New Hope United Methodist Church

06/02/2026

Today's view and thoughts as I am preparing for Sunday. I gave this week's Psalm a peek today from the Message.

05/31/2026

A little late to posting, but the Big Boy locomotive is in Ogden right about now on its way coast to coast! If you are there to see it, say hi to Steven and Beatrice Schutter!

05/31/2026

As we gather for worship today, we come to the close of our month-long journey through miracles. Together, we have witnessed God's faithfulness, celebrated God's provision, and seen what can happen when a community trusts God and steps forward in faith.

Our message today, The Boundaries of Grace, reminds us that while our own strength has limits, God's grace does not. In Romans, Paul gives thanks for a community whose faith encourages and strengthens one another. In John's Gospel, the disciples find themselves in the middle of a storm until Jesus comes to them and says, "Do not be afraid."

As we look back on the miracles New Hope has experienced this past month, we celebrate not only what God has done but what God continues to do through us. When we welcome Christ into the boat, even in uncertain waters, we discover that God has been with us all along.

Today, let us worship with grateful hearts, celebrate God's faithfulness, and give thanks for the miracles that continue to unfold in our midst. Let us worship together.

As we gather for worship today, we come to the close of our month-long journey through miracles. Together, we have witnessed God's faithfulness, celebrated God's provision, and seen what can happen when a community trusts God and steps forward in faith. Our message today, The Boundaries of Grace, re...

05/28/2026

When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.--Acts 2:1

Perhaps we haven't considered how Pentecost would not have been able to happen if they had not gathered together. And who was there? Everyone! Even people who spoke different languages from one another. In other words, there was no one excluded from this gathering of believers. If they were all just from one place, the people may not have even noticed the Holy Spirit among them. It wasn't the fire they noticed, really. It wasn't the feeling of hearts strangely warmed. What they noticed was how one after the other, they could understand each other even with all of their differences. That is how the Holy Spirit is revealed!

Perhaps if we want to have an experience of the Holy Spirit, we need to be willing to gather with others who are not at all like us. Most churches are groups of like-bodied, like-minded, and like-spirited people. Who would notice the Holy Spirit so easily in such a group? To really notice the Holy Spirit, we must be a diverse people, a people who do not fail to gather even when we might not yet have the translation of the Holy Spirit. Then, when we are gathered together in one place, people of diverse traditions and understandings, there will be room and opportunity for the Holy Spirit to descend. Today, whatever you do, make room for diversity so that the Holy Spirit can be seen in your midst!

Blessings of peace in diversity,
Pastor Amy

05/27/2026

BINGO! We have been busy having fun this May!

05/27/2026

Chair Yoga is more fun than you think once the work is done! LOL. Come join us on Mondays and Wednesdays at 9:30am!

05/24/2026

On this Pentecost Sunday and Memorial Day weekend, we gather to celebrate the million little miracles God has done through New Hope UMC. As Psalm 98 reminds us, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things.”

In Luke 12:27, Jesus tells us to consider the lilies, how God cares for them without worry. Today, we remember that God has faithfully cared for this church as well through every prayer, every act of generosity, every sacrifice, and every moment of hope.

This is a day to celebrate the Holy Spirit moving among us, calling us to dream together, serve together, and become hope for the world. And as we honor those who sacrificed for others this Memorial Day weekend, may we also give thanks for the countless ways God continues to work through His people.

Let us worship together and celebrate the miracles God is still creating through New Hope.

This is "New Hope Service from Sunday, May 24, 2026" by New Hope UMC on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

05/21/2026

Dear friends and family of New Hope Des Moines UMC,

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to articulate…I will show miracles in the heaven above and miracles on the earth below." –Acts 2:4,19

This day we celebrate on Sunday, the day of Pentecost, is a revealing of miracles! The first part of the reading above lays out what the miracle is: people are able to speak clearly and hear one another clearly in different languages. Then the last half following the ellipsis is Peter’s explanation to the confused people witnessing the event: Joel told us there would be miracles! And there are miracles! Just LOOK and LISTEN and BELIEVE.

