Our History

Reflecting on the Blessings

As we reflect upon the history of Hope Church, we see an exciting picture of God's gracious blessings. The theme of this history surrounds the Lord Jesus Christ, the One that we as a church body are dedicated to serving, proclaiming, and honoring.

Hope Church emerged as an outpouring of a pastor's desire to plant churches in the greater Cincinnati area. This vision was shared and cultivated by a group of about 40 people meeting in a Sunday school class at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Milford, Ohio, in early 1989. After much prayer and discussion, the group made a commitment to begin a church and soon created a pastoral search committee. They learned that Jonathan Burnham, a theology student at Oxford University, had a burden to start a church, and over time it became clear that the Lord would have him be the pastor of Hope Church. Jonathan, with his wife, Faith, came to Hope in the summer of 1989, and he would serve as Hope?s senior pastor for 13 years.

In October of 1989, Hope first began to meet on its own at Kings Mills Elementary School. With God?s continued blessing, the congregation outgrew that first rented facility within a year and began holding services at the Village Church in Mason, Ohio. In December of 1991, the church acquired our current location, 20 acres of land on Western Row Road from a Hope family who, years earlier, had felt led to purchase the property for some special purpose. As the congregation continued to grow, church leaders began making plans for a new church building and purchased an additional ten acres. Sunday services were moved from the Village Church to Mason High School in late 1993.
In late 1994, we celebrated the opening of our new building in Mason. The 30,000+ square-foot facility provided sufficient space for classrooms, offices, and a 1,000-seat capacity sanctuary. Later, Phase II resulted in 30,000 additional square feet of classrooms. Longer-term plans called for converting the current sanctuary to classrooms and a gymnasium and adding a larger and more specifically designed sanctuary. In 2006, however, the Hope Church elders decided to delay this addition for at least two more years.

In 2002, Pastor Burnham left Hope Church to join the faculty of Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dr. Michael Moriarty became Hope's Senior Pastor in July 2004 and, after two years of leadership, Pastor Michael felt God's call leading him in a different direction. Hope Church has always been blessed by committed believers who have been equipped to do the work of the ministry.
Whether it is serving our children, students or other adults or leading the many other areas of ministry,
the people of Hope Church have been faithful in carrying the Gospel forward.

As we look at this very brief sketch of Hope Church's history, we believe that the Lord has blessed us in special ways, and we are very thankful. Today, we find ourselves again in an interim period as we look for a new Senior Pastor, but remain excited about God?s plan and His direction for Hope Church. We humbly and obediently look forward to the days ahead and to the new Senior Pastor that God will bring to us as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ together and add new and exciting pages to our history.

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Our Affiliation

Hope Church is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, an association of some 1,300 autonomous churches united by a mutual commitment to serve our Lord Jesus Christ with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God. The Great Lakes District of which we are part includes Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and the Kentucky border. While this association links us to the Evangelical Free Church of America, it does not control our ability to lead, make decisions, or structure our governance to reflect the individuality of our church. We are committed to cooperate with one another in ministry and fellowship as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission which Christ has entrusted to His Church and are aligned with the theological statements of the Evangelical Free Church of America. The growing ministry of the EFCA extends to some 45 countries of the world.

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What does the term "Evangelical" mean?

"Evangelical" refers to our commitment to the proclamation of the Gospel and to the authority of Scriptures as being inerrant in the original autographs and the only safe and sufficient guide to faith and practice.

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What does the term "Free" mean?

"Free" refers to our form of church government as being congregational. Evangelical Free churches depend upon the active participation of lay people in the decisions and directions of individual churches.

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Hope Church By-laws
Click here to download a pdf of the Hope Church By-laws.

Hope Church Constitution
Click here to download a pdf of the Hope Church Constitution.