Hope 08 was a united Christian social justice and evangelism campaign that planned to transform Great Britain during the year 2008.
Contents
Background
The idea for Hope 08 came after the success of local urban renewal campaigns in previous years such as Message 2000, Merseyfest, Chesterfest, Festival:Manchester and Soul in the City in London in 2004. Hope 08 aims to unite churches and Christian organisations on a national scale for a campaign that will (at least under the banner of Hope 08) last for a year, rather than a few weeks as in case of Soul in the City etc...
Founders and Supporters
Hope 08 was conceived by three founders: Youth for Christ director Roy Crowne, Mike Pilavachi (of Soul Survivor) and Andy Hawthorne (The Message Trust). These three men are working with Steve Clifford (Pioneer Network) and a small leadership team to turn the vision behind Hope 08 into a reality.
Hope 08 has the support of several well-known MPs, senior Police officers, the Church of England and the UK Roman Catholic Church, the Elim Pentecostal Church, the Evangelical Alliance, the Baptist World Alliance, the Alpha course and over 100 organisations and denominations.
Mission statement
From the official website:
Our dream....
In over 500 villages, towns and cities across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland churches will work together like never before.
In urban centres the church will engage in town & city wide mission initiatives that will impact the whole community. In 100's more neighbourhoods there will be localised events and activities that will bring words of truth and acts of service to thousands of people across the UK.
By working in partnership with the police, local authorities and primary care trusts as well as other local churches, your church could help provide services to address issues such as debt dependency, hunger, homelessness and drug and alcohol addictions. There will be many schools and university missions, fun days, bbq's, kids clubs, estate clean-ups and much, much more...