Church Culture
The culture of our church is intentional and flows from a passion for God and His Kingdom.
We are committed to building people so that they can live by “Kingdom culture”. We don’t see this church as a Scottish, British or any other type of church, we believe it should be a Christ centred Kingdom culture that pervades every part of life.
We want to build a Kingdom of God culture that is established, encouraged and maintained as a corporate set of values so that people live what they believe, become ‘lights’ where they live and ‘salt’ in every place they move.
We are the church, the church is people not a building, so church is a 24/7 lifestyle. We believe that how we live needs to be defined by The Kingdom of God culture and not our native culture.
Our culture is summed up in five core thoughts plus a number of values. We intentionally make these the “default” settings which help define our attitudes and behaviours in life.
Motivated by the Cause of Christ – We are people driven by purpose, with activities and attitudes designed by purpose. Jesus said He had come to “seek and save that which was lost.” He was here for this cause and we believe we are in the kingdom “for such a time as this.”
Discipleship – we choose to grow personally and to help others grow in their relationship with God.
Generosity – is a lifestyle not an amount. Generosity is expansive, large and contagious. We believe the world of the generous grows larger and larger and our generosity has the ability to transform people, cities and nations.
Servanthood – We choose a sincere and humble desire to serve the purpose of God: to serve God, to serve in the house and to serve the vision of the house; to be true servants of God with whole-heartedness. We support a “what ever it takes” spirit and what ever our hands find to do we’ll do it with all our might.
Flowing together – We choose unity. Learning to flow together rhythmically and easily. We value relationships and believe that everything in our church flows from relationship. Submission to one another is flowing together in the fear of God, flowing with others and making a conscious effort to “get on with others” and build a dynamic team that is so strong that nothing will pull it down.
Values & Beliefs
We see an awesome church shaped by values that guide us and inspire us. The church we see is created as we represent clearly our purposes and ideals. We affirm that values create culture and we are clear about what we value.
What We Believe
Our motto is to love God, love people and serve our world.
We believe in one God, who inspired the writing of the Bible – our foundational document.
We believe the Bible is God’s inerrant, infallible word to us.We believe God loves us and that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place.
We believe that Jesus rose from the dead having overcome every barrier including death.
We believe God seeks relationship with us through Jesus Christ.
We believe this relationship is made possible through faith in Jesus Christ.
We believe our past can be forgiven and that we can have a future worth living, as He empowers us.
We believe the local church is God’s great plan for the world.
We Value
The Atmosphere of God The Word of God The House (local church) Excellence
Growing church Family Relevance Vision Relationship Leadership
Stewardship
Our Stewardship
We believe that it is our responsibility to be great stewards of the resources that God provides. Therefore we have several financial management processes to ensure this outcome.
Our Accountability
Hope! Church is registered with the Charity Commission and with Company’s House.
We are a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee and our Limited Company Number is SC417097.
Our church is registered with OSCR and our Charity Number is SC010342.
Annual reports are faithfully and diligently prepared in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Hope! Church has a board of Directors.
The Lead Pastor is the Managing Director and serves as Chairman of any meeting conducted by the company. We have a Treasurer / Secretary who is a Director.
The Church’s financial records and systems are audited annually to give a true and fair view, in accordance with United Kingdom ‘Generally Accepted Accounting Practice’ applicable to smaller entities and with the ‘incoming resources and application of resources’ and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985 applicable to small companies: and the information given in the Trustees Report is consistent with the financial statements.
Tithes & Offerings
Every week we receive an offering from those that attend events. We believe it is vital to give people an opportunity to give and this is our major source of income.
Bringing your tithe to God is not a legal requirement as it was for the Old Testament Jews but remains an important principle for today. The principle of tithing predates the Law of the Old Testament. From the beginning it was a principle of honouring God as the source of all we have and teaches us to put God first in our lives (Deuteronomy 14:23 TLB).
Bringing an offering is an important part of our overall giving as well. In 2 Corinthians 9: 6-7, Paul reminds us that ‘whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’
Heart For The House
Once every year, we receive a miracle offering called Heart for the House. From the money raised at this time we are able to resource the plans and projects of the year ahead. We encourage all those with a heart for the house to think creatively to raise funds and give sacrificially as we invest in what God is doing through the life of Hope! Church.
Special Offering for Guest Speakers
We consider it an honour to have world class visiting speakers with whom we are in great relationship. At the end of every service where a Guest Speaker has spoken we receive a love offering so that we might “send them on their way in a manner worthy of God” (3 John 6). Make sure you are prepared for this opportunity to sow into the ministry of our guests.
Building Fund
We believe that buildings are great tools for furthering the vision of our church, therefore contributions to the building fund can be made via Online Giving or at regular events using the envelopes provided.
