HopeSide after August 31, 2020
HopeSide's lease has been terminated. Until we find a place, we will have home based meetings at 10702 Cherry Tree Ct., Hyattsville, MD 20783. Before anything else is said, let this be known and well appreciated: The church we have been renting for the last 9 years has been a great blessing to countless many. We are indeed grateful to them and God for the opportunity we have been given to start a ministry.
The purpose of this public disclosure is meant to be
informative and correctional. This is not our
preferred method of resolving any kind of disputes.
However, many attempts at resolving our differences
in private have been rejected and the other church's
concerned official has resorted to greatly harming
our ministry based on misinformation and
misconception about who Adventists are, or for that
matter, what Christianity is all about. We
believe that despite any differences, Christians are
called to bear one another's burdens thus
exemplifying Christ's love. Christianity
should be about being redemptive and not punitive.
Our lease was terminated for the following reasons:
- That "there are specific doctrinal distinctions found in the core Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) beliefs and practices that are not in line with traditional standard Baptist and Biblical Evangelical orthodoxy."
- They believe that once HopeSide leaves, they will grow as they can "consistently present and promote those tenets of the Christian faith associated with the Baptist and Evangelical theology to the community."
-
Adventists are not looking to be
in line with any one, tradition or orthodoxy but are
looking to be in line with God as revealed in the
Bible and therefore, believe in
"Sola Scriptura"
or the Bible alone.
Everything else including the writings of
Ellen G.
White, Luther or anyone else is measured according
to the Bible alone. We are always open to
dialogue for correction and learning from one
another and primarily the Bible.
Coincidentally, this kind of phenomenon of
"Christian vs. Christian", and "Cain vs. Abel" over
matters of faith has been predicted to happen in the
end times according to Adventist
eschatology and so
this is being disclosed publicly to stimulate
further open discussion. It's not even clear
if this condition of "being in line with Baptist
orthodoxy" was part of the lease but that's
another matter. These conflicts are thousands
of years in the making and we believe that resolving
matters of faith in a business transaction is not
appropriate. Keeping some issues separate from
each other like the keeping of the
church and state separate can better aid in
clarity and understanding to avoid needless
conflicts.
- The
church can grow most when the
golden rule is followed which is to show love to all
no matter any ideological and doctrinal differences
as exemplified by
Jesus Himself when He associated with sinners
and as illustrated in the example of the
Good Samaritan. We are called as Christians to
live and
love each other as we love ourselves.
If there's no love, nothing else matters.
When we truly love each other no matter our
differences, it does not mean that we are
compromising with our cherished doctrines but that
we are
fulfilling the law of love.
Even when there's no growth, our call is still to grow in
love for one another as Christ has loved us.
- There are many churches in
the Washington D.C. area that rent their
facilities to those of other Christian "faiths" and
doing so has not slowed their growth or sent a mixed
message to the community. Jesus said that
He has His sheep in every fold
and to let the
wheat and tares grow together until the time of
the harvest. We believe that God is not in the
business of blessing and growing only those who
promote their specific doctrines from their
particular buildings or their own camps. This
kind of belief is contrary to what the Bible
teaches. Christianity in its highest form is
to
give up oneself and give away everything to the poor
and needy and follow God besides the
keeping of the Ten Commandments which in summary are
love to God and Man.
-
Christianity is not about competition between
various faith groups. Besides, there are many
who identify as Baptists and Evangelicals who have
very different and opposing beliefs from one
another, therefore, HopeSide is not clear about
which tenets of the "Baptist" and or "Evangelical"
orthodoxy that we are not in line with?
- It's worth noting also that no two Christians or even family members are alike in their beliefs or practices, but the one thing that can bind us together is the understanding of who God is and what He commanded us to do which is to love one another unconditionally despite any differences. Matters of faith are best left up to individual conscience and God.
Other points to consider:
UPDATE: May 30, 2023 -
After the case was taken to court by HopeSide,
Calverton Baptist Church settled for a certain
amount that was less than what was asked but
HopeSide decided to settle for that amount and move
on.
Further, four ladies from HopeSide asked the
person concerned to please reconsider
letting HopeSide continue to stay on the basis of
Christian love. One of the ladies even said
that in heaven these differences we have now will
not be there. The official then
told the ladies that it cannot happen and that he also
believes that "we will not be in heaven together".
HopeSide believes that matters of salvation are
God's prerogative.
The same person then followed up in
a sermon a week later by stating that
he will not entertain or tolerate fellowshipping or
associating with those (referring to HopeSide it is
assumed) who blaspheme
God's word, do not use the entire Bible or care
about doctrines, that we are in darkness, and that we
don't worship the same Jesus as they do.
You can hear that person's speech given on January 12, 2020
at the link below. We invite him to
respond to anything that has been posted here and
are open to correcting anything that is not accurately
represented:
In light of the speech that was made, our positions as members of the Adventist church again are these:
We believe and worship Jesus the Lord God who first is love personified and from this fact flows all other doctrines or teachings. Jesus did not compromise His teachings when He associated with sinners and offered his life while we were yet sinners to save all who will accept Him. He came to save the one lost sheep. We don't believe that we are saved merely by obeying the Ten Commandments moral law which we do teach, or that good works alone will save anyone. Being saved however precedes with repentance which itself is a "good work" that God enables. Bad works will definitely get punished in the end and God will reward all according to their works. Faith without works is dead and a faith in Jesus will lead to obedience and good works and not bad works, despite our daily short comings.
In light of our circumstances, we
are open to any collaboration opportunities with
any one or group for us to be able to continue
our ministry. Please contact us with any
suggestions or ideas through our email:
contact@hopeside.org.
We have strived to be of service to anyone no matter their situation or background and that will always continue in whatever manner that is possible. We wish that we could have our own place to continue our ministry but until then, we will meet in a house and ask God to lead us through this difficult time. .
We are thankful for God's great leading thus far. Our goal now is to explore having our own building where we can operate and grow in full measure according to God's will in a self-sustaining manner. To that end, we believe that God has given us a vision of a multi-purpose community center through which many community development projects that are focused on the holistic development of the disadvantaged, including women, minorities, disabled and low income groups among other goals can be accomplished with great effectiveness. This idea came about before the COVID-19 pandemic happened. It is much bigger in scope than what we can do on our own, but with God's help and your support, nothing will be impossible to accomplish. We truly and passionately wish to GO BIG for GOD and COMMUNITY! You can go here to support our building project: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hopesidebuilding. More details will be made available on this project as it develops as we build a model of great service and great impact.
Check the video of our final meeting.
Thank you all for supporting HopeSide thus far and may God bless you.
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Summary:
Adventists are not like Baptists or Evangelicals, and Baptists are not like Adventists either, but we all can and should focus on being like Christ and everything will fall into place. We do not seek to build bridges between truth and error. Through love and sacrifice, we seek to be focused on the salvation of souls and following TRUTH as it is and not as we wish it to be. We are not concerned with labels, traditions and orthodoxies but hold the entire Bible as its own authority without adding or subtracting anything from it. The house of God and the practice of Christianity can never and should never be associated with the ill treatment of anyone on any pretext or the non obedience to ALL of God's moral laws summarized in the Ten Commandments. Read the official Adventist position here regarding human relations issued on Sept. 15, 2020.