On January 22, “newhopers” celebrated the 10th anniversary of newhope Church (Wesleyan) in Durham, North Carolina. The church is part of the North Carolina East District.
Church members and attendees flooded the doors of the Durham Performing Arts Center, bringing with them coats and cans of food to donate to Durham-area ministries. They enjoyed coffee, donuts, t-shirts, and Frisbees, while worshipping in Sunday morning services. Estimated attendance was 4,000.
The worship arts ministry team played a high energy set featuring the spoken word performances of Amena Brown of Atlanta, Georgia. Founding and senior pastor, Dr. Benji Kelley, painted a vision for newhope’s future–one that revolved around continuing the focus of the church’s mission “to reach, teach and release.” More specifically, that vision is to reach people with the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ, to teach them the Bible, and to release them as fully-devoted followers and other churches to the glory of God.
The day was an overwhelming success for newhope’s pastors and staff.
“I will go to my grave remembering the sight from the stage of hands raised in worship from the front row to the very back of the upper balcony. It was amazing!” said Pastor Kelly. “These are people hungry to love and serve our Lord, and who will truly make a mark on the future of newhope and central North Carolina.”
"newhopers" are ready to worship
