History
On April 20, 1997, a group of 48 people gathered in the home of a caring family to pray about starting a church in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. The following passage of Scripture inspired us to trust the Lord: “Now therefore stand and see the great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes” (1 Samuel 12:16). We started holding services at the Oakview Center for about three months and then at the Southwest Chicago Christian School on Central Avenue, Oak Lawn. We held services and Sunday School at that location until we purchased our present building on November 14, 1999. This big step of getting our own land and buildings was made possible through the sacrificial giving and prayers of our church. We raised $150,000 for the down payment and introduced ourselves to the community with a musicale called A Christmas Invitation.
Not long after, the city allowed us to use two mobile units for two years. This provided six classrooms that greatly helped us in our educational ministries of Sunday School, an Awana program for children, and a recovery group. By the end of 2004, our membership had reached 165. Village ordinance required us to relinquish our temporary classrooms. We finished the construction of our parking lot in July 2005.
Fall of 2007 saw us launch our building expansion program to fill our need for crib and toddler nurseries, another multi-purpose room, a training center and a larger narthex. On June 8, 2008, we dedicated this new addition, which we pray will be used by God to attract more families for more expanded ministry and eventually exponential growth.
On June 30, 2008, founding pastor Rev. David W. Yount, retired as senior pastor. The church then called Associate Pastor Gerald Miller to succeed Pastor Yount. Following the church vote on July 20, Pastor Miller was ordained as senior pastor of New Hope Church on July 27.
The greatest encouragement to all of us is seeing new people whose lives are being transformed by the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness. Awana and Kids Church have become our primary tools to help our children mature in their knowledge of the Lord and in their relationship with one another.
Our history is brief, but we invite you to become a part of our dream to bring people into a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, who will in turn become reproducing Christians by sharing their faith with others. We want to become a reproducing church by planting daughter churches. Several of our young people have graduated from the Moody Bible Institute. Some of our young people have had short-term missions experience both here and in other countries to gain insight into the will of God for career ministry.