Since the first Pentecost, we have lived in that era of miracles. God has poured out the Holy Spirit into the world, and the result is miracles that we can see, that we can do, that we can believe. The miracle of Pentecost was not unexpected, but it was indeed God’s work. Which of us would be able to do this apart from God? Only God can enable us to articulate something as indescribable as this! And here it is. Just look, listen, and believe!

We celebrate a new era in the UMC, a new start following church altering events of disaffiliation, COVID, and more. We are recentering on God in new old ways. The days of abusing scripture have passed. The days of dividing and despising have passed. These are post-Exilic days, a time when we have felt the pain and the struggle but now are finding our freedom anew. We cannot forget our experience in Exile because it made us who we are, but this is a new season of JOY! We may be still huddled together, 50 days after the resurrection, 50 days into a new freedom, still wondering what is next and how we can do this together. Some days we have been in awe and others we just felt defeated. But we are free! Now, as the Holy Spirit no longer allows us to hold everything inside, we burst with a message so powerful it is heard in every language: Christ is alive! We are alive! This is a new era of miracles!

The UMC has put it into words that everyone can understand around the world! In UM terms that means it is being promoted in all the official languages of the General Conference: English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swahili! (Those are in alphabetic order, not in any order of importance or usage.) In English, it goes like this: Love boldly, Serve joyfully, and Lead courageously! Because after our 50 days of getting over the shock of the change, eventually, it is time for the miracle to happen!

I want to thank everyone who started the adventure with the UMC by participating in Miracle Sunday. Whether you donated food and time to the fundraiser dinner, talents and gifts of service, books or postage to bring real tangible change to a real known place, financial gifts to support not this year but every year via the established foundation, or any $1300 of these things, you loved boldly, served joyfully, and led courageously! And the result? While we don’t have all the worldwide results yet, our congregation was able to surpass our $1000 goal by several hundred dollars! We did it! In addition to the financial goal, we have gathered seminary books and bibles from several retired and active clergy, adding up to an additional gift of 25-26 cases to stock a United Methodist seminary library in the Philippines! This is enough to fill several shelves with dictionaries, commentaries, Greek and Hebrew language learning books, pastoral care books, history books, United Methodist books, study Bibles, and more! Many are new books, and all are sorted into what is useful and current. The value of the boxes is between $500 and $2000 per box (depending on contents) if the seminary had to purchase the same books. Their used value is $4500 based on weight, and approximately $500-700 in postage. This gift is important as the seminary receiving them also has limited online access and resources in the locations where many of the pastors are serving and they currently have a very small number of resources in their print library. That makes our total contribution just shy of $7000!

Thank you to everyone who contributed and made this a successful mission campaign! Well done, good and faithful servants! I hope you have time to savor the joy of this Pentecost miracle you have just brought into the world!

Blessings of Joy,
Pastor Amy

05/17/2026

Today, we gather for Miracle Sunday, a day that reminds us that God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people who are willing to trust, serve, and surrender what they have. This Sunday, we have an opportunity to support the Endowment for Theological Education outside the United States.

In our scriptures from 1 Kings and the Gospel of John, we encounter people who believed there was not enough oil, not enough wine, not enough hope, and yet God transformed scarcity into abundance. Again and again, God works miracles not through excess, but through faithful hearts willing to offer what little they have. A widow shares her last meal. Servants carry jars of water in trust. And through those simple acts of faithfulness, God reveals that there is always enough when we place our lives in God’s hands.

As disciples called to transform the world, we are reminded today that miracles often begin with small acts of generosity, courage, and compassion. When we trust God together, even the smallest offering can become a blessing beyond what we can imagine. As we prepare for today’s message, “Always Enough,” may we open our hearts to the ways God is calling us to participate in the miracles unfolding around us. Let us worship together.

Today, we gather for Miracle Sunday, a day that reminds us that God can do extraordinary things through ordinary people who are willing to trust, serve, and surrender what they have. This Sunday, we have an opportunity to support the Endowment for Theological Education outside the United States. In....

05/17/2026

I hope you recognize the church this morning! On this dark and rainy day, we have our new lighted sign to help you find it! Thanks to all who donated, dreamed the dream, helped do the legwork, and helped with the fundraising! Rain can't stop us now!

I am only giving you a peek from installation so as not to ruin the surprise when you see it! I will see you all today on this Miracle Sunday!