Adults

The vision of our adult ministry is to challenge members and friends of New Hope Church to live victoriously, grow spiritually and to know God intimately. To accomplish this, we offer a variety of Sunday School classes, midweek classes and small groups. We invite you to join any that interest you. Click the links above to review our current offerings, or contact Kathy Sivard, Director of Adult Ministry.

Recommended Reading

Outrageous Love, Transforming Power by Terry Wardle
Review by Joe Enneking, Adult Education Committee

While our desire is to become more like Jesus, it is difficult to find a practical way to do so, let alone know what Jesus was really like. Terry Wardle, a professor of spiritual formation at Ashland Seminary, has written a book that gives us both an understanding of the character traits of Jesus and practical ways to make them a reality in our lives. The full title is Outrageous Love, Transforming Power, How the Holy Spirit shapes you into the likeness of Christ.

When we look honestly at our progress toward becoming like Jesus, we realize that we are spiritual infants. The problem is that we do not know what it really means to be "Christlike." And we struggle in spiritual immaturity because we simply don't know the answer to that question. This book identifies eight characteristics of Jesus that are to be nourished and nurtured by the Holy Spirit in the believer's life.

Terry teaches that every believer is made for intimacy with the Father, can be secure in their identity as a child of God, can walk in spiritual power, can exercise spiritual authority in ministry and can be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Two of the most powerful chapters in the book deal with our identity as children of God and His desire for intimacy with us. He ends the book with a chapter on setting priorities which includes the statement "Becoming like Jesus demands serious commitment." If we desire spiritual maturity and are willing to abandon ourselves to the process, this book will be an effective guide to becoming more like Jesus.

Previous Reviews

Download our November 2009 book review recommendation, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith.