I love to serve the people of Nottingham. I’ve got a bit of an evangelist heart really. I’ve been involved with HOPE as a practitioner for over four years now but in July I embarked on the privilege of full time work to develop HOPE Nottingham.

Well we already had lots of stuff happening and a good culture of prayer going, before we first heard of HOPE in 2007. Before we decide to start something up, or join with an existing initiative, prayer is the place we always start. We pray and see where God leads and what He is saying to us about our community.

 

We used HOPE material to get local church leaders excited about the vision and encourage a commitment to do word and action mission together.  We needed support and backing from church leadership but we had more capacity than the leaders to co-ordinate ideas and plans. HOPE is all about being grassroots. It’s not about imposing more work for church leaders but engaging their congregation to be more involved in local mission.

I attended a HOPE road show in 2007 with Andy Hawthorne and Mike Pilavachi and what was said pressed all the right buttons.  I heard the message about local mission in unity just at the right time.  I was fired up, grabbed the opportunity with both hands and never looked back. Life changing!

Different parts of the wider city, each local community, have different needs. Focusing on an identifiable local community is an important place to start, often a smaller area.  We found it was a bit harder to pull things together if trying the whole city at once. I am still using this principle as we develop HOPE in Nottingham - one area at a time.

Start with open invites to coffee and chat, sharing stories, praying, and inspiring each other.  You will discover what God is already doing and want He wants His people to develop or even start. Get to know each other, share hopes and dreams – it all starts with friendships and prayer.