Lead Pastor, Scott Wiley
Assistant Pastor, Lyz Awe
Word of Hope was launched on March 10, 2002 by a group of 12 families from Rapid City First Wesleyan who had a vision to see people from Rapid Valley and the surrounding area come to Christ and experience wholeness. Led by Pastor Scott Wiley, this group was commissioned by First Wesleyan and trained for nine months before giving birth to this new church.
Our emphasis was on contemporary worship, creative outreach, healthy relationships and life-changing discipleship.
Word of Hope has always been a "church on the go". Our first 13 services were held at Rapid Valley Elementary School until we moved to the former Rapid Valley Sanitary District building, affectionately called "The Living Water Building". After a year this location became unavailable and Word of Hope once again went "mobile". Since that time we have borrowed or rented various public buildings for weekend services. All other small groups and meetings are held in members' homes, restaurants and public meeting rooms. All staff office out of their homes and hold down other jobs.
In 2007 a generous donor gifted 2.2 acres to Word of Hope along Elk Vale Road in Rapid Valley. Construction of our first building began in 2009 and was completed in 2010. Our first service in the new building was June 27, 2010.
In 2016 we expanded the sanctuary, doubled the size of the parking lot and laid the ground work for a future education wing.
In 2017 Celebrate Recovery was started.
Since the beginning of Word of Hope many have come to Christ and have been baptized. Several have found new meaning to a neglected faith. Others have found new hope in broken relationships.
Our Basic Beliefs: Jesus Christ is the Life Changer
- We believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
- We believe that Jesus Christ the Son
- suffered in our place on the cross
- died but rose again
- now sits at the Father's right hand
- until He returns to judge every person at the last day.
- We believe in the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God.
- We believe that by the grace of God every person has the ability and responsibility to choose between right and wrong, and that those who repent of their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are justified by faith.
- We believe that God not only counts the believer as righteous, but that He
- makes such persons righteous,
- frees them from sin's dominion at conversion,
- purifies their hearts by faith,
- perfects them in love at entire sanctification,
- provides for their growth in grace at every stage of spiritual life,
- enables them through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit
- to live victorious lives, healed, whole and alive!
Our Core Values: A Culture of "Coming Alongside"
Worship - We will love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We will emphasize the centrality of prayer and the need for our lives to be aligned with Christ.
Outreach - We will love our neighbors by reaching out to them with the love of Christ and the life-changing message of the Gospel.
Relationship - The best way to grow and sustain new life in Christ is through caring, supportive and deep relationships. We will emphasize acceptance, grace, respect, caring and connection.
Discipleship - We will fully engage in God's process of change, becoming whole and alive in Christ. We will provide opportunities for every believer to continually grow in their relationship with Christ.
Overriding Authority of Scripture - Scripture is our source of truth, direction and hope; all of our teaching, preaching and ministries must align with the Word of God.
Family - We believe the family is the center of Christian education and growth; we will strive to help families create a strong foundation in Christ and support them in each season of spiritual and family development.
Holiness - Scriptural holiness is the essence of wholeness and restoration that Christ brings to our lives. We will strive for Christ's holiness to be demonstrated in our own lives and will actively seek to draw others into the healing, hope and wholeness Christ brings by making us holy.
Others' Relevance - We will bring the message of hope in a "language" our culture understands. The way we speak, the songs we sing, the way we fellowship and the way we do ministry will have in mind our need to love our neighbors as ourselves by being culturally relevant.
Priesthood of all Believers - We will commission all believers to the ministry of coming alongside and raise up servant-leaders who equip, support, motivate and mentor others in the ministry of coming alongside.
Excellence - We will strive to do the very best we can in the things God has called us to do as a church with the resources he has given us. We will conduct our ministries with a passion to honor God through efficient and effective service.
What's a Wesleyan
Every church group has its "distinctives"; the practices or beliefs that set it apart from other groups. Sometimes this is confusing to people. They say, "If the Bible is true and Jesus was who he claimed to be, why are there so many different types of churches?"
While some would call this division, in most cases it is more accurately labeled diversity. We believe that when you step back and look at the Christian church as a whole, you get a fuller, clearer picture of the depth and breadth of what the Bible calls 'the Body of Christ'.
We are even optimistic enough to believe that with all this diversity in belief and practice, most churches still agree on 90-95% of Christian teaching, and the other 5-10% we do not agree on falls in this category of distinctives.
WORD OF HOPE is part of the Wesleyan denomination, but we share many things in common with other believers. So, what in the world is a Wesleyan?
- Like the Lutherans, we believe in salvation by faith alone, as a gift of God's grace alone, through Jesus Christ alone, and on the authority of Scripture alone.
- Like Catholics, we believe in the seriousness of sin and in the need of a Savior.
- Like the Anglicans, we believe in the power of preaching the Word of God to bring about God's healing and hope in people's lives.
- Like the Baptists, we believe in calling people to turn to God wholeheartedly (repentance) and to make known their new life in Christ through public baptism.
- Like the Pentecostals or Charismatics, we believe that God's Spirit in those who love and trust him brings new life, and power for living it.
- Like the pietistic groups, such as Mennonites or Quakers, we believe in living a careful life that testifies to the watching world that we belong to the family of God.
- Like the Methodists, we grew out of John Wesley's revival movement in the 1700's and 1800's and identify with Wesley's emphasis on honoring God through holiness.