As we reflect upon the history of Hope Church, we see an exciting picture of God's gracious blessing. 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 the first 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.
In 2002, Pastor Burnham left Hope Church to become a professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. During the interim period that followed, a pastoral search committee began the work of finding the next pastor of Hope Church. Dr. Michael Moriarty became Hope's Senior Pastor in July 2004. After nearly three years of serving Hope, Pastor Michael felt God's call leading him in a different direction. Another interim period ensued during which the elder board launched a search for a Senior Pastor. In May 2008 Pastor Stephen Kirk became the new Senior Pastor at Hope Church.
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. With Pastor Stephen's leadership in firming up our Pastoral Lead Team and our staff, it is with great anticipation that we look forward to what God will do among us as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ together and add new and exciting pages to our history. 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 adults, or leading in the many other areas of ministry, the people of Hope Church have been faithful in carrying the Gospel forward.
