Jesus brought a new type of hope never seen before. People of His day were amazed and stunned at His teaching and His actions. They had never seen anyone like Him before, nor would mankind see anyone like Him again – until He returns. When Jesus sees the crowds of people, He sees people who are helpless, harassed, hopeless and without a shepherd to guide them. He wants to set these captives free through the new hope that only He can offer as seen in His statement, “I am the Resurrection and the Life” and proved by His action of rising from the grave three days after dying, just as He and the Bible predicted. Jesus wants to use real people to get His message of setting captives free through new hope to those who live around them. Therefore at New Hope, it is our desire to be healthy believers who live out the Word of God in our lives and not just be Christians in name only. At New Hope, we also recognize that each believer is on a journey towards becoming like Jesus and will make progress towards Him at their own pace. Thus, we accept people where they are, love them forward and pray that they will continually listen and respond to the Spirit as He does His work in their life.