Vision

       
Hope Church realises that Luton is a town of contrasts: on the one hand there is the airport, a place full of dreams, excitement and expectancy for the countries and events people are going to travel to, and on the other hand, in other parts of the town there is a deep sense of despair, of failure, as people seem trapped with nowhere to go and nothing left to hope for.

As a church we are to preach hope. Hope for our future glory and salvation - for eternity! But we also want to preach about hope for the now, for every day until Jesus returns. And we believe God will equip us to do that by His Spirit. We also believe that one of Hope Church's gifts is grace - grace to deal with the despair in Luton and to instill hope, guiding people in to the futures our Lord has for the people of this town.

However we will need to be careful. It is imperative that we stay focused on what God has for us to do, and not be distracted by other ministries which may look exciting, but aren't for Hope Church. God has specific, secure plans for us which we must follow.

One such exciting purpose we believe God has for Hope Church is to work amongst people from different nations, within Luton. We trust that God will give us wisdom for this so that we will know how to do this, how to support those from other nations and how to lead them to freedom and fulfillment in Christ.

We also believe that Hope Church will plant churches within Luton and in surrounding areas. Just as fireworks in a display spark and bang in such a way that you don't know what's coming next and when, so too will churches be planted all over from our church. We don't know when or where, but we do know that this is going to happen!

Prophetic Words

Bringing Hope to despairing people in Luton

Thinking of this town, it's a town of 2 contrasts. There is the airport, full of dreams, full of hope of where it is going. Everything is going right up there. But there is the other part of the own that is in despair, it's gone wrong, nothing's working, and people are ruined. It is as it there is a contradiction within the town. Through this, God wanted to say... You are to preach hope which is future glory, salvation which is eternal hope. But He also wants you to have within you a hope for now. Through His spirit He is going to put skills amongst you to deal with that. There is going to be a gifting and grace upon you to deal with the despair that is in this town, as well as bringing people through to knowing eternal hope. Brought by Kim McCaffery in May 2002

Think you are trying to reverse hopelessness. Do fun courses, not long term but short term, where people come out and they are more equipped, e.g. Marriage, rebuilding, Life after divorce. Rebuild in the natural so we can also rebuild in the spiritual... Get some small businesses up and running with people who are out of work. Believe God for people who have political influence. Brought by Kerry Southey in September 2003

The hand of the Lord is on you, working hard to break through the ground. It seems like there is a lot of concrete there that you have for to break through and that you have to fight for every soul that you get. God just says toyou that you are going to see increase in this next six months which is going to turn the captivity that's in the heart of some people who are believing that the church will never grow in the way that it should. Brought by Keith Hazel in October 2006

Church Planting

Firework: God gave a picture of a firework, which keeps spurting out. As you watch it you're never quite sure what's coming next, and it pours out all over the place. There is a force and an unknown nature to it, but the certainty is, you know it's going to spurt out. God said this picture describes church planting, because He will place a fire work (per-ching! There it goes!) in Hope church, and there are going to be many churches coming out of here. From the very beginning you are going to put on a firework display and out of you, whole areas around here have got no chance, churches are being planted all the way around here. But remember the unexpected nature of it, you don't know when a firework is going to burst into life, but you just wait for the 'WOW!', when the next one appears. Have that in your spirits. Brought by Kim McCaffery in May 2002

I believe that there are going to be a number of church plants into the area and young people will do many of them... Start to ask God to lay places on your heart and to open homes in those areas... God gave me a funny picture of a frog with all the spawn coming out of the frog and then these little babies leaping into all sorts of places. A little frog pool with the spawn, then the tadpoles and then the little frogs leaping out doing new things in all sorts of surrounding areas. Brought by Kerry Southey in September 2003

To be a European / International gateway

I saw loads and loads of planes, all over the place. Some of them were wonderful, and I longed to be on them. There were others, which I didn't want anything to do with. I felt God was saying He wants you to be very focused. To be absolutely clear on where you are going and what you are doing. This is because there are going to be planes that are like ministries, almost. They are going to come across your path and if you are not careful they are going to distract you, and make you wish you were on one. But God says, "Well, actually no. I want you to know you are goin this way and you are secure in it and you are clear about it and you know, yes, that is a wonderful ministry, but no, it is not for us, we're going this way". I felt that one of the planes was a bit negative; it could have a negative influence if you get caught by it. Just know what God has said, we are doing this, we are going this way and we are secure and know that is what we are going to do.

