You may have heard about Hope 2008. If you have, great, if not read on!

After initiatives like Festival Manchester, SOULINTHECITY, Love Bristol and tonnes of other servant hearted missions Churches across the country are bringing the gospel to their communities in fresh and exciting ways.

The Hope 2008 year of mission wants to encourage, support and resource churches as they live out their constant mission to bring Jesus to their areas.

'Hope' proposes to support this on-going work, by facilitating intensified, united, focused prayer and a year of activities, communicating the Gospel through words and actions, creating a lasting legacy of both physical and spiritual change in the lives of communities and individuals.

The Proposal
We want ‘HOPE’ to act as a catalyst to encourage, support and resource the UK churches in 2008 “to raise its game” in one year so as to better serve the communities they are called to reach long term. (Most of the planning and networking to date has been done in England. As conversations develop with the rest of the nations and islands we want this to be adapted as appropriate.)

Throughout the year are Hope 'high points' where churches can buy into certain types of activity, knowing that Christians across the country are doing the same.

The 5 high points of activity include:

1) Fresh ‘HOPE’: (January) an opportunity to make a fresh start and be supported in it.

2) The Big ‘HOPE’: Exploring Holy Week

3) ‘HOPE’ Where You Live: (May Bank Holidays) The Church on the street... this is where the Noise comes in!

4) ‘HOPE’ Explored: (September) Inviting the community to explore the Christian faith

5) A Gift of ‘HOPE’: (Christmas) Unpacking the Christmas message

Hope and the Noise...
One of the Hope 08 high points that you can get involved in is 'Hope where you live'. The idea is that Churches across the UK will hold a big Noise or servant hearted weekend of social action projects, serving their communities and bringing the good news of Jesus to those in their area. So why not try it! Flick through the Noise stuff in this section (GO>>), get some ideas and get planning.

Your part?
We'd love you to get involved, sign up your church, find out more about what you can do and organise your own activities at one or all of these 'high points'. The idea behind the mission is that a small, medium or large church can pick to take part no matter what resources they have available. Check out the Hope 2008 website to find out more:
www.hope08.com: GO>>

GO:LOCAL
Planning a social action initiative can be quite a daunting task and it's difficult to know where to begin. That's why we've created GO:LOCAL, a CD ROM packed full of great info and ideas on doing Jesus centred community action in your area. To find out more click here: GO>>





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