HIM FAMILY NEWS
HIM Brisbane 19th Anniversary
Arriving early on a warm Sunday to serve, I was greeted with a flurry of activity. Volunteers from all departments across all services were frantically running around setting up in appropriately donned “I love my church” t-shirts. Today was Hope Church’s 19th Anniversary, a great milestone, especially since we were celebrating it at Unidus for the first time. Before long, masses of regular church attendees and new visitors bore the fierce heat to engage in corporate prayer before service. In between handing out communion elements and bulletins, I was once again in awe of the power of prayer across a whole church.
The service was welcomed in by another fantastic routine from the dance team, who in a month’s time had rehearsed long and hard to produce an engaging performance. It was also incredibly heartwarming to witness the Kids for Christ children deliver their own rendition of ‘Cornerstone’ – you are never too young to worship the Lord! A powerful session of praise and worship followed, with the musicality accentuated by the ever growing church choir and use of talented orchestral musicians. It was so inspiring to see new faces – particularly those from my own service – on stage serving and fostering quality praise and worship as the church proclaimed God’s glory and a desire to seek Him and His presence, over and over and over again. “I long to look on the face of the One that I love, long to stay in Your presence, it’s where I belong.” Yes and truly, Lord!
Pastor Wilson’s preaching ensued, focussing on the important of modelling the church on the person of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of not only the church, but also, our lives. He highlighted the essence of community in our church, drawing back the focus on who it should always be on – Jesus. Encouraging and simple, the message spoke volumes into my own personal journey with God and my ministry. There is no bigger sense of unity in God’s house than when we have combined services at Hope. Knowing and seeing that despite our various differences, backgrounds and personalities, that we are all serving and worshipping together the same almighty God is something truly worth beholding. May Hope church come to see many more years to pass. Happy 19th Anniversary, Hope!
Written by Sara Leong
