EXPANSION 2021 - Hope Centre
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FOR THEIR SAKE EXPANSION 2021
JEREMIAH “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 29:7
WAYNE
AND LYN Jesus said, “I will build my Church”. He
also asks each one of us to partner with
Him by going and making disciples.
What a privilege that is as we see lives
transformed by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
We are so grateful for the wonderful
accounts that are contained within this
2020 – What a year! We chose Expansion Report – stories of God’s love
being poured out on the communities
in which we serve. Our teams were
‘Celebration’ as our theme – 90 amazing as they adapted programs
to suit the needs of families during the
years of kingdom expansion. challenges we all faced in 2020. Because
of your incredible generosity, we were
Despite the challenges that
able to strengthen existing programs
and commence new ones.
we all faced, we’re here today Due to COVID, there was the absolute
celebrating the incredible story
necessity to incorporate digital platforms
to present the gospel. This became
a vital resource to not only keep
of God’s goodness and provision connection with our church family but
also to continue reaching out to our
throughout last year.
communities with the love of Jesus.
Expansion season is such an exciting
time of the year when we prayerfully
consider what contribution we can bring
to extend the Kingdom of God in our
cities, nation and the world. Together, we
can make a difference.
Thank you for your incredible
commitment to the cause of Christ.
RED
LANDS
The planting of a Hope Centre
in Redlands fulfilled the vision
to have a presence in each
of the 5 cities of South
East Queensland.
Services commenced on a Thursday night
in the heart of the Cleveland community
with Ps. Ben & Sarah Coleman and a
team of hard working volunteers. The
fruits of their labour are being seen as
they see people encountering Jesus.
A key partnership that has been
established is with Cleveland High School
through Chaplaincy support, lunch
time school programs and a Help Day
Project where an outdoor classroom and
vegetable garden was built.
Other partnerships have been
LAU
established through supporting
community programs by contributing
to street survival packs and Christmas
hampers to families in need within the
Redlands Community.
There are exciting days ahead as this
Church plant continues to reach its
community with the love of God.
DIG
ITAL
We launched the Incredible Adventure Show
which was our online experience for kids to still
participate in Hope Kids. This included games,
worship and a message. We still use the show
now in our in person and online experiences.
2020 provided an incredible
opportunity to launch into this
ministry, with as many as 2000
devices tuning in over a weekend.
Church Online became our voice
to our local communities, the
EmbassyTV was our way of Nation and beyond.
EVAN
bringing our Embassy Youth
services online. It always
included fun, games, worship, a
message (Philippians Series) and
prayer. EmbassyTV ran for all of
term 2. Being unable to gather
on Friday nights, EmbassyTV was
GEL
our way of broadcasting our
youth services consistently on a
Friday night.
We saw many young people tune in, find
community and interact with EmbassyTV.
There is one story of someone coming to youth
up here at Moreton just because his friend
invited him to watch EmbassyTV.
PART
NER Pete and Kaz Hewitt have
seen great growth in Newlife
Church over the past 12
months with many young
families being added. Their
newly renovated auditorium
New Life Nambour
(completed in 2020) has
Ps. Ben & Danielle Teefy have increased their capacity to
now been the Lead Pastors at cater for this growth.
DLC for five years. Like every
other church in Australia, they With Nambour Christian
had to make adjustments to College right on their
Desert Life Alice Springs
their usual program in 2020 doorstep, an ongoing
but this did give them the partnership has been
opportunity to reach out to established by offering
their community in different the church facilities (and
ways – mainly by using digital personnel) for weekly chapel
technology. They, and their services, school productions
team, were magnificent as etc. This is reaping great
they managed these platforms rewards as school families are
to continue to bring the life- making NLC their home.
changing message of Jesus to
Central Australia.
CHUR
Whilst last year did see a
reduction in the face to face
visits between Hope Centre
and DLC, our Kingdom
partnership continued to
be strengthened through
consistent contact between
our teams.
