Articles and Sermons
Free CDs!
That's right! Receive Free weekly audio of our Sunday Services on CD with no obligation. Ideal for anyone who is not able to attend Church on Sunday. Share CDs with friends and relatives. This is our way of spreading the Word.
New Hope Lutheran Church History and Mission
Welcome to New Hope Lutheran Church
On behalf of the members and friends of New Hope Lutheran Church, welcome to our
website. It is our sincere desire that you find this site helpful and
informative. New Hope is the biggest little church in your neighborhood.
As pastor of New Hope Lutheran Church, I began as most pastors begin. I
wanted to see the congregation grow, I wanted to have a church building to make
our visible statement to the community, and I wanted to preach better than any
other pastor could preach. I soon realized that God didn’t call me to
build the church—He called me to preach His Word and preach to all who will
listen. As one of my wise members pointed out one day, our church is not
constrained walls. Our church is the entire world; we don’t know how far
it reaches. As our congregation remains small in number, it reaches at
least nine states, it reaches at least two countries outside the United States,
and it reaches many places we didn’t know we sent it.
Our Ministry
We were chartered as an independent congregation in September 1996. There
were six charter members, and three remain members today. The 75 mile
drive each way to attend church became too much for the other three members, and
they left the congregation after five years. Our attendance is generally
between 9 and 12 for Sunday worship. We also have a nursing home ministry
at Coliseum Park Nursing Home in Hampton, Virginia. Attendance at our
nursing home Wednesday evening Bible study is usually between 20 and 40
residents and sometimes includes family members of the residents. The
congregation’s involvement in the nursing home ministry is nothing short of
total commitment. On most Wednesdays every regular attendee of New Hope
Lutheran Church comes to the nursing home to help set up speakers and equipment,
to help move residents into the meeting area and return the residents to their
rooms, to help residents turn pages during the lesson, and to return the
equipment to the church’s cargo trailer. We all enjoy the fellowship and
the opportunity to serve.
In the year of Pastor Binder’s ordination, 1998, the congregation began to send
tapes of the worship service to several Lutherans who could not travel to attend
on Sundays. This ministry began to grow, and has become a ministry in and of
itself. The congregation has invested thousands of dollars into sound and
recording equipment to maintain and improve our recorded worship services.
Today we no longer offer cassette tapes, but we offer to mail free CDs to anyone
who needs them. Recipients include those without a church, those
housebound (sick, amputees, etc.), and those who cannot find a source of the
Word in their local area. Our website has been designed to make our
message available to all visitors, and there is a sign up area to send CDs to a
friend or relative who might benefit. Downloading in audio or print is
also available.