An open day to tour the newly refurbished church building for Hope Church Leith is being held in April followed by a series of ‘Come and See Services’ as the church opens its door to the public.
Much work has been taking place behind the scenes over the past twelve months as a core team of 13 – led by Rev Derek Lamont and his wife Catriona – has been meeting weekly to pray, to get to know each other and to plan for the future. In addition, there has been a major revamp of the church building on Casselbank Street.
Derek said: “We want to be a Gospel community that love Christ, love each other and love Leith. That’s the foundation and the challenge, as we think how best to serve the people of Leith and share our lives and faith.”
“We are excited to have an Open Day on Saturday 12th April, 10am – 4pm, for the community and anyone else to come and see the finished renovation – we hope to make many contacts that day. If you know anyone in Leith, please tell them about it – and about our monthly series of ‘Come and See’ Services starting on Easter Sunday. Following that, our aim is to start weekly services from the beginning of August. Behind the public worship, we will continue doing the hard work of building trust, making connections, and taking opportunities to share the Good News one to one.”
Derek said: “We are looking forward to the building being used for worship, to serve the community, build connections, and used as our base. ‘Sparkle Sisters’ (a Christian charity started from St Columba’s, our previous church, to work with women affected by homelessness and/or survivors of abuse) will have its staff office in the church and will develop work from there.”
He added: “Our vision, under God, is to grow a Christ-centred church family with a heart for the community in Leith, especially the least, the last and the lost. A community learning to live out the gospel that is welcoming, generous, safe and joyful, with a view to planting more churches in the future.”
Funding has been needed to pay for the building revamp and ministry costs. Derek said: “We are grateful to God for answered prayer, and to you all for your generous support.”
He said that prayer is critical for us as they enter this new stage. “Please remember to pray for all of us in the Core team, that we will keep focus, be encouraged and really enjoy what we are doing! It is such a privilege, and we have lots of reasons to be thankful. We want to be to be built up in our faith and see God at work bringing peace, hope and the beautiful light of Christ’s love to many who are living in spiritual darkness and despair, and others who are simply living life as if this is all there is.”
The ‘Come and See Services’ will take place on the following dates: Sunday 20th April (Easter Sunday)- Loving God; Sunday 25th May- Loving One Another and Sunday 22nd June – Loving Leth. Weekly services are set to start on Sunday 3rd August. All welcome.
For more details, go to: hopechurchleith.org
