Last year, God's vision for our church was simply to be the church. He wanted to rebuild us at our foundation. His call was one of repentance, to change the way we think for the better. We didn't plan to implement any new ministries or programs or ideas, but rather to return to who Jesus was calling us to be.

We were being called to change how we serve one another and the community, to repent of some poor attitudes and heart motives, and to revisit the question of "Why we are here?" as a church.

Sure, we still have some work to do in these areas, but we've definitely come a long way! God is transforming the culture and atmosphere here in preparation for great things that are coming our way.

Unconditional Love, Sacrificial Integrity, Spirit Lead

When these core values are lived out. When we embody them more fully. When we essentially just treat people the way that we would want to be treated:

Something manifests, there is a resulting product; we obtain the fulfillment of why Jesus gave us these core values to embrace. That result is our 2020 vision!

Chocolate. No, that's not God's vision for New Hope this year, but chocolate is pretty awesome, right? Sweet, creamy, melt-in-your mouth goodness. Chocolate is going to help us to better understand this year's vision.

Chocolate, as we enjoy it, is essentially three components combined - cocoa, oil, and sweetener.

This kind of reminds me of who God is, right? Three-in-one. Father, Son, Spirit. Distinct yet unified.

Unlike God, however, the three components of chocolate aren't the best on their own. I'll never forget the first time that I snuck into our kitchen at home as a kid, grabbed a spoon, and ate my first mouthful of Hershey's baking cocoa. It looked like chocolate, smelled like chocolate, was branded like chocolate, but it didn't taste like chocolate at all! I coughed and choked and spit that stuff out as fast as I could! It was a mess!

Once we combine those three components, however, the result is delicious! The aroma of chocolate being made is incredible, drawing in anyone nearby. Slightly adjusting the ratio of these three components makes different experiences of chocolate as well. There is the 95% cocoa for dark chocolate lovers the whole way down through to light, milk chocolate.

Not only this, but the possibilities of deliciousness beyond these three simple components are incredible!

Chocolate can be combined with peanut butter or caramel or hazelnut or marshmallow or all sorts of other flavors. Chocolate can have added to it nuts or fruit or Rice Krispies or candy. Chocolate syrup or fudge can be placed over ice cream or cheesecake or stirred into milk or used in just about any way that you can imagine!

Now, not everyone prefers certain combinations. For myself, I don't at all like it when chocolate is combined with certain fruits like orange or raspberry. It's not that there is anything wrong with that combination, it's just not my preference.

Also, some things taste great on their own with chocolate, but not when all combined together.

For example, chocolate and coffee are a great combination as are chocolate and strawberries. However, strawberry coffee chocolate won't likely be a best seller. For example, salty potato chips and chocolate make a great combinations as well as raspberry and chocolate. However, raspberry chocolate-covered potato chips won't likely hit the top sales charts of a sweets shop.

What could all of this possibly have to do with God's vision for us this year?

What is His vison for us this year?

Family.

God is calling us to rediscover and reconfirm our unique identity as a church family as well as investing in the families of our community.