Living Hope – Purchased a New Building
Living Hope is a church in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. Though it has been around since the late 1990’s, you would be hard-pressed to find it by driving around, until now.
For decades, Living Hope never owned their own building. All along they maintained office space in Courtenay and met on Sundays in local school gymnasiums for most of their existence. Various properties were looked at over the years to purchase but all of them came with significant issues (lack of parking, inadequate foundations, etc.). It was clear that, even though offers were initially made on a few properties, they were not suitable or affordable. In addition, the Comox Valley (like most of Vancouver Island) had a major population boom in the past few years which had driven housing prices through the roof. The hope of owning their own building seemed farther away than ever.
Then, in early November 2022, a property in Comox became available that seemed to have potential. It was a small heritage church, formerly owned by the Catholic Church but in recent years was privately owned. The current owner was renting out the hall attached to the church, and it gained the reputation of a popular community hall, known to all as “The Little Red Church”. An offer was made, and the congregation was tasked with raising $134,000 to add to their building fund to make the down payment and closing costs. In a little over two weeks, the church had raised $159,300. It seemed to be a miracle coming from a church with less than 100 active congregants, but the Lord is capable of everything, right?
Living Hope took possession of the church with the attached hall and the adjacent two-storey house on November 25, 2022. They hosted their first church service on November 27th (yes, only two days after possession), complete with a celebratory potluck lunch. The church was filled with people sitting on every spare seat and the worship was full of excitement and anticipation. Praise to our God and King who provides for all our needs! Praise Him for leading us in new ways to minister to our community. May we bring glory to His name. Amen!
