Location International | Founded 1991 | |
Denomination C3 Church
Pentecostalism, Evangelical, Charismatic Website www.hopecity.church [1] Founder(s) Dave Gilpin and Jenny Gilpin | ||
Hope City Church is a multisite church based in the United Kingdom launched in Sheffield in 1991 by Dave and Jenny Gilpin, after emigrating from Australia. The Church holds services and weekday connections in 11 locations and describes itself as 'One Church all over the place.' It is a part of the C3 group of churches originating from Sydney, Australia. There are over 400 C3 churches worldwide.
Contents
History
Hope City Church was pioneered in Sheffield in 1991 by Dave and Jenny Gilpin, who had been a part of an Assemblies of God church in Brisbane, Australia. After seeing the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 on television in Australia Dave and Jenny were released by their church to investigate the possibilities of pioneering in the UK. After a three-week speaking tour of small churches across England in December 1990, they returned at Easter 1991 to pioneer the church, which was first called The Hope of Sheffield Christian Church. It was then renamed to Hope City Church.
Hope City has also planted churches in Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Sunderland, Birmingham, Lancashire and in Accra, Ghana, Frankfurt, Germany, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, London, and York.
In 2010 a team went to Accra to start Hope City Church in Africa. Two years later, in 2012, six students and two senior leadership members went to Frankfurt, Germany to establish the first Hope City Church in mainland Europe. On Easter Sunday in 2013 the first Hope City London service was held in the Charing Cross Hotel. These continued monthly and started weekly in September 2013 at The Cumberland Hotel before the services moved in September 2014 to the Courtyard Theatre in Shoreditch. In January 2015, the Hope City London services moved to Rich Mix in Shoreditch alongside the #FINDYOURSELFIE campaign. Hope City London have now moved into a great venue called the Hackney Showroom. In September 2014, Hope City Church sent out a team to Kuala Lumpur to start the first Hope City Church in Asia which launched in April 2015.
In October 2015 a team from the Leeds location of Hope City started travelling to put on an evening service and launched Hope City York.
In October 2016 the Leadership team of Hope City Church decided to pause holding church services in the Lanchashire region through concluding their Preston location. It was a difficult decision and based upon limited resources that were available to sustain the ministry. However the church planting spirit does not stop there, with plans already in place to launch a brand new location in Hope City Brussles in 2017.
Facilities
The church bought an old tool factory in 1998 in the United Kingdom and called it The Megacentre. The building contains a play centre, a nursery and conferencing facilities.
In 2009, Hope City Church bought the former Archive building of Leeds central library on York Road which has been converted to contain a 400-seater auditorium and community and conferencing facility for Leeds.
There are also currently plans in place for a brand new, purpose-built 1,500 seater auditorium to be developed in the Waverlery area in Sheffield, UK, moving the Hope City Sheffield to a much bigger venue.
Community
In 2002, Hope City Church started a Night of Honour in Sheffield, Leeds, and Liverpool. The event celebrates community heros, children and community service. The church also runs other community projects out of The Megacentre.
In 2007, Jenny Gilpin started City Hearts to support victims of human trafficking.. City Hearts believes that every life matters and exists to love people back to life, relentlessly pursuing the freedom and restoration of every person. Their aim is to leave a legacy of freedom, dignity, justice, strength and love.
Creative
The church produced a television series for UCB and putting on elaborate shows for both the annual Night of Honour and their 20th Anniversary celebration, both at the Sheffield City Hall.
They have also produced two albums, Devoted and We Are Ready, which was produced by award winning producer Eliot Kennedy. In September 2016, Hope City will release a new album titled Rest Easy. On 20 May 2016 the first single from this album, Greater Than the Mountains was released and went straight to number one on the iTunes Christian & Gospel Chart.
The Senior Pastor, Dave Gilpin, also presented a Saturday morning radio show on Premier Christian Radio between 2011-2013.
In 2015 Senior Pastor Dave Gilpin started a series on new to the UK Christian channel TBN called 'God Talks' including clips from messages preached at Hope City and interviews with people.Following this he was invited back as both a host and to be interviewed on their show 'Praise The Lord', along with his wife Jenny.
Controversy
The church has attracted criticism due to its promotion of the prosperity gospel, holding frequent and repetitive offerings with promises of blessings in return.