All gifts received into the Building Fund will be restricted for this purpose. Within this restriction we will use the money for maintenance of our existing property and/or for purchasing, leasing or renting a property or piece of land. We will also have fees to pay for professional services necessary for acquiring this property, for example legal and banking fees, and for making it fit for our purposes, e.g. architects fees.
Beyond this there will be the fitting out of the property to enable our use of it for events, office space and other various activities in accordance with the charity’s objectives. This will include furnishing and fittings, renovation, decoration, landscaping, exterior works and any other appropriate costs to enable the property/land to be used for these activities.
Gift Aid
Gift Aid is a UK Government initiative that enables us, as a registered charity, to reclaim the tax you have paid on the basic rate through contributions made in the UK. To ensure that we are able to take advantage of this significant benefit, fill in the Gift Aid Declaration which is found on the envelopes available at regular events.
Standing Orders
Many people are choosing to automate their giving as a means of putting God first or just to make life easier. Standing order forms are available from the Information Point at regular events or by contacting Patricia Cripps. Please fill it out and either place it in the offering container during one of our services or hand it in at the resources centre in the foyer.
What we do to keep your details secure
Our giving envelopes can be licked and sealed to hide any personal details and these are only viewed by a count team at the end of a service. During our Sunday services, the containers are passed along rows while a member of our First Impressions team is positioned at each end of the row to watch the containers. After they are received they are kept safe and counted at the end of the service by at least 2 people, all of whom have signed confidentiality agreements. If card details are provided then the security code is blacked out and envelopes are stored in a locked cupboard and card details are then destroyed within 2 weeks.
Corporate Governance
Our Governance
In the UK, churches are considered charitable organisations. Charities are typically run by trustees and committees. In response to this legal requirement many churches in the UK began to organise themselves in this way as though they were in fact charities, clubs or society. They sought to fit the church structure into the legal frame work laid down by the Charity Commission and Company’s House; in turn many churches made their legal trustees the spiritual leadership of the church.
Here at Hope! we believe that spiritual leadership in the life of the church should be structured according to biblical principles rather than charity law. We believe that spiritual leaders should lead the church; we believe that Directors and Trustees should fulfil their legal roles. We believe that charity and company law is there to provide legal protection just as spiritual leadership is there to provide leadership, direction and protection to the church.
When you think about it, it’s strange to let a legal structure that has only existed for a few hundred years determine the structure of an organisation that has existed for nearly 2000
years! In fact we believe that this legal structure should serve the biblical principles of church and facilitate and support spiritual structures empowering the church to be the church. With this in mind, we set about to determine a structure that would maintain, without doubt, the highest levels of accountability and absolute compliance with the Charity Commission and to satisfy our legal obligations to Company’s House without it becoming the determining factor in how the church is run and organised. Our church structure is built on biblical foundations, while our legal structure is designed to empower and facilitate our spiritual leadership structure to run the church as a church rather than as a club, society or company.
Our History
Hope! Church is the current name of a coming together of Bridge Christian Centre and Edinburgh City Church. Bridge Christian Centre was formed in the 1930’s in Musselburgh. Edinburgh City Church was a church plant by the current Senior Ministers. Although the early foundations of the church were in Musselburgh it has long been the spiritual home of people outside Musselburgh. Now the church sees itself as existing for Edinburgh and the Lothians as it has members representing all these Council areas.
The church has been part of the Assemblies of God in Great Britain since its inception in the 1930’s. The Assemblies of God is the largest or second largest Christian church in over half the countries of the world. The Assemblies of God is part of a broader Christian movement which is the fastest growing in the world, and one of the largest Christian groups on the planet.
The church has always been committed to being relevant and contemporary and has a great record of working with children and youth.
Senior Pastors
Glenn and Terri-Ann are experienced church leaders who also have business and social action experience.
Glenn and Terri-Ann have a great passion to see people of all ages reach their destiny and live their lives with purpose, integrity and influence. Their commitment to the cause of Christ is displayed by their ability to continually place value on men, women and children in the city and the church.
They are credentialed ministers with the Australian Christian Churches, of which Hillsong, Edge and Planetshakers are three of the biggest local churches. Hillsong’s international influence makes them a good reference for those wanting to know the flavour of Hope!
They took on the leadership of a small struggling church in North Queensland, Australia and saw it grow to be a large significant church from which other local churches were planted.
Prior to that they were part of a ‘revival’ which dramatically effected the traditional aborigines on a remote desert community and they have also worked amongst youth at risk in two cities in Australia.
Glenn and Terri-Ann have five children, three of whom have moved to Scotland and are involved in ministry in Hope! They are all passionate about building a powerful church which makes life better for individuals, families
and communities.