In 2006 Mike Pilavachi, Andy Hawthorne and Roy Crowne had a ‘crazy God idea’: to mobilise the whole Church to reach the whole nation with a year of mission. Events such as Message 2000, Festival Manchester and Soul in the City had seen thousands of young volunteers reaching out in words and action. Huge numbers had come to faith, crime rates had dropped during the events and local people had seen the Church in action.

 

HOPE 08 aimed to multiply this all over the UK in every village, town and city. Churches worked together from different traditions and denominations with young people playing a key role over the twelve month period. Momentum developed rapidly as thousands of Christians were moved to reach out to people in their communities. HOPE 08 aimed was to work in 500 areas but by the end of 2008, 1,500 areas had been involved.

 

The range and variety of initiatives and events was enormous: joint praise celebrations, fun days, gardening projects, street evangelism, give-aways, healing teams, acts of kindness, street clean-ups, sports ministries and so many more innovative ways to do mission. Churches worked together and formed partnerships with the police, councils and all kinds of local groups to make a difference in their community. Many used key points in the Christian calendar such as Christmas and Easter as golden opportunities to reach out.

 

An Independent evaluation, conducted by Theos, told us that 85% of the 1,500 areas that did joint projects under the HOPE banner saw a definite change in their community.  Many towns and villages (70%) realised such a momentous change that they have continued and built upon those new ministries in 2009 and 2010. 

 

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