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15 years of Hope

Every church has a first day. And fifteen years ago this week was Hope’s first day.

It was a Sunday evening - November 6, 2011 - when about 30 people gathered in a small meeting room at the Hyatt Place hotel in Grandview Yard for the first public worship service of a church plant called Grace Central - Grandview.

This was a simple beginning. In many ways, it didn’t feel much like a church. Greeters stood in the hotel lobby. The gathering took place in the hotel’s breakfast room. A few kids under 7 played in a small conference room. But God was present.

The next year, the church moved to the Metro School at the corner of Kenny and Kinnear Roads. This meant a larger gathering space, morning worship, and children’s classrooms. Early each Sunday, members hitched up a pickup truck to a trailer, drove it to the school, and unloaded everything from Bibles to nursery supplies.

In 2017, Grace Central - Grandview called its first leaders and became Hope Presbyterian Church.

Then came the pandemic. For a year, Sunday morning worship meant watching an online service led by only one or two people; passing the peace to others happened by text or phone call; and home groups met outdoors around fire pits.

On Easter Sunday 2021, Hope met as a body in person for the first time in a year - outdoors in the parking lot of Northwest Presbyterian Church in Dublin. Families sat in their cars, in lawn chairs, or on picnic blankets. It was hard to hear the sermon. But it was a joy to worship together.

Later that year, Hope began Sunday worship services at the 4-H building on the campus of Ohio State. Since then, the church deepened its ties with campus ministries like Carmen House and Cru and was received into the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

But why does all this history matter?

First, we often talk at Hope about how we are part of the universal church spanning time and space. This is a good reminder that others in our story - before us, after us, and in other places - have encountered and extended that extraordinary welcome of Jesus.

Second, we often try to remember that Hope is participating in God’s world mission. As we think about these fifteen years, we are reminded that this story of Hope is not primarily a story about Hope’s people or meeting locations - it is part of God’s larger story.

The book of First Samuel recounts how the prophet Samuel set up a stone as a memorial to remind Israel of God’s deliverance, saying “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” As we look back over fifteen years of Hope, we can praise God for how He has helped us thus far and trust that our unchanging God will continue to do so.