Hope Wesleyan Church at 505 4th Ave. N.E., Independence, Iowa, opened its doors at this location 75 years ago. Hope Wesleyan Church is affiliated with the Iowa/Minnesota conference of the Wesleyan Church located in Charles City, Iowa.

Hope Wesleyan Church also supports a variety of overseas missions, local missions, schools, and colleges related to the Wesleyan Church. Hope Wesleyan Church reaches out to offer God's love and new life in Christ to all who have entered our doors. The people of this church desire to honor God by bringing lives into harmony with Him.

For more information about The Wesleyan Church, please click here to access The Wesleyan Church web site.

MISSION STATEMENT

Through the love of Christ we reach out into the community and beyond to bring lives together in harmony with God and one another.

OUR VISION

To celebrate and share the love of Jesus Christ.

OUR VALUES

1. To be able to Celebrate the love of Jesus Christ means to study Scripture in a way that will exemplify Jesus' ministry on earth and His heavenly purpose (2 Timothy 3:16).


2. Through small groups we can be nurtured in our learning. Small groups are a way that this community of believers can care, share, and love one another as Christ loved all of human kind. Small groups are also a way that we share and care for others outside the church (Ephesians 4:23).


3. Through child and adult Sunday school we can learn and share fellowship with one another, while learning our great God's word (Deuteronomy 11:18).


4. Through the presentation of the message we learn in a structured way what God has to say to us. The Word of God is presented by a pastor or other Godly persons within our congregation (1 Peter 2:5).


5. We Celebrate the love of Christ through outreach and missions of the church, not only to our neighbors in our community, but also to our neighbors in our nation and our world (Matthew 28:16-20).


6. As a body of believers we realize that there is only one head of the church, that being Jesus Christ. All areas within the church are responsible to Jesus Christ as their High Priest. Any decisions concerning our church should be presented to our Lord through prayer and meditation before action is taken (Hebrews 4:14).

OUR PURPOSE

To help people grow as disciples who then can go into the world and Celebrate the love of Jesus Christ with others. They can tell of the life and times of Jesus while in His early ministry, and of His purpose in His heavenly ministry, as told to us through the Holy Word of God.

OUR TARGET

To reach out into the community of nonbelievers and believers to proclaim the word of God and make disciples of all pepple in the fulfillment of the Great Command as seen in Matthew 28. We do this through prayer, love, understanding, caring, service, teaching, and training in righteousness.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

When we study the Word of God it is to be in such a way that does not make God's Word so complicated that people have a hard time understanding. It is always done in ways that make people feel comfortable and welcome. When the Word of God becomes too complicated, we are unable to Celebrate the love of Christ. Our goal is to do the above, making us inclusive, yet also being exclusive to people around us.

WE BELIEVE

1. The Bible is the inspired and infallibly written Word of God.
2. There is one true and living God in the three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is holy and loving, eternal, unlimited in power, wisdom and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things.
3. We believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed many miracles, then died on a cross providing forgiveness of sins to all people who choose to believe. He rose from the grave, victorious over sin and death and ascended into heaven where he lives at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us untl the day he returns to judge all men.
4. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, both a comforter as well as bringing conviction of sin for the purpose of repentance and restoration of fellowship with God the Father.
5. Salvation is offered to all who will repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives.
6. The two great commandments require us to love the Lord our God with all of our heart and our neighbors as ourselves
7. Man is created in the image of God. Human sexuality reflects that image in terms of intimate love, communication, fellowship, subordination of self to a larger whole, and fulfillment. Therefore God's plan for human sexuality is to be expressed in a monogamous lifelong relationship between one man and one woman within the framework of marriage. That is the only relationship which is divinely designed for the birth and rearing of children.
8. Man was created by a direct act of God. But because of Adam's sin man inherits a corrupt nature that inclines him to do wrong. Man cannot save himself by his own purpose or works.
9. When a person repents of his wrong doings and believes in Christ, he is justified by faith. He is then regenerated as a new creature in Christ Jesus.
10. Although good works cannot save us from our sins or from God's judgment, they are the fruit of faith and follow after regeneration. By them a living faith may be known just as a tree is known by its fruit.
11. We believe that after we have experienced regeneration it is possible to fall into sin, for in this life there is no such height or strength of holiness from which it is impossible to fall. But by the grace of God one who has fallen into sin may by true repentance and faith find forgiveness and restoration.
12. Christ ordained two sacraments: the Lord's supper reminding us of Christ's death for our sins, and water Baptism to physically identify us as obedient in Christ.