---About Our Church

 

New Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church is a grace and gospel-centered fellowship in Frederick, MD which exists to magnify Christ in the areas of worship, fellowship, and outreach.

New Hope Seeks to magnify Jesus Christ by the following:

  • preaching and teaching the gospel in all its lavish grace. We want to reflect our strong heritage of and commitment to reformed, biblical theology in our worship through the liturgy, preaching, singing, and teaching, emphasizing God’s grace and the authority of Scripture.
  • reflecting his love and grace in our community. We want to lovingly engage newcomers, grow believers to spiritual maturity, and recognize and empower member’s gifts in service to one another and the community.
  • sharing the great news of salvation locally and abroad. We want to continue to grow in this by creatively ministering to the people in and around Western Maryland, supporting the work of domestic and foreign missions, and continuing to exercise all of God’s gifts to the best of our ability.

Let us exalt Christ together! Join us as we worship, grow, and serve together to the glory of our Triune God.

 
 
 
 
---Our Pastor
 

Hi! I’m Francis VanDelden, the pastor at New Hope. I hope you’ve enjoyed perusing our website, and invite you to meet us in person  -there’s nothing like growing, learning, and praising God together in person.  And there’s nothing like meeting our church family in person.  You’ll find New Hope warm and friendly, intentionally focused on the Bible, the gospel, and the grace of God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.  

Here’s a brief history of our family:

My wife Laura and I hail from Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). We met in our church youth group, but didn’t start seeing each other until I moved to California. I completed my undergraduate studies in Classics at McMaster University in 1995.  Laura studied nursing in the same university and graduated with a BSN.  While operating a fish & chip restaurant franchise from 1997-2002, I got to serve as a chaplain at a children’s summer camp. God used this chaplaincy role to call me into the ministry, so I enrolled at Westminster Seminary California.

After I graduated in May 2005 with a Masters of Divinity, Laura and I got married.  We moved to Grand Rapids, MI, to begin serving as the associate pastor at Harvest OPC. We spent five and a half years there, and absolutely loved it -rich in grace, the gospel, and a lovely church family.  During that time our house was divided – we were given three American daughters: twins Samantha and Emma, and Jessie-Lynn. 

In May of 2011 the Lord in his wisdom called us to serve at New Hope.  New Hope quickly became, and has continued to be a dear home to us.  Early in our time here the Lord gifted us with Levi, and then Micah.  It has been a privilege to see our personal family be an organic part of our church family.  Laura has been able to use her nursing gifts part time at Buckingham’s Choice in Adamstown. 

We all enjoy one another, friends, our gracious God, church, reading, games, music, and flowering Frederick.  Some, but not all, of us (:-) enjoy gardening, plants, soccer, lego, running around barefoot, raking leaves, home improvements, dogs, and lame jokes. 

We invite you to join us in exalting and growing in Christ here in Frederick.