What's happening at HNW?
- 5 hours ago
- 4 min read
We celebrated our 3-year mark as a church two months ago. Here is a little update for you if you have been following along.
Let’s take a quick look back to the beginning. We felt led to the PNW starting in 2020. Due to many different circumstances, we did not move until Fall of 2022. We held our first church service on February 19, 2023, in Nick’s parents' rental home in East Vancouver, WA, where three people attended. We slowly grew and eventually started meeting in our home in August of 2023. Within a few months, our neighbor started causing some trouble for us with the city, so we were no longer allowed to invite people and grow in numbers as a church. Finally, in May of 2025, we got a new church building!
Since the start, we have fluctuated anywhere between 10 and 30 people. We now have a solid group of about 25 men and women. Being part of a small church is new to all of us. When people are sick, out of town, or are not able to make it, you really notice.
As you may know, there is a music school next door to our church. We have made friends and a small, unofficial partnership with the owner. We allowed them to use our space for their winter recital. It was truly amazing to see our building packed out with well over 100 people. We look forward to more events and partnering with their school as much as possible.
We held our first ever Christmas Eve service, and let me tell you, it was beautiful! What a special moment for the four of us as well as other members who have put a lot of hard work and prayers into this little church. We had a few new visitors, but sadly, they have not returned.
We hosted our first-ever Good Friday service! And of course celebrated our resurrected Savior on Easter Sunday. In the past, we have always invited all church members to stay and have lunch with us. However, now being in a building, we had to rethink how to keep fellowship like we had in the past, but also be realistic, emotionally and financially. This year we decided to provide a light lunch for anyone who wanted to stay longer after church. And it was perfect.
Some of our church members want to put on a prayer and worship night at the end of this month. What a blessing to be at a point where we have other people stepping up, and we (Nick, his parents, and I) do not have to be in charge. They will still attend and help where needed, but we look at this as a blessing and are thankful for the spiritual growth happening in our church. We are hoping this will become a quarterly or even monthly thing.
We currently do not have any youth in our church. However, a few visitors and Nick’s large connection with all the students at the school he teaches at have led us to hosting a youth night once a month. This night will consist of a teaching from God’s Word, worship through music, and a live Q&A session where students will be encouraged to ask any and all their questions. Our goal is not to take kids away from their current churches or youth groups. What this night is for is to aid in equipping the next generation to proclaim Christ back at their churches and schools. We are really looking forward to this starting up next month!
We also did a slight update on our kids' space at church. Although it is usually just my kids, we wanted to have the space ready in case more kids were to show up. We moved to a different room upstairs, cleaned the floors and put down rubber mats. I brought baby gates to keep the kids in, added more toys and books, and even brought a couple of tables. One of our new members has a son she brings sometimes. We pray that the potential is there and one day we will have a thriving, beautiful children’s ministry. But until that day, we are happy to provide childcare when we can.
The biggest change and answer to prayer is that we have built up a worship team! Nick has been doing an amazing job, but we have been praying for a new worship leader. Through the congregation's networking and connections, we have added 4 new members to the worship team. We now have 4 vocalists, a guitar player, a bass player and Nick on the piano. They are slowly working into a rotation, and we are praying for fully committed hearts.
Although things are going great, we still face challenges. Spiritual growth should always be our main concern. Yet sometimes I think we get so caught up in the numbers and people's commitment to attendance. When really we should be focused on preaching the word effectively, digging through scripture and learning to apply it to our lives, and praying for one another. This should be the case whether we have 20 people or 200 people. It is so easy to get discouraged if we are focused on quantity versus quality. When we zoom out, we are always reminded that the Lord will build His church; He is working in all things, even when we don’t feel it or can’t see it. If God is truly sovereign, He is in control of how many people attend each week, who stay committed, who get involved and start serving, the rate at which people grow spiritually, and if we ultimately succeed or fail as a new church.
So we step back from it all and say Lord, we trust You. Thank you for the blessing of Hope Northwest Church and all that You are doing, both that we can see but even more for what we can’t see. Build your church, we pray!
Trust in Yahweh with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Jess T.
Prayer requests
To be content with where God has our church
But also, that we could spiritually keep growing and grow in size as a church
That the youth night will be a hit and continue to grow and benefit the youth in this area
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