Education The
Ministry Streets
We continued to support Chaplains via Scripture Union The One Voice Shower Truck increased its service from
– 5 Hope Centre Chaplains across 6 schools, as well 2 nights/week to 4 nights/week as public facilities
as chaplains in a further 6 schools where Hope were closed for the majority of the year. In total,
Centre has connection. over 500 showers were provided and we were
able to provide blankets and toiletry packs
for those doing it really tough.
School Start Up has, once again, put
vital funds into the hands of chaplains
across 27 schools. These funds were A team of amazing volunteers
distributed to families in need continue to be the hands and feet
providing school uniforms and of Jesus, bringing dignity to the
supplies, equipping students for the vulnerable.
year ahead.
Nightwatch Chaplains continued
Across all our locations, Religious their work to those in need, in crisis
Instruction and Brekkie/Lunch Clubs or at risk on the streets of Brisbane.
continued when restrictions were not As the entertainment precinct was
in place. Some mentoring programs not operating during the restriction
were able to continue online. period, they were able to redeploy
and assist other Brisbane agencies
to help manage over 800 people
Our partnership with Red Frogs continued experiencing homelessness by securing
to strengthen, providing support to uni accommodation in hotels.
students wherever possible.
For the last 20 years ChaplainWatch has been the
We continue to support the ministry of Youth Alive as they only expression of Christian ministry overnight in
reach thousands of teenagers across the State – providing Brisbane city. This last year, they have expanded to do
personnel and finances. the same, serving in the cities of Sunshine Coast, Bundaberg,
Gladstone and Rockhampton.
MIMI’S
Kilometres For Kids is now an annual
Mimi’s continues to grow from strength
fundraiser for Mimi’s. Last year, it raised
to strength and we are now seeing the
over $20,000 and will be hosted again
HOUSE
lasting impact it is having on families as
in 2021.
some are starting to call
Hope Centre ‘home’.
THIS REPORT FROM A SCHOOL PRINCIPAL IS JUST
ONE OF MANY THAT HAVE BEEN RECEIVED.
“Suzie is a full-on, strong-willed, amazing seven-year-old girl. She loves coming
to Mimi’s House and has especially enjoyed cooking (she’s taken recipes home
MOTHER’S DAY
to mum). When she started out at Mimi’s she was very aggressive and would
become wet with sweat from anger. She struggled with relationships, boundaries
and social cues, and would tend to attach to just one person. She was very
PAMPER
distracted and found it hard to sit still and listen. At home, Mum was struggling
with establishing family routine and appropriate discipline. Then they lost their
rental and the seven of them moved in with her partner’s family, making ten in
one home.
2020 was a unique year in that we were not able to do our
normal Mother’s Day Pamper event. We did, however, make
During this time, the Mimi’s team Meanwhile at Mimi’s, Suzie was
Mother’s Day special for our neighbours across the road at
were consistently reaching out to learning to respect others’ physical and
Seabrae Manor (Retirement Village). Because of lockdown
Mum. Because of the love and care relational space, to use words to work
and restrictions family were not able to visit. We wanted to
shown to Suzie at Mimi’s, a level of out problems, and to have conversations
let every lady at Seabrae Manor know that they were loved,
trust developed: Mum became open with others. She developed more
valued, special and not forgotten. So I rang the staff at
to talking about parenting strategies friendships and became happy to play
Seabrae asked how many female residents there were and
and accepted advice about services with all the children as she also learned
they sent through 210 names.
to help her navigate their housing the skills of apologising, reconciling, and
situation (which she says has given compromising. She is now able to sit still Through the generosity of HC Women, we were able
her security for a lifetime). and listen during lesson time. to give 210 individually named Mother’s Day gifts to all
Suzie and her family are still on a female residents and boxes of snacks for the staff to show
journey but have made significant our appreciation for the great work they are doing. Our
progress thanks to the care and partnership with our Seabrae Manor neighbours continues to
dedication of the Mimi’s House team.” be strengthened.
