Support

Make a gift today to support urban mission and ministry. Donate online through your checking account, savings account or with a credit/debit card:

Building Hope in the City also accepts gifts of stocks, bonds, retirement distributions, life insurance and bequests. Through such planned gifts, you can help rebuild urban ministry and often realize significant tax benefits.  

Include Building Hope in the City in your estate plan and you'll rejoice in knowing you've invested wisely and in a way that's helping transform the city.

To learn more about these giving options consult your financial advisor, or call Brian Upton at (216) 281-HOPE.

 

 

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

 

Newsletters

Spring 2008 (pdf link)

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Newsletter archive

Winter 2007 (pdf link)

Summer 2007 (pdf link)

 

 

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

Church Planting | Urban Family Learning Centers | Congregational Renewal | Leadership Training

 

Church Planting

Building Hope in the City is a mission organization, directing a large portion of its efforts and resources to seeding and launching new worshipping communities, or aiding existing urban congregations in launching new worship ministries. The purpose of these new groups is to share God's Word and the fellowship of His people with urban neighborhoods and across cultures. Not only do new churches typically grow faster than established ones, but they have a greater ability to adapt more quickly to reflect the needs of the communities they serve.

Current church plant efforts underway:

• Arab Mission
• African-Immigrant Mission
• Trinity Lutheran Church Satellite at West 85 th Street

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Urban Family Learning Centers

Free weekly tutoring, street evangelism for at-risk children and youth, life skills and employment training - these outreach programs demonstrate the love of God to those in need and provide our urban partner congregations with new outreach tools and meaningful opportunities to serve their neighbors.

Urban Family Learning Centers are currently underway at:

• Trinity Lutheran Church
• St. Luke Lutheran Church
• Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church
• Lakewood Lutheran School
• Zion Lutheran Church ( Akron )

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Congregational Renewal

Building Hope in the City's efforts to aid urban congregations and ministries in embracing renewal and experiencing turnaround is based upon the lessons learned at Trinity Lutheran Church from 1992 to today under the pastorate of Rev. Jeff Johnson. The congregation, once the verge of collapse, thrives today as a center-city congregation, bringing together a diverse cross-section of rich and poor, urban and suburban, American and immigrant to the glory of God and for the purpose of serving Christ and His Kingdom.

Pastor Johnson and Trinity's staff members offer urban congregations their insights, know-how and advice so that the "turnaround principals" that were used at Trinity might be tailored and applied in other congregational settings. Efforts also include:

Congregational Consulting

Building Hope in the City offers congregations and their leadership teams consulting services for creating healthy ministry models and systems, starting new outreach efforts and resourcing urban congregations.

Pastor-to-Pastor Coaching

Pastor Johnson provides ongoing leadership coaching to several congregational pastors in Cleveland, Youngstown and Cincinnati. Through these relational networks, young urban pastors are gaining support and leadership skills designed to strengthen congregations.

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Leadership Training

Missions and ministries are put in motion by God through the prayers, work and witness of His people. That's why Building Hope in the City serves as a gateway for hundreds of volunteers entering into urban mission, exploring service opportunities as they discover the place and people to whom God has called them. We provide volunteers with healthy and ongoing doses of training, reflection and reassessment. The process is yielding a stronger church throughout the city and helps surface leaders for the future. It includes:

•  Service Retreats and Events - Building Hope in the City creates one- or multi-day urban immersion experiences for large and small groups who want to serve together in urban ministry, including its CitySERVE event each spring that garners more than 300 area Christians for a day of serving Christ in the city, and its Blanket Drive events for area youth groups that minister to homeless individuals on city streets.

•  Urban Ministry Training - Christian volunteers from across the region partake in educational sessions on a variety of key "urban issues," including understanding poverty, cross-cultural communication, team-building and more.

•  Specific Ministry Training - These task-specific trainings offer know-how on subjects including tutoring, ESL, ministering to children, etc.

•  Urban Church Planter Theological Training - Building Hope in the City provides its missionaries and lay leaders who are entrusted with Word (proclamation) ministry, and any interested volunteer with a curriculum of theological, doctrinal and practical ministry courses, all of which are taught by local Lutheran pastors. To learn more or sign up for the next class, contact Brian Upton at (216) 281-1700 or brian@buildinghopeinthecity.org . View the training schedule.

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

Who We Are | Our Mission | Staff | Board

 

Who We Are

Building Hope in the City is independent Lutheran organization that seeks to strengthen urban ministry and mission in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

Formed in August 2003, Building Hope in the City owes its birth to God's blessings and grace at Trinity Lutheran Church , a thriving, 153-year-old LCMS congregation located just outside of downtown Cleveland . Since 1992 and under the spiritual direction of Rev. Jeff Johnson, Trinity has grown steadily in size and strength. The desire to share these blessings with other urban congregations drove the formation of Building Hope in the City as a separate mission organization.

