New Hope is a 7-week study designed to help people find healing from God’s word. As they find healing themselves, they are equipped and empowered to go and bring that same healing to those around them.
New Hope groups consist of 4-6 people. They are designed to allow participants to tell their stories in a safe environment with others who have also experienced their own hurts. In a New Hope group, wounded people can experience community, develop a sense of purpose, and increase their faith as they learn about God’s purpose in this world.
New Hope takes seriously the responsibility to “do no harm” to those who are hurting, and we have training and guidelines in place to help facilitators know when someone is ready to participate in a New Hope healing group.
The seven sessions are designed to be done once a week over a period of seven weeks. The first session acts as a vision-casting session for the group. It introduces the idea of a journey that begins in wounded-ness and culminates in a place of new beginnings, and it offers participants the opportunity to embark on this healing journey together towards new beginnings. In this first session participants are also introduced to the story of Joseph—a man betrayed by his family, wrongfully imprisoned, and forgotten, only to see his life become a means of saving many people. In each subsequent session participants will be reminded of the vision statement from the end of Joseph’s story: “Do not be afraid. You meant to harm me, but God used what has happened for good—not just for me—but so that many other people could be saved.” Through this reminder, it is hoped that wounded people can begin to see the possibility that what has happened to them could be useful in some way to help others.
Each week, group members are encouraged to share personal stories that follow a progression of remembering happy times, talking about hard times, talking about hopelessness and feeling forgotten, toward bringing troubles to God, and then searching for purpose and a new beginning. Group members are given opportunities to share, listen, be listened to, celebrate and lament. Woven into this experience is a set of biblical stories that takes them on the journey that begins with God’s perfect plan for the world. The stories then tell how sin and suffering entered the world, and how God planned for Jesus to take on our sin and suffering and give us a new beginning.
Participants are asked to share with others outside the group what they have learned each week. There are two reasons for this: 1) by giving away what they’ve been given, participants begin to find purpose, and 2) they become familiar with a very simple discipleship approach that helps them disciple others even as they are being initially discipled—thus multiplying the impact of God’s healing Good News! Because this is a key component of the process, leaders are reminded to do everything they can to help participants internalize and reproduce both the stories and the process. Storytelling needs to be oral (not read), then practiced so that each participant can tell the story himself or herself. The process should follow the same three-part structure each week: looking back at what has happened before, looking up to find what God has for each participant, and looking forward to what is next. This process can establish the foundation for a new group of believers who meet regularly.
Information SheetAfter completing a New Hope training, you are able to download the latest version of the New Hope Manual. Simply login below and you will be redirected to the downloads page.
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