Church of Living Hope was started by the families and friends of Calvary Commission on the first Sunday of October, 1990. Calvary Commission is a missionary agency with international offices in Lindale, Texas. Having started churches in other cities and countries, the Lord put it on our hearts to plant a church in Tyler, Texas that would be an expression of His heart for the city. We desired churc
h where people from all walks of life would feel welcome and at home, where high priority would be placed on contemporary worship, and where sound biblical teaching and the ministry of the Holy Spirit would build the body and send forth laborers into the fields. We began that first Sunday morning in October with about 25 people. Since we had no formal traditions as a church or ways of doing things, we just did what we knew to do; worship, and witness. We met on Sunday mornings for worship and went to the streets on Sunday and Friday nights to witness. Eventually we added Sunday evening classes and a mid-week Bible study to instruct the believers, and before long we were beginning to look and feel like the traditional church we were not meant to become. What we were experiencing was good, the Lord was with us, but there was still a longing in our hearts to be an expression of His heart for our city. January 27, 1993 we began to transition into what we saw as the missing link between our vision and our experience. The link was the ministry of small groups. Not small groups that become another program of the church, but small groups that ARE in actuality the church. We changed our Wednesday evening Bible study from a corporate meeting to HOPE Groups meeting in homes. We then canceled our Sunday evening meeting so as to not compete with the HOPE Groups. We saw that we could edify the body and evangelize much more effectively through the ministry of the HOPE Groups. We have not arrived yet, but are pressing on with a Vision and a Dream to be an Expression of God’s heart, exalting His Son and building His Family.