Today, with its own dedicated board, staff and hundreds of volunteers, Building Hope in the City's efforts stretch from Cleveland to Akron and Cincinnati . The organization provides a broad new voice for urban missions and for the importance of God's People to be present in the city, sharing His Word and their witness to His redeeming love in Christ.

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Our Mission

Day in and day out, our passion is to connect Christians to urban mission by planting new ministries and helping renew existing ministries.

With God's grace, we seek to focus this passion in three areas:

• Church Planting

With a goal of planting five new urban worshipping communities in Northeast Ohio by 2012, Building Hope in the City is committed to reaching across urban cultures, ethnics groups and languages with the Gospel.

• Encouraging and Equipping Congregations to Embrace Mission Renewal

Building Hope in the City leads a variety of efforts to renew existing urban ministries including consulting services, leadership training for volunteers and pastors and offering proven know-how in outreach methods that help congregations connect with their community.

• Sending God's People to the City

Our volunteers and partnering ministries are the lifeblood of this organization. Building Hope in the City serves as a rallying point and springboard for hundreds of area Christians who want to engage their faith and service to the Lord in the new ways in the city.

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Staff

Executive Staff

Rev. Jeff Johnson - Executive Director

Brian Upton - Assistant Director

Ellen Steinberg - Administrator

Holly Roe - Director, Urban Family Learning Centers

Dawn Luecke - Director of Volunteers

 

Missionary Staff

Nicola Abuamsha - Arabic Church Planter

Nadia Abuamsha - Arab Missionary

Francois Banyeretse - African-Refugee Community Worker

Vicar Gary Timm

Vicar Marc Cohen

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Board

Leslie Gicei - President
Bethel Lutheran Church , Bath

Peggy Forni - Vice President
Trinity Lutheran Church , Cleveland

Rebecca Raymer, Treasurer
St. Peter Lutheran Church

Debra Griest - Secretary
Bay Presbyterian Church, Bay Village

Bill Fecht
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Westlake

Erika Haskell
Bethel Lutheran Church, Middleburg Heights

Mark Zimmerman
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Chesterland

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

101 Sessions | Individuals | Groups | Congregations

 

Let's get started!

Building Hope 101 Session

Need more information about urban mission opportunities that fit your interest and schedule? Want to learn more about Building Hope in the City? Then plan to attend our next "Building Hope: 101" class. It's a 1-hour introduction to our ministry. You'll have the opportunity to meet staff and board members, tour urban ministry sites and discover how and where God is calling you to the urban mission field.

Contact Ellen Steinberg at (216) 281-1700 or ellen@buildinghopeinthecity.org to sign up for our next 101 session.

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Individuals, couples and families

•  Sign up to take part in one-day servant events like CitySERVE or Winter Blanket Drives.

•  Get involved with ministry to urban children, such as tutoring, Kid's Church, Bible Clubs and outreach events.

•  Step into cross-cultural mission by assisting with our Arab and African-refugee ministries, including ESL, citizenship and cooking classes, Bible studies and fellowship events.

•  Help organize a new outreach opportunity at your congregation with Building Hope in the City's support.

•  Put your gifts, skills and passions to use in new ways in the city. Are you a pro at home repairs? Passionate about art, music or a particular hobby? Are you a health professional, lawyer, mechanic, butcher, baker or candlestick maker? Whatever your ability, we've got ways for you to serve!

•  Attend an upcoming Building Hope in City event to learn more about what we do.

•  Make a financial gift to support urban mission.

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Small groups, Bible study groups and youth groups

•  Design your own one-day Urban Mission Field Trip for your group with Building Hope in the City as your guide/coordinator.

•  Sign up to provide meals for the homeless or for urban children through a local urban congregation.

•  Work with a local urban church or school to organize an outreach event in the city for children and families.

•  Organize an event at your congregation to support a specific Building Hope in the City ministry or missionary.

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Congregtaions

•  Schedule a Building Hope 101 Session to be hosted at your congregation, giving your members and leaders more information about urban mission in your area.

•  Invite a Building Hope in the City Missionary to give a presentation at your congregation.

•  Organize an in-gathering for urban ministry, a collection of needed supplies for ministries such as tutoring, clothing, hunger, ESL, etc.

•  Organize a service group from your organization to help for one day at an urban mission site.

•  Partner your congregation with an urban congregation so that your whole church can get involved in seeing God work in the city.

•  Support a specific missionary, mission with financial gifts.

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

Building Hope 101 Sessions | Field Trips | Training Schedule | Curriculum & Class Schedule | Upcoming Events

 

Building Hope 101 Sessions

These one-hour information meetings will give you, your group or congregation an overview of urban mission and ministry opportunities with Building Hope in the City. Come learn how and where God needs you in the mission field! Please RSVP by contacting Ellen Steinberg at (216) 281-1700 or ellen@buildinghopeinthecity.org . Classes sometimes need to be rescheduled.

June 12 @ 7 pm
August 9 @ 10 am
Sept. 11 @ 7 pm
Nov. 8 @ 10 am

All session take place at Building Hope in the City's offices, located at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2031 West 30th Street in Cleveland. Click here for map and directions.

