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About

Valley Hope Church

Who Are We?

Valley Hope is learning to live as this people who’ve been given sight in Jesus [2 Pet. 1:9], learning to put off our old self with its old loves in favor of loving and enjoying Jesus above and before all other things [Col. 3:5]. It’s weird, it’s contrary to everything our world tells us. You have to have been given sight in Christ to be able to see anything beautiful or sensible in this. This isn’t by our design; we didn’t choose this, we were chosen by Him, and for Him, and for this.

Along those lines, we realize we can’t do this alone, that there is no such thing as individual Christianity. Though we are individual Christians, our faith is not a private affair. We are called into a new way of life, not just new personal beliefs. That implies by necessity other people. Valley Hope is practicing the life of Jesus together, and working out the implications of His ministry as we subject ourselves to the following: His Holy Spirit, His authority, His authoritative Word found in the Bible, to the spiritual leaders He’s given to us in our local church and our denomination, and to one another as well [Eph. 4:12-16].

We study, pray, eat, minister, party and share life together, and hope that as we do we will reach many of the people Jesus brought us together to reach [Eph. 3:10], and that we will bless each other richly along the way, helping one another grow into completeness and holiness in Jesus Christ. Amen!

What are Our Beliefs?

As a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Valley Hope subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith and it’s Larger and Shorter Catechisms as the system of theology which best reflects the revelation of the Scriptures, and hence the story of history. But in short, the EPC has produced the Seven Essentials of the Faith that all our churches hold in agreement with Christians everywhere:

We Believe in One God

We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!

Jesus Christ is the Living Word

Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.

Dependent Upon Christ

Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.

The Church

The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.

Jesus Christ Will Come Again

Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Proclaiming the Gospel

The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Book of Order

Rules for Assembly, Acts of Assembly, and Forms for Discipline

The current Book of Order contains Rules for Assembly, Acts of Assembly, and Forms for Discipline as amended through the 36th General Assembly (2016). To navigate the volume online, use the bookmarks panel on the PDF. A spiral-bound printed edition is available at epc.org/downloads.

Westminster Confession of Faith

The foundations of our faith

This Modern English version has electronic chapter bookmarks. Download to your computer, and set your Acrobat Reader to view bookmarks (View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Bookmarks). A spiral-bound printed edition is available at epc.org/downloads.

The Essentials

Historic Christian beliefs common to all

The Essentials expresses historic Christian beliefs common to all true believers and churches worldwide, and defines core beliefs of the Christian faith. However, it is not a substitute for the Westminster Confession of Faith. A tract-sized printed edition is available at epc.org/downloads.

Vision and Values

Valley Hope is a people who want to see the kingdom of Jesus transform the Swannanoa Valley.

This vision expresses itself inwardly and outwardly. We’re together as a community moving ever inward towards Christ. Our community bears burdens and encourages each other onward. But we also passionately believe that Jesus is always finding those corners of our town where no one loves Him, moving so that everyone has the opportunity to love Him. We want to be right there with Him, wherever He’s going.

  • Gospel

    We are a people deeply in need of Jesus. God has provided more than enough

  • Community

    We are Jesus-shaped people who deeply need one another and share our lives together

  • Discipleship

    Jesus-shaped people recognize that nothing brings more joy than growing to be more like Jesus. We are about that work together.

  • Mission

     Jesus came to get us. He’s still doing that in our town and in the world at large. We want to be doing it with him.

“The Church exists for no other reason than to draw people into Christ.”

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Our Story

In 2004 a group of students and alum from Montreat College began meeting in a Black Mountain tavern called the Watershed for worship on Sunday mornings in hopes of reaching people not likely to darken the doors of your average church. They called this little movement of the Gospel Isight.

Montreat Presbyterian Church [now called Christ Community Church Montreat, also of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church] generously and graciously agreed to support Isight with oversight, prayer, and finances.

Isight called its first pastor, Josh Schatzle, in 2007. and began the process of formally joining the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Since that time Isight underwent a host of changes as it continued to grow up into its own church. We met for a time at the Manor House/In the Oaks of Montreat College’s Black Mountain campus, but then moved to the campus of the Black Mountain Home for Children.  Later we began meeting at Owen Middle School in pursuit of more space and better connection with our valley and this worked for some time.

Beginning in November 2011, the elder team was led by Anthony Rodriguez as Josh moved on to a new call in Illinois. Anthony was part of Isight from the days it met in the bar. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in May 2012 and the church formally became a part of the EPC, where Anthony was also ordained.

In September of 2016, the members of Isight Church voted to change the name of the church to Valley Hope Church as a clearer expression of the congregation’s desire to be a church for the Swannanoa Valley.

At the end of 2018, Valley Hope Church was approached by Swannanoa Valley Presbyterian Church, a congregation in the Presbyterian Church of America, just down the road from Owen Middle School, where VHC had been meeting. Swannanoa Valley Presbyterian Church expressed a desire to give their building to Valley Hope and join the two churches under Valley Hope’s leadership. In March 2019, the churches worshipped together for the first time and settled into worshipping and sharing life together.