Click to Download the Discovery Packet (PDF 1.1MB) or the Discovery Brochure (PDF 1.3MB)

Discovery at Hope Lutheran:


Starting September eleventh a new voyage of Discovery will happen in the Gallatin Valley and at Hope Lutheran. In 1805 and 1806 the Lewis & Clark team crisscrossed this valley, then a new frontier for an emerging nation. In 1916 Lutheran immigrants who had followed that dream began a course of action that created Hope Lutheran Church only three years later. Now almost a century after that beginning, Hope has become a significant community of faith in our area. We have wonderful facilities, energetic ministries for youth, families, worship, outreach and music to name just a few.

We are beginning a movement of Discovery to see what our next century of ministry will become. You are being asked to prayerfully participate in this Discovery process. So think about DISCOVERING:

` A CONGREGATION ACTIVELY “CONNECTING LIFE AND FAITH”,
` A CONGREGATION LIVING “GOD AT WORK IN THE WORLD”,
` A CONGREGATION MAKING “A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE,”
` BEING A PART OF A FUTURE BEING OPENED BEFORE US BY GOD!

All of this has started in our new facilities, led by staff and members alike to make ministry happen. This Discovery project is designed to fund ministry so that we can be active in our move to the future. It will match resource for resource to make what we do vivid and alive and to ensure we can use the tool of our new building to do God’s work. You are making a very important decision to fund our future. You support will insure that Hope’s second century will touch more lives. We are committed to be a strong place for the children and grandchildren of the current Gallatin population. Our goal is to be a strong faith community to strengthen and empower the people in this valley for a long time to come.

Pastor Mitch Jones


Please Consider the following during your time of discerning how God has blessed you to respond.


For well over a decade, Hope has focused on its facility; the location, the size, the design, the cost, etc. This vision of a new facility united us and we rallied to the challenge before us. There was much tangible evidence of purpose and progress as the new building took shape and was occupied in late fall of 2008.

Now we are in a new day… a day that the Lord has made… let us rejoice and be glad for the abundance provided by our God. There is much to celebrate as we enter a new era of mission made possible by our beautiful new building. Not only do we worship and sing God’s praises, we love and serve one another and invite others to discover God at work among and through us out into the world. All of that is wrapped up in one word…“Discovery!”

However, as a family of faith doing God’s work, we are never without challenges. Our challenge now is to unite as we did a decade ago but this time to fill our beautiful church home with inspired, gospel based mission. Accomplishing this requires us to be as unwaveringly determined to expand the mission of Hope Lutheran Church as we were to build this building. Now our guide is not a building blueprint but rather it is vision statement serving as a blueprint for our future mission. This is the very core of “Discovery!”

Christian Vision is based on our understanding of the Gospel and God’s purpose for our existence. It is a picture of what we carry around in our hands and hearts of who were are and what we are called to accomplish. Vision is a message to ourselves that inspires us and generates passion Last year 257 people completing the congregational survey listed “having a clear picture of Hope’s future” as the #1 urgent need. Mission on the other hand articulates the essential nature of our values and our work. It expresses our purpose in a way that generates commitment, innovation and courage and brings our vision alive.

We are proposing that Hope’s vision be “Connecting Life and Faith” and our mission is to “Welcome All to Discover God at Work in the World”.

“Discovery!” is about prayer, discernment, and unfailing commitment to clarify and live out the vision God has in store for us. God is calling us to work together to support mission and create ministries that maximize every nook and cranny of this building. We believe that our biggest opportunities and best mission experiences are before us and that many seekers and believers will want to be a part of this exhilarating ministry. Our “Discovery!” Fund Appeal is about discovering our collective future. At the same time it is about each of us as we run the race with perseverance, with unwavering faith and with unbridled gusto and generous commitment. Hebrews 12 tells us… “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”

“Discovery!” is all about God at work in the world through each one of us… through our energy, our skill, our finances, our passion.

“Discovery!” is all about you!!

Click to download the Discovery Packet PDF