Circuit Breaker is a Hope Centre program equipping
churches and community groups to prevent domestic
violence through meaningful engagement with potential
abusers in their communities. This became especially
important in 2020 when national lockdowns saw a 70% rise in
demand for domestic violence services, along with a 60% rise
in DV-related hospital admissions. However, a perfect storm
really took shape when, at the same time as this heightened
demand, restrictions meant that all face-to-face perpetrator
groups were forced to shut down across Australia.
BREAKER
Hope Centre’s response was to address this gaping
prevention gap by developing new training and procedures
which could mitigate the risks of Circuit Breaker groups
CIRCUIT
being offered online. This resulted in four online groups
being offered in 2020, including a very successful program
for 8 inmates of the Brisbane Immigration Detention Centre.
Another online group resulted in such a transformation for
one man that he subsequently trained to assist with another
new men’s group at Forest Lake.
As restrictions continued, and shut-in volunteers became
frustrated, Hope Centre decided to waive all training costs
for our online Circuit Breaker Facilitator Training School.
This has resulted in a fresh wave of momentum, with 33
people becoming qualified to deliver the program in the
local communities right across Australia. From this side of
lockdown, we are already seeing the fruits of this training, as
new shoots begin to pop up in communities across greater
Brisbane, and interstate.
COMMU
NITY
SecondBite is one of our major partners. This charity has
been operational since 2005, collecting and distributing
wasted food to over 1,000 community food programs where
we are one of the recipients.
Despite the challenges our Community faced, our Emergency
Relief Food Parcel Program, together with SecondBite
supported around 964 families right through to the end of
2020. This was through home visits, drop offs and telephone
community pastoral care.
As part of our partnerships, we are a SecondBite Community
Hub for Logan where eligible schools and service providers
pick up from us.
Logan is diverse and very multicultural with a strong
During Covid lock downs and Council and Community Organisations that work together
restrictions, Hope Centre Logan still to strengthen and support community. This was evident
opened their doors – connecting during Covid as we witnessed the Community workers
getting together to continue services that were vital for the
and delivering food parcels and community. This included Hope Centre networking with many
SecondBite to our local community. other services in the local Community.
ENGAGE
Help Day
Over 300 participants across all locations completed 11
projects within our communities. Working in 7 schools, 1 life
skills hub, 2 neighbourhood community centres, 1 retirement
facility. Our volunteers built gardens, repaired walkways,
painted, put together hampers for those escaping domestic
violence and made masks for seniors.MAKE A
2020 saw a new partnership with the Queensland Children’s
Hospital emerge. We delivered over 200 hampers on both
Mother’s Day & Father’s Day to families who had a child
in hospital.
MOTHERS
“Thank you so much again for the
amazing hampers your team put
together. These were very well received
by mums on Sunday and they brought
big smiles to many faces. With the
craziness that comes with having a sick
child in hospital, there were quite a few
mums who had forgotten it was even
Mother’s Day. I’m sure you can imagine
how special it was for them to be
reminded of Mother’s Day and made to
feel extremely special and appreciated
with a beautiful hamper gift”.
AND
Eden was admitted to hospital the same time last year so
Nicole was gifted a beautiful Mother’s Day hamper from
Hope Centre in 2020. You can’t see it in the photo but they’re FATHERS
DAY
sitting on the plush blanket they received in last year’s
hamper. Her husband said he was under strict instructions
to bring the super comfy blanket when they came to the
hospital. It’s an item they bring with them each time as they
find it very comforting for their hospital visits.INDIGE
NOUS
Whilst NAIDOC was not able to run their
celebration last year, the various sponsors,
store holders and participants did gather
together online ensuring that they did
not miss out on this very important event.
Strategic Zoom meetings were also gathering
points for the Elders who were unable
to travel.
Our Moreton Campus opened its doors and
MINIST
hosted a lunch for Indigenous Elders. This
was an enriching time as leaders gathered
together from far and wide.
School Start Up funds were also given to an
RIES
Indigenous Chaplain to assist in meeting
student needs. This partnership will be
ongoing as the relationship is strengthened.
