A Church Abounding in Hope

A new year has arrived—2026!  The theme for our church this year is “A Church Abounding in Hope,” and is grounded in Paul’s letter to the Romans 15:13:   

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” 

This is Paul’s confident prayer of blessing. His first audience was the church in Rome—a diverse gathering of believers all very different from one another. They were a mix of Jewish and Gentile Christians, each called into Christ. They came from many different backgrounds and circumstances. Their life stories, values, levels of spiritual maturity, personalities, and temperaments were all different. And when people so diverse come together to form a church community, moments of tension and conflict naturally arise. Yet Paul prays a special shared experience for this community. He prays that joy and peace will fill the church, and that through their shared life, God’s people will hold a common hope. He reminds the Roman Christians that this experience is possible only through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

This prayer of Paul also reflects the heart of the Lord for our church, YoungNak Church. The Lord desires that we, though also different in many ways, will come together as one community and experience a hope that the world cannot give. We look forward in expectation that throughout 2026, this hope-filled experience will inform our life together. This is the kind of year we pray for: 

That whenever we gather, we will experience genuine joy toward one another. That troubled and unsettled hearts will discover true peace. That we will find rest and renewal from the heaviness and exhaustion of the week in our fellowship. And as a result, that each of us—and our entire church—will look forward to the work the Lord desires to accomplish through us. May we value this kind of community life and devote ourselves, with one heart, toward building it together. 

Paul reminds us that God is the “God of hope.” The meaning of this expression is clear: God is the source and the fountain for all our hope. When we look to God, we find true and complete hope. And this hope that comes from God is what satisfies us most deeply. A new year has begun. Dear beloved members, where are we seeking our hope today? Let us be people who look to God for our hope. And throughout this year, may the God of hope lead our church so that hope may abound in us and through us. 

Rev. Joshua Jeon