Wisdom gift. I saw a wisdom gift coming to this church. It wasn't primarily evangelistic, although that was it's fruit. You are going to pioneer new nations, but they are nations in Luton. There are nations in Luton and you are going to pioneer into them. God is going to plant a wisdom gift which will pioneer into these nations within Luton and will unlock them. Believe that God is going to plant that straight into your church, right early on and it may even come as a person, a significant person who will come in and say 'You want that nation? This is how you do it", and they will open it for you. There is an enormous price to pay in some of these nations when they come to Christ and the power of the gospel needs to be supported, underpinned with a wisdom gift that shows you how to draw them, not onlyto the wonder of the cross, but to a whole new dimension of freedom in Christ.

And I feel you are going to bless many other churches and send people to other cities to unloack the same thing in other places. You are going to pioneer this whole area. Brought by Kim McCaffery in May 2002

I see planes going out from this church, taking people to plant churches in other nations. I also see people coming to see the Luton church from other nations - Planes coming in. Brought by Julian Adams in February 2006

The hand of God is on this church - and this church is not a mistake. This church is called forth by God. God says that it will be a place of influence. It will not only be an influence in this area, but there is an international relevance to this church. There's an international gateway here. This church is in an international gateway in this church. You are going to even see people coming in, even with an influx of Europeans. God says that there are Europeans that are going to come into this country and find a place in your community to live, and because of this you are going to gain contacts in Europe that will allow you to go back and do things there to help the people there. You are at the beginning of a new time in the visitation of God and bringing the people that are going to be key to you having a foothold in Europe. Brought by Keith Hazel in October 2006

Building

I would love to see you guys with your own building. I really feel like you need it. Seriously feel like you need it. If God does what I think I see, that building is going to have a lot of events, things happening in it all the time, and you can't just set things up and pull them down all the time like you have to do in a school hall, you really do need your own building. And it needs to be something with a lot of little rooms off to do things. Somewhere that does not necessarily look like a church, but somewhere you can advertise, 'This is going on here' -you know- 'Come and be involved in it'. I think you are going to have quite a lot of little programs going on. Brought by Kerry Southey in September 2003

In the area of building, that's almost as if you felt that one had been in your grasp but it had slipped away from you. God wants to come today and he wants to heal any disappointment that you have and any sense you have that somehow God is not helping us out. I believe that there is a unique opportunity coming to you. There is a building that's going to come your way, and that building is not the building that you would first of all run to, when you look at it you won't necessarily think 'Oh gee, this is a building I really like'. In fact when you look at it, it may be like the scripture that says 'it may have no beauty that you should desire it'. I believe that God says that He's going to give you a unique opportunity to have the use of a building. I put it that way because it's like for a season you're going to have the use of a building and that building will eventually fall into your hands. But for a season you will have the use of it. God says it's almost like you're going to be like caretakers of a building for a season then it will fall into your hands. Brought by Keith Hazel in October 2006

Finances and other resources

I think that there is finance to access in God. I think that if you get programs up and running that do something with young people, and I think if you have portfolios that you present, 'This is what we are going', I think that there is actually finance of the wicked that you can access. I really do. I think as churches we get very scared to go to places and say, 'Listen, we have this program going, it is going to get some of the kids off the street. Is there something you can help us with?' or 'Do you know someone who can help us?' And be quite bold about it. Don't be English. Be quite bold about it, because I think at some stage maybe there will be finance that you'll be able to acces and not just pounds, but equipment and stuff like that. Brought by Kerry Southey in September 2003

You are standing on a pile of resources to acieve the task. Brought by Julian Adams in February 2006