Ministry into prisons was suspended during
2020 but is up and running again in 2021.ROSS & DONNA:
GLOBAL
GLOBAL
NORTH ASIA AND THAILAND
During 2020 our team in North Asia have continued to conduct
children’s programs at the Future Hope Community Centre. In
the impoverished community where we have been working,
many families and children have been blessed and helped in
both spiritual and material ways during the pandemic. Our
GLOBAL
team have visited families and distributed masks, food, and
other essential items. They have had the opportunity to pray
with people for their needs and demonstrate the love of Jesus
in very tangible ways during this season of uncertainty
and fear.
We have continued to guide, mentor and encourage our
GLOBAL
team in North Asia through Zoom meetings and other
communication platforms. It has been wonderful to see
them continue to minister with compassion and enthusiasm.
Ross has written two books in 2020. One was written to
encourage believers to “Live in the Moment.” The other
is a training program for leaders in North Asia called
“Pathfinders.” It was written to put tools in the hands of
senior leaders to enable them to more effectively develop
emerging leaders.
We have now relocated our ministry base to Chiang Mai,
Thailand. We have started to develop an in-service leadership
training program for local pastors and church workers in
Northern Thailand. We are believing that this program will fill
the information and training gap that exists between what
they have learned in Bible college and what they face in their
day to day ministries. We have done a lot of research, and
will continue to do so, to identify the struggles and challenges
that these leaders are facing. As we, together with the local
pastors, consider culturally appropriate responses to these
issues, this will essentially become the curriculum of the
training program.VIET
KELVIN & REBEKAH:
VIETNAM
2020 – what a ride!!!
Like many of us, the COVID-19 pandemic has really
NAM
prompted us to relook and adjust the way in which we
approach all that He has called us to here in Vietnam.
For us, it is not over yet, with another wave of infections
and different parts of the country lockdown again. This,
in addition to the damage and devastation caused
by months of typhoons, flooding and landslides has
encouraged us as a team to get back to the ground zero
basics of our faith and the motivation behind why we do
VIET
what we do – seeking His wisdom and guidance on how to
practically outwork His mandate in this nation.
Our team have been simply amazing and really risen to
the challenge of on and off again working arrangements
and found creative ways to be about His good work.
Closures have not stopped the impact of connecting
NAM
with people and meeting them at their point of need and
working together to see those needs fulfilled with respect
contribution in this world. We have continued to deliver and
and dignity.
support children in need of custom-made mobility devices
to improve the mobility, strength, and quality of life for
children who have cerebral palsy or other mobility issue. We
Thanks to your generosity and continued prayer support, have continued with income generation projects to support
our team have continued to connect with and directly farming families improve their lives and livelihoods as well as
partner with 26 communes (suburbs) across two provinces connecting people with clean water.
VIET
(states) - made up of 180 villages with a total population of
over 155,000 people - including ‘your village’ of Tam Thanh
which we affectionately call ‘Tam Hope’. Your support has
continued to bring transformative and lasting change Through your generosity, many lives have seen the love of
in Tam Hope through the provision of much needed God real and evident in their world. “Without your prayers
equipment at the medical centre which sees to the health and support, we could not do what we do.” We cannot count
needs of thousands every month in the community. how many times we have said this, yet it remains ever so
true. None of us will ever know the impact we have had in
NAM
this world, but we can be encouraged that our faithfulness in
seeking His Kingdom first and prioritising the one will have
In the last few months, we have been able to screen over
eternal blessings.
