The Long of It:
For many years we mostly met in small "Cell" groups on Sundays, and that was our main Sunday worship experience. Once a month we met in a combined "Celebration" service with all the Cells worshipping together.
In 2006 we made a move to all meet together every week. Reasons for this included: providing a better "front door" to visitors, consolidating our children's program, and just all seeing each other more. We had outgrown our own church site (2626 E. 16th St.), and also the Oak Park Tenant Activity Center next door to our church site (which was our interim worship space). God provided the nearby Youth Employment Partnership site, where we currently meet.
YEP has been a great place to meet and worship. Yeah, it's funky, a construction site, next to a busy bus stop, at an intersection that teeters somewhere on the brink between redevelopment and oblivion. This is where we gather to worship, trying to be close to the human condition, to the lives of everyone nearby: the homeless guy passed out on the street; the nearby refugees trying to scratch out a living; the immigrant families now trying to make it work three generations on; the day laborers off to the laudromat; the local business entrepreneurs; the chain store/restaurant employees; the gangbangers, druggies, and streetwalkers; and all those others who somehow find themselves in this place, the Lower San Antonio District of Oakland, California, U.S.A. Here we bring our own needs and longings each Sunday, and receive God's grace to serve and follow Jesus.
As a visitor, you are always welcome to just sit and observe. While we usually take a moment to introduce visitors, that's optional and you are welcome to stay anonymous.
So, what to wear to church? Whatever helps you worship. If it helps you to dress up as part of your self-offering to God, great. If dressing down works better for you as a "just as I am" offering, that's great too. That being said, most folks dress casually and even very casually.
Worship at New Hope includes weekly Communion, and invites all those who trust and follow Jesus to partake. From time to time, as an expression of God's creativity and pleasure in the many different cultures of the world, we serve a variety of breads and juices at the Lord's Table.
Cultural contextualization is an ongoing theme in our church's journey and worship life. Our members come from a wide range of ancestries, to include many from Asian American and Southeast Asian American backgrounds. We believe that cultivating individual and shared "voices" in worship is an essential part of making a full and good self-offering of ourselves in worship.
New Hope observes the seasons and major feasts and holy days of the traditional Christian calendar, including Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. We have people from quite the range of Christian spiritualities and backgrounds, and actively work at learning from each other.
Young children stay with everyone during the opening musical praise part of worship and an opening Scripture reading. They then go to their own program in a fully-furnished children's room for a lesson, activities, and a craft time of their own.
Please note: YEP is an ongoing construction zone, so there are uneven floors, dust, construction debris, and tools around week to week, and maybe too many places to wander off or hide. Please make sure your kids are supervised at all times.
One thing about worship at Youth Employment Partnership--we're not allowed to burn candles there. Wow, we'd really like to but it's a no-no. Well, maybe that's more green.
