Hope 23-24: The Year of United Mission

Hope 23-24: The Year of United Mission

Mark Greenwood speaks to Dr Rachel Jordan-Wolf, Executive Director of Hope

As a movement, Elim has been building relationships and partnerships with various organisations to help strategically with our evangelism vision. These partnerships are significant, and help us in key areas of evangelism that we have identified.

One of our strategic partners is Hope Together, and they are catalysing and resourcing Hope 23-24 Mission. We are excited to be a part of this, joining lots of denominations and organisations across the UK to share the gospel with our communities. I recently asked Hope’s Executive Director, Dr Rachel Jordan-Wolf, to share their vision of Hope 23-24...

"As one of Elim’s strategic evangelism partnerships, Hope Together is leading a united year of mission and evangelism, which started in September this year. With a vision to see many people in the UK have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel, Hope 23-24 is calling upon church leaders, Christian organisations and other Christian leaders to join hands and participate in the United Year of Mission.

The initiative is rooted in the 2022 Talking Jesus research, emphasising the current openness of the nation to experiencing Jesus for themselves, of finding out more about him. The 2015 research found that one out of five non-Christians, who had a conversation with a Christian, wanted to know more or experience Jesus for themselves; as of 2022, this is one in three! The Year of Mission aims to mobilise and equip believers to share the love of Jesus in their communities, workplaces, and spheres of influence to reach those who are open.

The United Year of Mission is a ‘call to action’ for the whole church to come together in unity to share the Good News of Jesus, recognising the power of collaboration and partnership. It is an opportunity to combine resources, share best practice, and leverage collective strengths to reach the nation with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

Hope 23-24 is backed by Hub, a central online platform of resources and support for participating churches, organisations, and leaders. Resourced by a wide range of partners, the Hub provides practical tools, training materials, and inspirational stories to equip users for effective evangelism and discipleship. The Hub guides people through four stages of Mission: Get Ready, Connect, Grow and Ask. Access it at any point in the year and find out more at hopetogether.org.uk.

The peak of the Year of Mission is Easter 2024. If you’re going to join one event in 2024, this is it! The dream is for the church to come together and make as much noise as possible. The Talking Jesus research revealed how important Easter is for mission and evangelism, with 45 per cent of the UK population saying they believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Of these, 16 per cent are convinced believers in the resurrection but 29 per cent have a scale of belief, meaning that they are open to Easter but haven’t entirely grasped the significance of the resurrection for themselves.

Hope Together, in partnership with Kingsgate Church and Bible Society, are launching the ALIVE series; five short films that share the resurrection encounters of Jesus. The invitation is for every church to run this series and to invite their friends, family and communities to come and meet the resurrected Jesus. There will be a multi-platform ALIVE campaign to raise awareness about Easter 2024 and invite people to come and experience ALIVE for themselves.

The Year of Mission is for every church, and we pray that everyone will find the right way to get involved. The combined hope and prayer of Hope Together and Elim is to see many people come to know Jesus in this year."

I hope, like me, you are excited about this. Let me encourage you to sign up your church in 2024.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.