30,000 children for heart defects or other cardiac issues
through our Early Detection & Prevention Clinics, with
more clinics scheduled after restrictions lift. From these
From the team here in Vietnam, THANK YOU for your love
clinics, hundreds of children have received the treatment
and support which blesses individuals, families and whole
they need to live in health and grow to make a valuable
communities – you have impacted so many lives!DOUG & ANNA: JOSH & RACHEL:
GEORGIA AND KAZAKHSTAN VIETNAM
Like many Australian workers, we were unable to travel to our base in Early in 2020, we were able to bring Josh, They remained well connected with their
Georgia in 2020. Despite this, we have been able to teach and preach to our Rach and their kids back to Australia. projects back in Vietnam, giving support
leaders through Zoom. Our people have adapted well to online services and At the end of 2020, Josh and Rach and encouragement to their national
established YouTube channels that are reaching beyond their groups. made the very difficult decision to base leaders who continued the work of Life
permanently in Melbourne. House – a home that reaches out to
Our gathering in Tblisi (Georgia) has Our team in Batumi (Near the Turkish single, pregnant women.
had an explosive growth in children’s border in Georgia) have established
work. Refugee children from mostly an outreach program to mostly
Iran and Syria are attending the Kurdish street kids. It is hoped to Below is the story of one of
children’s program. establish an education centre to teach these young women:
An outreach program was started literacy and numeracy as the kids
and it has continued to grow. Now don’t attend school and spend their “Perhaps when people look at me today, they will not think that I’m a single mother
many families are coming regularly lives as beggars. at the age of 23 and have great optimism for my future. It was not always like this.
to the weekly gatherings. When I found out I was pregnant with twins, the father of my babies wanted me to
have an abortion. I was torn – should I abort my babies and keep my relationship
In Kazakhstan our workers are continuing to reach out and disciple people. with their father? I couldn’t live with the guilt, so I decided to keep the babies. There
A number of leaders are studying for their masters. Many more have completed was no one I could turn to as my parents would disown me because of the shame.
or completing undergraduate degrees. Leadership training remains a strong I was at a crossroads and was desperate.
dynamic in Kazakhstan. Georgia is a mission of Kazakhstan and is following
with a strong emphasis on training. Leaders in Georgia are completing a By accident, I found a website for a shelter that took care of unmarried pregnant
diploma of ‘word’ studies. women in Da Nang. When I arrived, I was even more surprised to find out that the
house was actually a church. I now consider Life House to be my second family.
Please continue to lift us up, as well During my time there, I learned about Jesus and made a decision to give my life
as the work we lead. Your petitions to Him.
and giving make an incredible
difference. Thank you. After a couple of months, I finally had the courage to tell my parents – about being
pregnant with twins and becoming a Christian. They said they would disown me
and the babies if I continued as a Christian. I made the decision to worship only
God. After my girls (Psalms & Grace) were born, their father suddenly wanted me
to come back but on the condition that I renounce my faith. I was once again at a
crossroads. Finally, I decided to give up the security of financial support and follow
Jesus no matter what it cost me. The challenge of that decision was great but the
struggle was not over.
I committed all my doubts, depression and suicidal thoughts to God. He answered
my prayers. Today, my life is stable. I have a job. My family have forgiven me and
accepted me back. God has been so good to me and the people at Life House
have shown me unconditional love. Today I have a more optimistic outlook on life
and know that there is nothing more precious than knowing God and depending
on Him. I now have peace in my life.1Day Every year, Hope Centre’s Christmas offering is donated to the 1Day Appeal, to help people and communities in need across the globe. In 2020, these incredible donations for Missions amounted to $47,122, enabling 1Day to support vital work in nine countries around the world. One of these projects is the Teen Challenge Centre for Women in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, where a street outreach program to women exploited by the sex trade has been established. While the Teen Challenge Men’s program has been running for many years, there has been nothing similar for women. One Life Partnership Being a One Life Partner, strengthens ACCI to not only staff their Operations Centre, but also provide practical assistance and advice to field workers. This partnership helps to ensure that our monthly mission contributions have the best possible impact. Disaster and Humanitarian Relief Natural disasters are devastating for communities both here in Australia and around the world. When these disasters hit, we are so grateful for your compassion and capacity to contribute to alleviate the stress and displacement that is experienced. By your giving, you have assisted Hope Centre to partner with ACCI to bring hope for the future. Thank you. You have given so much ACCI
THANK YOU For more information on how to be involved and details on how to give, visit hopecentre.com/expansion
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