How Hope08 got started...

Events such as The Message 2000 in Manchester, and Soul In the City (2004) were the forerunners to Hope08.

At Soul In the City over twenty thousand young people camped in London for a week and got involved in social action projects - working with local communities to serve their needs. Local churches provided a base for all this 'mission', helping to keep the projects relevant to the areas they were in.

Having seen the enthusiasm with which these projects were carried out, and received, the organisers started to dream bigger. They started to talk to other Christian organisations, asking 'Why do one thing for one week in one city, when the whole church could rise to the challenge of reaching the whole nation for a whole year and beyond?'

So Hope08 was born - taking the social action model of church activity to the wider church community. Inviting Christians of all ages and denominations to work together through 2008, Hope08 is uniting the UK church in serving those around them.