Who We Are - The Story of Hope

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) 


We stood on the Word of God! Hope Church was founded by a dedicated group of Presbyterians who boldly stood for the word of God and stepped out in faith to form a biblically-based, traditional place of worship. These Christian soldiers created a church that was true to God’s word, focused on Christian Fellowship and wrapped in love. On Reformation Sunday in October 2000 the newly formed Hope Church of Lake County conducted its inaugural Worship Service in the Rivertree Court Theater in Vernon Hills.


We continued our faith journey! In 2001 Hope Church made 2 major moves. In October, we moved into rented office space in the AUL Building in Libertyville that would be our Church home for the next several years. In November, the congregation voted to join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) as a member congregation. We were received into the EPC in February 2002 and became known as Hope Evangelical Presbyterian Church or Hope EPC. 

We trust in the Lord! In November of 2007 we purchased a scenic, 10-acre plot of land in Grayslake, IL. We immediately began renovating the 7,000 square foot single-family home, to create a permanent church home for Hope EPC. We conducted our first service on Palm Sunday and held a triumphal dedication service for our glorious new church home on Sunday, June 1, 2008.


God has greatly blessed Hope! We are now settled into our beautiful new church home. Through the sacrificial giving of the congregation we have retired a great percentage of our original mortgage debt and were able to refinance the remaining mortgage with incredibly favorable terms. We have been blessed with a generous bequest that will permit us to complete some needed capital improvements to our facilities. We are financially secure and poised to step boldly into the future.

God is still in charge! From that moment of our founding in 2000, we have served the Lord and worshiped Him in various places and under many different circumstances. We discovered that our best laid plans are nothing compared to what God has arranged for us to fulfill. He is not finished with us yet, either in our lives as a congregation or our building, and we continue to worship and praise Him for all his love and caring for us. 


We want to be a beacon for Christ! We are full of hope and trust in the Lord to take us boldly into the future.

About the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC)

Our name describes us well. The EPC is both evangelical and Presbyterian. We are evangelical in our zeal for the Gospel, as well as, evangelism, missions and living obediently as followers of Jesus. At the same time, we are rooted deeply in the Protestant Reformation and especially the theological and pastoral work of John Calvin. We embrace the Westminster Confession of Faith as our doctrinal standard and the rule of spiritually mature elders linked together regionally as the best way to guide local congregations.


When the EPC started in 1981 we determined that on the basic essentials of the Christian faith, we would not disagree, but on anything that was not essential, such as the issue of ordaining women as officers or practicing charismatic gifts, we would give each other liberty. Above all, we committed ourselves to loving each other and not engaging in quarrels and strife. The result is that when we get together in our regional and national meetings, we spend most of our time in worship and fellowship and almost none in arguing with each other.


The EPC consists of more than 500 churches with about 145,000 members. We have a world missions program with a priority on sending missionaries to unreached people groups. We are eager to plant churches across the United States and especially in urban communities and college towns. Our desire is that every one of our congregations will be an outpost of the Kingdom in post-Christian America with every member viewing himself or herself as a missionary on a mission. Our regional connection to the EPC is through the Rivers and Lakes Presbytery.


Check out the EPC denomination further at www.epc.org.


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