Living Hope Mission

THE MISSION OF LIVING HOPE
Living Hope is committed to helping households connect with Jesus and his mission. We believe that God is calling us to help individuals, parents, youth and children to engage in lives of service in God's world, and that personal, trusted relationships are the best way to pass on faith in Christ. We are Lutheran so we are committed to the confessional principles of Christ alone, Scripture alone, Grace alone and Faith alone. We seek to use child and youth ministry, vibrant worship, home-based faith sharing and developmental assets building* to reach for God's vision for us. (Developmental Assets are 40 assets identified by Search Institute as crucial for helping adolescents become caring, responsible adults; many are provided in homes, but many are the responsibility of the community, including churches.)
THE LIVING HOPE STORY
In the early 1990s the Southeastern District of the LCMS determined that Stafford County was a viable location for a mission plant, so it purchased 17 acres of land as an advance site. In late 1999 Pastor Mike Mast was called as the mission developer and several families organized to hold the first worship service in April 2000 at AG Wright Middle School. In April 2004 Pastor Mast accepted a call to the Houston area and Pastor Bill Hughes accepted the challenge of serving the congregation as a retired pastor, until December 2005 when our current pastor, the Rev. Gary Rueter was installed. In the spring of 2006 the congregation moved to Winding Creek Elementary School to worship closer to the its property.
Currently, the congregation serves over sixty households in the Stafford area and is averaging over 85 in Sunday worship. For more information about the immediate future of Living Hope, see the Building Program.