I wish you could have joined us at last week’s leadership retreat at Kingfisher Bay. The things that you would have heard and seen would have inspired you and reassured you that God has placed Hope Fellowship in good hands.
You would have heard some powerful, passionate worship. To the accompaniment of two guitars, the elders, deacons and staff belted out some of our favourite songs, including, “Hope of the Nations”, “Everlasting God”, and “Ten Thousand Reasons.”
You would have seen a compelling drama about the lives of Sudanese refugees. Their story is told in The Good Lie, a Ron Howard film starring Reese Witherspoon, that helped us understand and appreciate the difficult adjustment that refugees have to make when violence forces them to leave their beloved homeland for a radically different country and culture. Don’t let the subject matter scare you away from seeing it. It kept us in its grip and moved us deeply.
You would have heard the seven chapters of Hope Fellowship’s seventeen year journey. The confusing, upsetting, exciting, beginning years. The humbling years. The healing years. The building years. The growing years. The focusing years. And the transitional years that we are now in. You would also have heard the leaders share their gracious thoughts about my thirteen years of ministry in Courtice.
You would have heard Pam field questions about the family group of ten refugees (not counting their two grandparents who will be sponsored by a family member who lives in Oshawa) that our church has sponsored. And you would have heard the leadership go through an exercise meant to help us decide whether or not a project or ministry matches our vision and mission, our core values, our resources and our budget.
Finally, you would have heard laughter. Lots of it. Because our leaders really like each other and really work well together as teams. That’s why we returned home praising God not only for the quality of the lodging, the food and the meaningful agenda, but also for the excellent working relationship that Hope Fellowship’s leaders enjoy.
- Pastor Peter
You would have heard some powerful, passionate worship. To the accompaniment of two guitars, the elders, deacons and staff belted out some of our favourite songs, including, “Hope of the Nations”, “Everlasting God”, and “Ten Thousand Reasons.”
You would have seen a compelling drama about the lives of Sudanese refugees. Their story is told in The Good Lie, a Ron Howard film starring Reese Witherspoon, that helped us understand and appreciate the difficult adjustment that refugees have to make when violence forces them to leave their beloved homeland for a radically different country and culture. Don’t let the subject matter scare you away from seeing it. It kept us in its grip and moved us deeply.
You would have heard the seven chapters of Hope Fellowship’s seventeen year journey. The confusing, upsetting, exciting, beginning years. The humbling years. The healing years. The building years. The growing years. The focusing years. And the transitional years that we are now in. You would also have heard the leaders share their gracious thoughts about my thirteen years of ministry in Courtice.
You would have heard Pam field questions about the family group of ten refugees (not counting their two grandparents who will be sponsored by a family member who lives in Oshawa) that our church has sponsored. And you would have heard the leadership go through an exercise meant to help us decide whether or not a project or ministry matches our vision and mission, our core values, our resources and our budget.
Finally, you would have heard laughter. Lots of it. Because our leaders really like each other and really work well together as teams. That’s why we returned home praising God not only for the quality of the lodging, the food and the meaningful agenda, but also for the excellent working relationship that Hope Fellowship’s leaders enjoy.
- Pastor Peter
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