Spotlight on Tabita, our Impact Intern

We caught up with Tabita Pfaender, who is giving up a year to serve Hope Church as an Impact Intern. 

Tabita, can you tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from and how did you come to know Jesus?

I’m from Steinen, a village near to the black forest, near to the border of Switzerland and France. Just a two hour drive to Italy for a great holiday on the Lago Maggiore...

So, that was the bit to make you jealous. But aside from that it’s a normal village, much smaller than Ipswich and therefore Ipswich is a big place for me although that may sound strange to you! 

I grew up in a Christian Family and when I was older, I totally fell in love with the church, it became my second family. I went regularly to the kids club and then to youth and small group, that was not just normal for me, it was a great thing to do. I can’t tell you a time when I had a big encounter with Jesus but I got to know him better and better through the years and understood what it really means to follow him with unconditional surrender.

And how did you come to be here in Ipswich? What are you up to here at Hope Church? 

I planned to take a gap year before my last school year started and doing an Impact year sounded good to me. First I wanted to do it in London but after a few things happened I wasn’t sure about that. At this time Maurice came to visit my Family in Germany for an evening because he knows my father and was in the country. We got on really well and started joking that I could do my Impact Year in Ipswich. That all sounded great and after he left I had to decide which church to go but deep in my heart I knew that the decision was made. 

In Hope Church I’m involved in some of the Tots-Sessions, I’m part of the youth team on Tuesdays and Fridays and I have the privilege to help Susan and her Team in Oasis where God has given me lots of grandparents. 


I help Jeni and her team in Kickstart and on Sundays I help in Jelly Beans and in Glue. Every other month I go to Bedford for a week of training with 18 other Impacters from England (and some others from Germany too). We learn about the Bible, the Holy Spirit, Worship, Kids and Youth work, Prayer. I had three of these weeks already and they've been amazing!

What’s the best thing about England? 

THE SEA!!!! And Hope Church, of course ☺ 

Would you recommend an Impact year to other people? 

Yes, definitely! The teaching is awesome and you build great relationships with the other Impact students, we’re like a big family. 


It’s amazing to work for a whole year in a church and to get the chance to get involved in things you have never done before. It’s good to get to know another church so closely, you get so much experience and you learn a lot about yourself. I am getting to know God in a way I could never imagine. You can’t expect to walk on the water like Peter did if you’re still standing on the beach. You have to step out of your comfort zone, out of the boat, with your trust in God and you will never stop being amazed what he is doing. And Impact is a great opportunity to go for it!

Impact is changing slightly next year to become I.D (Intentional Discipleship. There's more information to be found here - please contact Tom Scrivens if you're interested in serving with Hope Church for the year. We're looking for more amazing people like Tabita to come on an adventure with us. 

Tabita Pfaender

Spotlight on the Ipswich Winter Night Shelter

As this Sunday is Homelessness Sunday, we caught up with Brian and Sue Anstey and Hugh Gibson who lead Hope Church's contribution to the Ipswich Winter Night Shelter. 

Guys, tell us a bit about the shelter and the heart behind it...

The shelter has been running in Ipswich since 2011 and we have been involved as coordinators since it’s beginning. It operates along similar lines to that of other shelters around the country initiated by a Christian housing organisation called Housing Justice. This year Hope Church is hosting the shelter every Sunday night / Monday morning from the beginning of December until the middle of March. It is a rolling shelter involving 7 churches in Ipswich, each hosting a separate week night. 

We cater for up to 12 guests each week, providing an overnight stay. This includes a hot meal, a bed for the night and breakfast in the morning. There are 14 volunteers who come each week and who help us to create a welcoming, relaxing atmosphere as well as carrying out all the necessary practical tasks. 

As churches in Ipswich, we aim to show the love of Jesus to people who, predominantly, would otherwise be sleeping on the streets.  Ipswich Winter Night Shelter offers hope and hospitality as part of a wider strategy, helping them contact other agencies who can assist them to solve their problems on a longer term basis.

Prayer is a big part of what we do. We pray before and after each shelter. We also pray for specific situations, especially where there is tension between guests. There is a prayer coordinator who organises a team of people to pray regularly across the 7 shelters.

How many people are you serving on Sunday evenings at the moment? Tell us a little bit about their situations.

Presently, we cater for up to 12 people. This year, so far, we have only had male guests, but we have, over the last 3years, accommodated women as well.

Some of the guests this year are from Eastern Europe and have been sleeping in the woods before coming to the shelter. Some of the others have lost their jobs and, therefore, their homes or have been evicted. Some have suffered breakdown of a relationship or have been released from prison with nowhere to live. Others have severe problems with alcohol and/or drug misuse and have been unable to cope.  

How can we be praying for the Night Shelter at this time?

As a church, we need to pray for each of the guests and volunteers to have peace and safety through each night. We need to pray for good relationships between the guests. Throughout the project, we can pray that the lives of the guests will have better and more positive outcomes as they are encouraged to overcome their problems. We also need to pray that the guests will experience the love of Jesus in their lives and will come to know Jesus as their Saviour. 

