Our vision verse describes a God of hope. His purpose in filling His people with the power of the Holy Spirit is to allow them to face all circumstances of life with joy and peace. Joy is not the same thing as an emotional happiness or pleasure, but an enduring attitude of the heart and spirit that comes from confidently trusting in Jesus. The peace that God offers is not a lack of adversity, but as Jesus Himself describes, a gift only He can give: I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid John 14:27. Our world is full of trouble and fear, but Jesus has the answer. Building a strong relationship with the God of Hope will not only allow His children to “survive” trials and temptations, but will enable them to do so overflowing with hope, not by our own power, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. This overflow of hope is what our world needs today, so our vision is to share that hope with all with whom we come in contact.
The City of Hope was founded by a group of teenagers who had attended a meeting when the Jesus People came to Janesville in the early 1970’s. This group of young people, who were radically saved, desired to have a church in which they could experience the Presence of God in the same way the Holy Spirit had met them at the revival meetings.
Their desire led to the formation of a church with four foundational pillars:
A church with deep teaching of the Word
A church in which the Holy Spirit was free to move
A church with Spirit-led worship
A church which showed support and love for Israel and the Jewish people
The church was officially incorporated as Faith Bible Chapel in 1973. The name changed to Faith Bible Church in the 1980’s and now is known as The City of Hope, but the vision God planted in the hearts of those young people remains as the foundation of The City of Hope today.
Our purpose is to lead people into an on-going relationship with their Savior Jesus becoming His disciples and to introduce them to a powerful relationship with the Holy Spirit through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The Word of God is alive and applicable today. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Jesus reminds us that those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:24, so we do our best to follow the Holy Spirit in our worship services.
Since God’s Word never fails and because He is a covenant-keeping God, we know that His promises to us will never fail. Because of that, we know that His covenant promises to the Jewish people are still in effect; therefore, we support Israel and the Jewish people as God’s chosen people. God’s purpose for the relationship between Jews and Gentiles is described in Ephesians 2:15b He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Because God has not rejected the Jewish people, we honor God by offering unconditional love to the Jewish people.