan are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory. TLB

  
THE VISION OF NEW HOPE
1.     To build a fellowship of people whose primary desire is to worship God and bring glory to Him in all they do; to inspire and encourage people to worship Him with all their heart, mind and soul and to know Him in an intimate way, so He has first place in all they do.

 

2.     To build a fellowship of God's people who will love and support one another, and love the world as Christ did.

 

3.     To disciple, develop, and train people into their full God-given potential, in their giftings, abilities and calling, both spiritually and in every other way; to set up an environment that will release them and see them grow into maturity to be the people God intends them to be, using their giftings, talents, and resources for the kingdom of God to touch, change and bless others, with worldwide effect.

 

4.     To have a fellowship of people who understand and appreciate the grace of the Lord towards us and who are gracious to others; who understand that we are not under the law, but freedom; and who have a heart and passion for the things of God, not driven by guilt or compulsion.

 

  
SOME PRINCIPLES
Christ is to be the focus.  Our goal should be to unite all things in Christ (Eph 1:10), to worship Him and to help others to focus on Him.

 

Church life should revolve around:  - Worshipping the Lord, which includes communion, prayer- Equipping and building the people up so they can function as God intends in the world. 

 

To see the whole life of the person touched and changed, not just the spiritual, including vocational, educational, social, physical, etc.  

 

The role of the leadership in the church is to help each person discover the call of God on their lives and to support, equip and help them fulfil it.

 

Giving - from the beginning to teach stewardship.  This involves teaching people to have a generous heart. This involves more than just finances.             		 
To teach and demonstrate prayer and spiritual warfare to be  a natural and essential part of all Christians' lives.

 

To set up a discipleship/training programme where the more mature Christians are discipling younger ones, not just in the spiritual area.  If another person has practical skills in one area, let him teach others who need help in that area (practical Christianity).

 

To teach on the dangers of the idea of compartmentalising different areas of Christianity, e.g. secular/spiritual; my finances/God's finances; church life/home life; evangelism/prayer/worship/teaching, etc.       

 

To teach the principle and understanding of the redemptive power of Godturning evil for good, failures into stepping-stones.

 

To have clear teaching on grace. We dont function according to the law but according to grace. 

 

To demonstrate that church life is more than Sundays. It is more than a programmed service; it flows out from, and is the result of, the lives of the people in the fellowship being touched by God and functioning together.  

 

To teach and show that all Christians are part of one wider body, the "One Church", so we will network in and support other Christian churches and activities as much as possible.

 

  
CHURCH LIFE
We believe the role of the church leadership is to help equip the people to fulfil their calling in everyday life. Part of this role is to call the church to worship, to teach the Word, to encourage and strengthen, and to give opportunities for people to put their faith into practice. The gathered church will only be as vibrant as the members of the church; it is not the programme that makes the difference, but the people. The gathered church is a reflection of the people.

 

Church life revolves around:

(i)       worshipping the Lord, which includes communion, prayer, etc.

(ii)            equipping and building the people up so they can function as God intends in the world.

(iii)           fellowship with each other

 

The Sunday morning meeting is for worship and inspirational teaching and testimonies. This usually means having a good hour or so of Christ-focused worship. The form or style of the worship may vary quite widely, depending on the situation at the time.  We encourage a range of styles of worship, from hymns to praise songs etc. Those leading are not chosen for their musical excellence, but rather their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. We also encourage as much involvement as possible by the congregation in the worship times.

 

Sunday night meeting - a time when we get together for systematic teaching from the Bible.

 

Communion: we do this from time to time on Sunday mornings, however we also encourage this to be done in smaller groups, i.e. home groups. The benefit of having communion in smaller groups is so all the members can have the opportunity to participate and to know one another.

 

Teaching is done in the home groups, as well as a number of courses which are run in the fellowship building, for spiritual growth of new believers as well as people at other levels. We recognise the importance of the Word being well taught. Part of this is also to give room for people to put what they have learned into practice, to exercise their spiritual gifts.

 

Homegroups are a key place for much of the fellowship activity, for communion, teaching, discipleship etc.

 

Evangelism should be a natural product of lives lived for Him. We are to be living witnesses wherever we are.  However this does not exclude other outreach programmes and endeavours.

 

Missions: we have a desire to train and support those who have a call on their lives to be involved in overseas missions. We regularly promote and support different mission activities and organisations.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership structure: We believe in a "Leadership Team" type structure for the oversight of the church. The leadership team is made up of those who have like mind and heart. These will be mature Christians on whose lives we recognise the call of God for this role. The role of leadership team is different from the role of ministry leaders. The leadership team is more "behind the scenes" in an oversight role, whereas the ministry leaders head up the areas of ministry they are responsible for. The role of the leaders as set out by Paul is one of oversight and commitment to the local body of believers. Leaders are not called to lord it over the church but to exercise guardianship. (Apostle Paul links the character of leaders with a description of parenting.) We also recognise the need for someone within the fellowship with the call and gifting of a leader who will oversee the development, running and leadership of the fellowship. This person will be a member of the leadership team and be submitted to it. He will not have the authority to override the leadership team, but will be one of the team. He will also be the co-ordinator and contact person for the leadership team. At present this person is Charlie Forrest.

 

Other ministry leaders: Men and Women heading up different ministries (pastoral and other roles) and responsibilities within the church. Leadership reflects the outworking of God's gifting within a person.  As such the recognition of any individual as a leader (irrespective of age, gender, marital status or ethnicity) constitutes an acknowledgement of God's giftings and call within a person.  We see eight main criteria for leadership, as follows: relationship with the Lord, understanding of His Word, filled with the Holy Spirit, good character, integrity, gifting, call, and commitment. Our vision is to release people to positions of leadership and responsibility in a manner commensurate with the work of God in their lives.

 

          From Jack Hayford:

Senior Pastor of The Church On The Way

 

  Gradually, I came to embrace this concept I believe constitutes the key to becoming a leader. I believe it enables one to become a leader who is truly effective (irrespective of how "efficient" he may be); who builds trust (and thereby never needs to "demand loyalty"); and who realizes long-term durability (which is born of abiding substance that outlasts transient "styles').  Best of all, such a leader realises fruitful leadership defined not as the ability to "produce results", but as the capacity to bring those I lead to their deepest enrichment and highest fulfilment.  Fruitful leadership is not getting others to fulfil my goals (or even my God-given vision for our collective enterprise and good), but helping others realise God's creative intent for their lives' personally, domestically, voca­tionally and eternally.  To become such a leader, I believe the central challenge we each face is to learn to tend to our primary challenge: to keep my heart as a leader.

From book, "Leaders on Leadership" The Character Of A leader, Page 67