PAST

PRESENT

Our Church History

In June of 1973 arrangements were made to rent the church building on the corner of Washington and Stoddard and the church became the 100th Church of God in the state of Michigan and the church was named, "Charlotte Church of God". The building at that time was owned by the Free Methodist Church.

It was decided that Pastor Clarence Shaver would fill in as pastor until other arrangements were made. Darwin met with the Grand Ledge district overseer about joining with the Church of God.

In June of 1973 arrangements were made to rent the church building on the corner of Washington and Stoddard and the church became the 100th Church of God in the state of Michigan and the church was named, "Charlotte Church of God". The building at that time was owned by the Free Methodist Church.

The first official service was held on Sept. 9, 1973 with 13 people presenting themselves for membership, bring the total membership to 15.

In Sept. 1974 the congregation agreed to purchase the building and property. They did so, on a land contract for $16,500 at 6% interest. The monthly payments were $100.

Trustees were appointed to serve. They were: Harry Barnard, Harry Kelley, and Darwin Barnard. This board was to act according to the minutes of the Church of God General Assembly, headquartered in Cleveland, Tenn. Harry Kelley is with us to this day.

Over the twenty two year history of our church we have had eight pastors:
Pastor Herbert Rayburn 1973 
Pastor Calvin Kidder 1973-1979
Pastor William Sullivan 1979-1981
Pastor Richard McMichael 1981-1985
Pastor Franklin Gunn 1985-1988
Pastor Floyd Burgess 1988-1989
Pastor Windle Davis 1989-1995
Pastor Randy Royston 1995-PRESENT

One of the main characteristics of a strong church is that the pastor stays there for a long time. They don't keep changing pastors every two or three years.

When Randy Royston came on board as Pastor he saw a church that had been struggling and needed something new. The vision that he had was the church needed to become more inviting and less threatening to the unchurched, so he presented a new image with a new name. The church went from "Charlotte Church of God" and became "New Hope Community Church".


Immediately the church began to grow so much so that the body had outgrown the building that the church had been in since 1973.In 2003 we purchased a building that was used as a truck garage by the State of Michigan, and was almost 5 times larger than the previous facility.