If anybody would like to know more details about the night shelter or who would like any further details about prayer needs, please speak to one of us. 

Thank you for your support,

Sue and Brian Anstey and Hugh Gibson.

Coffee Break Catch Up with Dan Wicks

We caught up with Dan Wicks, our Youth Worker, who came on staff in September. Dan is also helping the church with Events Management and our Sound & Lighting Tech. 

Dan, what have been the highlights of your first three months working for Hope Church?

It has been an incredible three months here at Hope. I came in to the role in September and it feels like my feet haven’t touched the ground yet. We have seen our youth numbers rise, culminating in our Christmas party with 24 young people present. This is great to see and I am excited with the rate of growth we are seeing. 

We have had to increase our Sunday morning provision and now meet in 2 separate rooms as Grid and Substance. In September we changed the way Tuesday nights worked and introduced Deeper, an evening where the young people can come and go deeper with God. One highlight was a split boys and girls session. With the guys, we saw God speaking to us through prophetic words - it was incredible to see them listening to God and responding to his voice. The girls spent time looking at self-esteem and God’s ideas of beauty. This was followed by a time of group reflection and prayer. The most amazing thing was the feedback after the session. One parent told the team their daughter opened up to her parents like never before, explaining the whole session and how God had spoken to her. Some parents said their boys came back ‘buzzing’ from their night of prayer and prophecy. Then in November I had the privilege of gathering together the whole Youth Team to share my vision and we had a time of prayer and discussion about the coming year ahead. There was a great buzz about the place and what God is going to do in the future. 

What’s going on in the youth work at this time?

In September, we launched our new mentoring program and we now have 80% of our young people hooked up with a mentor to meet with every couple of weeks. We also meet every Tuesday with Deeper and Café alternating weeks. We regularly see young people come and chill out at café as well as meet with God in a variety of ways at Deeper. Grid and Substance have outgrown their rooms and so we should see a new venue in 2015 for Substance. 

What are you excited about looking forward to 2015?

The biggest and most exciting thing that we are launching in January is our new identity. Youth4Hope has served us well for the past few years but it is time for a change. As of January 2015, the youth ministry here at Hope will be known as LEGACY – a generation redefined. We will have a new identity and program launching plus a number of fresh and exciting opportunities opening up for the young people here at Hope. We will see Deeper go weekly on Tuesday nights, with Café running fortnightly on a Friday Night. We'll have Bi-monthly worship nights, a weekend away in April and the launch of Legacy Youth Council. I am so excited about January 2015 and the year ahead. 

As you are aware this kind of programme cannot happen without a large and committed youth team. We are always looking for people to join the team. So if you have a heart to see the next generation redefined to be the people God made them to be, please get involved - we need you! 

There are opportunities to serve in so many ways with Legacy. You can mentor a young person, get involved on a Tuesday night with Deeper, Friday nights with Café and Sunday mornings with Grid (11-14s) or Substance (15-18s). If you feel that serving within Legacy is the place for you then please contact me and we can talk. 

Dan.wicks@hopechurchipswich.net - 01473 233176.

Inventive Advent

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, meaning we get Advent Calendars! An advent calendar is exciting, but it’s so often about ‘what’s in it for me?’ - most often, chocolate and a countdown to receiving in excess.

As a family we’ve tried a couple of things to make it mean that bit more. 

We tried having one calendar and taking turns to promote sharing. We tried being Jesus-centred with a chocolate advent calendar that had a nativity image and Christmas story booklet. 

These went some way to countering the consumer culture of Christmas. But if I’m honest, they hardly made a mark. This year, we’re being even more intentional about advent. Here are some of the ideas I’ve found:

Preparing

Instead of small gifts/chocolates in the advent calendar, have tasks to help prepare for Christmas. Talk about how Mary prepared for the arrival of Jesus. This gets the whole family involved in the preparation together and helps with the list that you’d have to work through anyway. Write your own or choose 24 from this list. 

Giving / Serving

Instead of a traditional calendar, commit to a random act of kindness each day, making advent about others rather than self. Talk about our Biblical command to show God’s love to others. Here are some excellent suggestions for brightening someone’s day.

Learning

Get to grips with the big meaning of Christmas by putting it in context of the whole Bible. Each day, read together a part of the bible leading up to the birth of Christ. Use a story bible, or use a list of readings like this.

Jesus

Focus on Jesus by discovering the names attributed to Him in the Bible. Make a paper chain by adding a name each day, reading and talking about the verse together.

Play

Build up a nativity scene, 1 figure at a time throughout advent, you can be creative with this. Set up the entire nativity scene except for Jesus and add him on Christmas day. Each day move a glow star closer to your nativity scene and allow the children to help the wise men follow.

I hope that these activities help you to enjoy this season as we get ready to celebrate the amazing arrival of Immanuel.

