HOPE MELBOURNE 26TH ANNIVERSARY & NEW CHURCH BUILDING OPENING
There are some dreams that God has placed in your heart to accomplish that you find yourself patiently waiting for to come into fulfilment, almost to the point that you begin to doubt or begin to feel that the dreams are just destined to remain outside your grasp.
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Gathering Together to Celebrate the Purchase of our New Church Building 2015
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More than 10 years ago, our church began to dream of having a place to call home. A building fund was set up and over the years many people faithfully gave. People not only gave financially, but sacrificed their time to pray for God’s provision and to pray for God’s leading in finding the right location and what type of church we should be seeking to build. Over those years, several attempts were made to find a place. There were many discussions about where to locate ourselves, what were we looking for and the right timing to buy. However, each time it seemed that the time was never right. It was hard not to get a little disheartened as the time drifted on and we were no closer to the fulfilment of the dream. During this time there was no lack of words, visions and pictures from people earnestly seeking the Lord’s guidance and direction. We had visions of the church growing into a place where there would be a school, a medical centre, and a counselling centre.
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During the Celebration of our New Church Building We Implanted God’s Word onto the Walls
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Renovation of our New Building underway in 2016
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In 2013, Ps Ian Foley sensed that God was telling him that it was time for him to accomplish some of the dreams that had been on his heart that had yet to be accomplished. Ps Ian commenced to form a committee to find us a new home. It is with a little sense of wonder that we look back on this time, because it was just around this time that Ps Matthew took over the leadership of Waverley. Prior to being a Pastor, Matthew had been an architect and had also recently helped City Centre find a new premise to lease. It is amazing how God can provide the right people with the right expertise to see this dream come into reality. Over the next two years or so, the dream slowly became reality.
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Our Local Councillor Bill Pontekis with Ps Ian Foley and Ps Wilson Lim
Official Opening the New Church Building
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Today, we celebrate the fulfilment of this dream that started over 10 years ago, to have a place called home. On Sunday 31st October, the four centres in Melbourne with Ps Wilson gathered together to celebrate our official opening of our new church building and also to celebrate our 26th Church Anniversary.
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Cutting the Cake to Celebrate Hope Melbourne’s 26th Anniversary in our New Church Building. From Left to Right: Ps Lai Ling Lim, Ps Wilson Lim, Ps Ian Foley, Ps Daisy Foley, Councillor Bill Pontekis, Barbara Pontekis
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Our New Auditorium
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What a Blessing to have Ps Wilson Lim celebrating with us and sharing the word with us
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What is a Celebration without the Generous and Faithful Service of our Brothers and Sisters preparing food for the lunch.
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The theme for the day is “Greater” and it is fitting because the dream that started off as us having a place to call home has evolved into us having a place that can be a place of refuge for those who come to us in need. So today, we have a place to call home so that tomorrow, we can grow our church into a refuge for the lost, the hopeless, the outsider, the marginalised, the people God is calling us to minister to. The dream continues but now we have greater hope and greater faith in what we will see happen next.
Written by Rob Saunders, Hope Church Melbourne
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