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Urban Mission Field Trips

Fields trips are one-day urban mission experiences for groups that are organized by Building Hope in the City. Each trip includes opportunities for Bible study, urban and cross-cultural ministry experiences, as well as opportunities for reflection and fellowship.

Groups should be 10-20 people in size. By working with Building Hope in the City, you can create a Field Trip tailored to your group's interests and schedule.

Field Trip Details

Field Trip Medical Release and Liability Waiver

Field Trip Covenant Agreement for Participants

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Training Schedule for
Urban Volunteers and Missionaries

If you lead or serve on a ministry team, this learning session is for you! Come learn about team leadership, team dynamics, conflict resolution and more. The free event is Monday, March 31 at 7 pm. Click here to download a flyer on the event.

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Urban Ministry Leadership Training

Starting in 2008, Building Hope in the City will offer a year-round series of courses for area Christians who are interested in ministry leadership and want to gain a deeper understanding of Scripture and doctrine.

Over time, the courses will also coincide with the prerequisite coursework required for the 'Specific Ministry Pastor' program of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  However, all interested BHITC volunteers are invited to take the courses for their own edification and growth as Christian leaders!

Winter 2008 Course: The New Testament - History and Content. Class begins January 26, 2008.  Download a flyer here for more details.

Spring 2008 Course: Early Church History: Pentecost to Constantine. Class begins April 5, 2008. Download a flyer here for more details.

Summer 2008 Course: The Old Testament (Genesis to Ruth) — History and Content. Class begins July 12, 2008. Download a flyer here for more details.

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

 

Contact Us

Contact Building Hope in the City in any of the following ways, or by sending us a comment or question by using the fields below

Building Hope in the City
2031 West 30 th Street
Cleveland , OH 44113
(216) 281-HOPE
(216) 281-4406 - fax
info@buildinghopeinthecity.org

 

Your name:
Your email:
Your comment or question:

 

 

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

 

Thank You

Your message has been sent.

 

 

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406

Who We Are | Our Mission | Staff | Board

 

Who We Are

Building Hope in the City is independent Lutheran organization that seeks to strengthen urban ministry and mission in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

Formed in August 2003, Building Hope in the City owes its birth to God's blessings and grace at Trinity Lutheran Church , a thriving, 153-year-old LCMS congregation located just outside of downtown Cleveland . Since 1992 and under the spiritual direction of Rev. Jeff Johnson, Trinity has grown steadily in size and strength. The desire to share these blessings with other urban congregations drove the formation of Building Hope in the City as a separate mission organization.

Today, with its own dedicated board, staff and hundreds of volunteers, Building Hope in the City's efforts stretch from Cleveland to Akron and Cincinnati . The organization provides a broad new voice for urban missions and for the importance of God's People to be present in the city, sharing His Word and their witness to His redeeming love in Christ.

[back to top]

 

Our Mission

Day in and day out, our passion is to connect Christians to urban mission by planting new ministries and helping renew existing ministries.

With God's grace, we seek to focus this passion in three areas:

• Church Planting

With a goal of planting five new urban worshipping communities in Northeast Ohio by 2012, Building Hope in the City is committed to reaching across urban cultures, ethnics groups and languages with the Gospel.

• Encouraging and Equipping Congregations to Embrace Mission Renewal

Building Hope in the City leads a variety of efforts to renew existing urban ministries including consulting services, leadership training for volunteers and pastors and offering proven know-how in outreach methods that help congregations connect with their community.

• Sending God's People to the City

Our volunteers and partnering ministries are the lifeblood of this organization. Building Hope in the City serves as a rallying point and springboard for hundreds of area Christians who want to engage their faith and service to the Lord in the new ways in the city.

[back to top]

 

Staff

Executive Staff

Rev. Jeff Johnson - Executive Director

Brian Upton - Assistant Director

Ellen Steinberg - Administrator

Holly Roe - Director, Urban Family Learning Centers

Dawn Luecke - Director of Volunteers

 

Missionary Staff

Nicola Abuamsha - Arabic Church Planter

Nadia Abuamsha - Arab Missionary

Francois Banyeretse - African-Refugee Community Worker

Vicar Gary Timm

Vicar Marc Cohen

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Board

Leslie Gicei - President
Bethel Lutheran Church , Bath

Peggy Forni - Vice President
Trinity Lutheran Church , Cleveland

Rebecca Raymer, Treasurer
St. Peter Lutheran Church

Debra Griest - Secretary
Bay Presbyterian Church, Bay Village

Bill Fecht
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Westlake

Erika Haskell
Bethel Lutheran Church, Middleburg Heights

Mark Zimmerman
St. Mark Lutheran Church, Chesterland

[back to top]

 

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Building Hope in the City | 2031 West 30th Street | Cleveland, Ohio 44113
Phone: (216) 281-1700 | Fax: (216) 281-4406