Hannah MacFarlane

Review of 18-30s Weekend Away

It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since our 18-30s weekend away! Life gets so busy and seems to fly by – a nice weekend break in Darsham was just what we all needed. It was such a great opportunity to spend some time together and get to know one another – and God – a little bit better. 

We had a great turnout – around 40 people attended! However, the Darsham Community Centre only sleeps 24, so several of our brave men pitched their tents in the garden. The Community Centre also happens to be a converted station house, so the tents were quite close to the rail lines – not the best night’s sleep for our campers but they survived! 

We were blessed to have Al and Debs McDonald as our first speakers on Saturday morning. As there was no pulpit they improvised with an ironing board, which certainly helped it stick in our minds!

“'The Sermon from the Ironing Board' is what I remember most from Darsham,” said Jeremy Brown.  “From behind this unusual pulpit, Al and Debs encouraged us to discard our former selves and 'do more of what makes us holy'.”

After lunch, we headed off to Dunwich for an afternoon by the sea. One group found a field where they could play some games, while the rest of us took a walk around Dunwich Heath, followed by tea and cakes. It was a lovely afternoon and a great chance to connect with each other and just hang out.

That evening we had a great talk from Tom Scrivens, who reminded us how big and amazing God is, focusing on verses from Isaiah 40. It was a great way to get us in the right mindset for worship, led by Abi Beaton. 

Following this we had a really powerful time of worship and prayer – the Holy Spirit was definitely there, working on our hearts! A lot of people were prayed for, and several people brought words for others in the group. We also spent some time praying for what God is doing in the church and the town.

Sunday was more chilled out, with worship in the morning and some time to just hang out. The weekend definitely felt like it was over too soon!

“It was a great opportunity to fellowship with friends, get to know someone new and step away from the normal madness which is everyday life and just focus on God!” said Kamilah Bartley.

God really moved over the weekend and broke through in people’s lives. It was amazing to see His heart for the 18-30s at Hope. He’s definitely doing great things – among the 18-30s, in Hope Church, and in Ipswich as a whole!

Jade McFarland

Why Membership?

It was a great privilege to welcome 11 people into membership at Hope Church yesterday. 

I get asked from time to time why we have a membership at Hope Church. My first response is that many, many churches have membership and we're certainly not an exception! My second response is that in a growing church, which we are, it's so important for the leadership team to know who's really identifying Hope Church as the place they want to call home and who's just checking us out. 

Here's five quick reasons why we feel membership is important. 

It is stated in the Bible: “Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about 3,000 were added to their number… and the Lord added to their number daily” (Acts 2:41&47). The biblical pattern is that people come to know Jesus and then get added to a local church.

It is implied in the Bible: The Bible describes local church as a  “body”; this metaphor for the church assumes functioning, meaningful membership.

Leadership held to account: The Bible cautions church leaders that they will be held to account for how they lead, and equally church members are instructed to honour their leaders. Both instructions presuppose meaningful church membership.

New Testament structure: The epistles (the letters in the New Testament) were written to local churches assuming all believers would be members of local churches and therefore would hear their epistles being read out.

New Testament discipline: In cases of serious on-going un-repentance, Paul instructed the churches to expel members from the church. This instruction assumes that there is a group of people who are members of the church, distinct from those who are just visiting. 

So, with this in mind, if you're not a member of Hope Church and you'd like to explore church membership some more, I'd love to invite you to our next Getting Connected Evening on the 1st of December, 19:30 pm at the Orwell Centre. 

As well as there being some snacks and drinks (bonus!) we'll be presenting the key values of Hope Church and what our vision is going forward.

Tom Scrivens

Why Baptism?

When Christians are baptised, they fulfill the command of Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20) and are submerged in water to identify with His death, and rise out of the water to identify with His resurrection (Romans 6:1-10; Colossians 2:12).

This identification with the death, burial, and resurrection through baptism testifies to the fact that we believe in faith that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, rose three days later, and now is alive and Lord over all of creation.

It seems that everywhere you look in the book of Acts, baptism follows immediately after people profess their faith in Jesus. In many churches in our country, baptism is taught as an 'optional extra' - do it if you feel like it or when it feels right seems to be the prevailing teaching. Baptism wasn't an optional extra for the early church; it was a command of Jesus and the Apostles took it seriously, making it clear that part of a response to the gospel is baptism. 

Maybe you're a Christian and you haven't yet been baptised, fully submerged in water. Please can I urge you, if you haven't been baptised and you know Jesus as Lord of your life, to consider getting baptised. We have a baptism service on the 16th November at Hope Church, if you'd like to be baptised then, please email office@hopechurchipswich.net and let us know. We will ask you to attend a baptism class beforehand in order to ensure that you fully understand what baptism is all about and to talk through the practicalities of the baptism service. 

You may not want to get baptised in front of 200+ people - that is fine - you can get baptised in the sea, or in a paddling pool in your back garden! It doesn't matter where, the most important things is that you obey the command of Jesus to be baptised. 

Tom Scrivens