Do they have an agenda?
Yes, of course. The members of Hope are on a mission. We want to tell everyone the good news: Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man, died on the cross to take upon Himself the punishment for everything that falls short of God’s perfect standards. He paid the price that we couldn’t and in so doing, won eternal life for all who believe. This is news so great that we cannot bear to keep it to ourselves. It’s for the whole world.
Our intention is to tell people about Jesus. We’re not here to tell people about a church. That only happens along the way, because we know that people like you can come and hear the good news with us at our church services. So we invite people to come and hear. We hope that you will come, too.
Hope Lutheran Church also hopes to start a Christian Day School. Eventually we would like to offer Portage a full elementary parochial school. It would feature state-certified teachers, who have also completed our church body’s certification program. The curriculum will incorporate God’s Word in very meaningful ways that the public schools simply cannot do. Our church body has a long history of Christian education. Its Board for Education and Youth and the new Lutheran School of America initiative are committed to helping churches start schools. Given this, we hope to have the school started within five years. We will start by upgrading our very popular Junior Kindergarten program. Then each year, God willing, we’ll add a grade.
Another facet of Hope Lutheran’s mission is to support the work of our church body’s missionaries. So we work and scrimp a little at home and gather small donations throughout our church body for use in the mission fields.
Yes, we have plans at Hope. We have an agenda, but not a hidden one. We are glad to share it with everyone who comes to visit us. We hope that you will come and share our vision for the future of Portage. We are striving to give every citizen of our town the opportunity to hear the good news about Jesus and to share in His work and His kingdom. Come and be a part of this good thing.