Hope United Church of Christ
Alexandria VA

“God, make us a people of Hope.”

Each week, we gather at Hope UCC for God to form us into a community that offers hope to others. We experience the living God in worship and with one another. We believe Christ’s presence in our lives can lead us to act and care boldly — to heal, forgive, tell the truth, come out, pray and sing, do the justice work, to weep, laugh, and celebrate God’s hope. We want that hope to reach out to all kinds of people. Our motto is Welcome, Nurture, Share!

This means we are committed to diversity because we want to look around our table and see God’s dream of the amazing spectrum of humanity sitting next to one another in peace.This means that all kinds of families are valued — and that we treasure all children. This means that we are “open and affirming” and celebrate God’s gifts and grace through lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of faith. This means we commit to include all people regardless of ability or disability. We pray God will empower us to be in ministry with others who are most vulnerable and having rough times. We believe our prayers and service should extend, as well, to the broader world — across the globe.

Many of our members say that before coming to Hope they never knew a church like this existed. Maybe you have been searching for answers, seeking a spiritual home for you or your family, or just want a place where you can be loved. This is a church unlike many you will encounter. A church with a vision of hope, love and acceptance for all people, everywhere in the name of Christ. A church that knows how to love, to laugh, to cry, to serve, and to think. A church where all are welcome . . . We are a community of:

seekers of a loving God thinkers and questioners those struggling with conventional religious traditions people of all ages individuals on a spectrum sexual orientations or gender identities individuals of different skin colors, races, and ethnic backgrounds families of all types individuals of all abilities and differing abilities people who want to influence their society through social justice . people who grew up with no faith people who grew up going to church regularly people who need and appreciate a loving community, a family of believers

No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here!

At Hope Church we do not claim to have all the answers about who God is and what God has to say to the world. We are a group of people who believe that God is still speaking in our world today. Our goal is to listen and to follow. Our task is to love and serve. Through our community we hope to bring peace and justice to a broken world.

 

https://hopeucc.org/  

 

The church has a ministry to help those with special needs. There is an elevator available at the lower level entryway. The church makes available large-print bulletins for those who need these items.  

Hope’s History

Hope Church began as a mission in 1960, meeting at Rose Hill Elementary School in Alexandria under the leadership of Reverend Wallace Anderson. Three years later, Hope was officially chartered and became Hope United Church of Christ. The United Church of Christ has its roots in the Reformation Tradition; the denomination was formed in 1957 through the merger of the Congregational Christian and Evangelical Reformed churches. Coming Home to Hope

When Reverend Howard P.M. Borgstrom was called to the pastorate at Hope in 1964, planning and construction of a permanent church building was the first order of business. Just before Christmas that year, the worship committee laid out a vision for Hope’s sanctuary: “A table centrally located near the people signifies the heart as well as gives a sense of the presence of God in the midst of the congregation. The communion table should be the focal point of the worshipping congregation with the cross, the symbol of the risen Christ, being given its rightful place.”

Ground was broken on August 15, 1965, and on July 17, 1966, the members of Hope United Church of Christ celebrated their first worship service at the congregation’s permanent home. The church was dedicated on September 18, 1966. Active in the World

Even as Hope Church was establishing its physical home, it was building its congregational character of concern and engagement, playing an active role in denominational and social concerns.

In 1975, Hope Church participated in an exchange of pastors with Christ Church in Enfield, England. Rev. Borgstrom filled the pulpit at Christ Church, and that church’s pastor, Reverend Kenneth F. Faulkner, came to Hope.

In September 1978, in a growing sense of awareness of its UCC missionary roots, Hope Church sponsored the first of a series of authentic Hawaiian fellowship luaus under the guidance of member Harold Bailey, a native Hawaiian. In February 1979, Obookiah Sunday was celebrated, including a special Hawaiian worship service commemorating Henry Obookiah, the Hawaiian youth who came to New England and inspired the Congregationalists there to send missionaries to his native islands. The tradition continues through Hope Church’s ongoing relationships with the local Hawaiian native community and through Hope’s annual Luau.

In the early 1980s, members of Hope Church led an effort to raise awareness of Christian persecution in the Soviet Union. As a result, a resolution to encourage the Soviet government to allow seven persecuted Christians in Siberia to emigrate was adopted by local and regional UCC conferences and then by the 13th General Synod.

After Rev. Borgstrom retired, Reverends Marc and Cheryl Stewart were called to serve as co-pastors. The Stewarts left Hope in 1987. Following a two-year period during which Reverend Kenneth Hoagland, Reverend Vince Carroll, and Chaplain George Fienck served as interim pastors, Hope Church welcomed Reverend Michael Morse as pastor. Open, Inclusive, and Affirming

Under Reverend Morse, Hope Church continued to become an inclusive community, open to all, yet respecting the spiritual and intellectual integrity of each person.

By late 1991, Hope Church finished its tower and installed an elevator to make the building handicap accessible in order to accommodate persons with special needs.

In 1997 the church purchased one of only five Braille hymnals then existing in the nation for a parishioner’s use.

In 1998, Hope Church voted to become an official Open and Affirming church toward gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual persons and their families. Rev. Morse retired in December 1998, and student pastor Ellen Spero served as the interim pastor as the search committee worked to call a new pastor.

Hope Church had a history of intentionally welcoming diversity and freedom of thought among its parishioners. The church lived that witness in extending a call to Reverend Kenneth L. Harrington, an openly gay man, as its pastor in September 1999.

A graduate of the local Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., Rev. Harrington expanded Hope’s membership and continued its proud tradition as a community of thinking Christians who seek to live, in our times, Christ’s example of love and inclusiveness.

From the turn of the new century, the community of Hope Church became active in international missions in Mexico, in state-wide missions advocating for LGBT rights in Virginia, and in local missions to those in need through Koinonia. In addition, the Called to Care Ministry developed lay caregivers who desired to intentionally and actively care for members within the congregation. Hope Church Today

Hope Church is home to a spiritually diverse range of congregants from many different Christian traditions. Today as it has for five decades, Hope seeks to be a church of Christ’s extravagant welcome to all people.

Rev. Amber Henry Neuroth began as Hope’s pastor in January 2011. We continue to seek God’s call for Hope as we continue our ministry of Welcome, Nurture, Share.