Hopewell UMC – God’s Work


This photograph was printed as the front cover of the Dedication Day Celebration of January 16, 1977.  For those of that time it represented the old and the new.  Even more, this photograph represents God’s constant acts of creation.  Missing from the photograph are the people that surrendered to the movement of the Holy Spirit.  God’s new church came into existence that God’s kingdom may extend and grow into the future.

It is the Holy Spirit that moved Rev. David Jay to deed the land for Hopewell church in 1837. Historical documents from Christian writings report that long passed members of God’s church remember a log cabin on the site.  God has been sustaining, extending, and growing Hopewell since 1837.  The first recorded pastor by the Methodist Episcopal Church was 1872.  Since then God has sustained the church with pastoral and congregational leadership.

The changes we see in this single photograph testify to the witness of faithful surrender in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ of those that have gone before.  For this reason, what they left behind, what we see means that they cannot be forgotten.  They are at rest.

Now is our time.  God is always in the process of creating.  When God is doing something new, God’s creative acts abound, are witnessed, and personal growth in faith’s foundation is the result.  It is truly a blessing to be a part of something bigger than ourselves as we witness the Hand of God!  God has placed this on our hearts.  All are invited to this excitement of God’s new creation.  So it is our prayer that the Holy Spirit moves in your heart to visit us at God’s church that has long been called Hopewell.