| County land provides new hope By Heather Nalbone
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT Two years of research and planning by one of the conferences youngest faith communities has finally paid off in a unique partnership between church and state. However, the members of New Hope Christian Fellowship realize their work may be just beginning. Last month, the Harford County Council voted unanimously to approve a resolution permitting New Hope Christian Fellowship, an initiative church with about 25 current attendees, to purchase 4.8 acres of county-owned land in a small community northeast of Baltimore. The land acquisition will allow the congregation to move forward with plans to build a church home. County residents, many of them United Methodists,  crowded the 100-seat chamber to support the Rev. Charles Wilson and New Hope Fellowship at the March 12 hearing. They formed a line at the microphone for comment as the board approached a vote. If theres ever been a place with a need for the Gospel and reaching out to the children, its here, said Edgewood resident and New Hope attendee Armanda Thomas. Edgewood, where the Baltimore-Washington Conference established New Hope Fellowship as an initiative church in 1999, is a community with high levels of alcohol abuse and heavy crime, says Harford County Sheriff W.C. Koenig. In fact, as recently as two years ago, the town of 8,000 was responsible for 33 percent of all crime in the county of 218,000, said County Executive James Harkins, a United Methodist. Household incomes are generally low and the streets are often littered with garbage, he said. Thats why the Board of Congregational Life decided to build a presence in the area, coincidentally at the same time Harkins and his colleagues launched a community revitalization project there. Pastor Wilson and the church have been a true partner in what were trying to do, Harkins said. New Hope is one of the conferences 22 initiative churches, started from scratch in communities needing a United Methodist presence. I have a belief that nothing transforms people and communities like Jesus Christ, Wilson said. You can change the surroundings, but if theres no spiritual aspect it will look the same within a matter of years. Wilson and his wife Marika started the mission by recruiting a team of mission disciples to distribute evangelical videotapes and help organize revival meetings. They met with homeowners associations and county government officials to establish the churchpresence. With no available school or community center, they began holding Sunday morning worship in peoples homes. We started literally from the ground up, Wilson said. But as we continued our work we found that because of the cultural needs for a community center, wed really need to build something. Thus began the quest for land. When church affiliates first noticed a piece of surplus property unused land owned by the county local government officials said theyd have to open it for competitive bidding, a process Wilson describes as risky and long. When Wilson found a clause in the county code allowing direct sale pending approval from both the countys council and board of estimates, he notified county officials. The church began a lengthy mission to gather residential support and present their mission statement to the community. Their work paid off. I want to thank you for what you are doing for the community, council member Veronica Chenowith told the Wilsons following the vote. There are a lot of folks out there who dont have much to hang on to and its good to know you are going to be out there working with citizens. The fellowship hopes to purchase the land by early summer after county officials and the church agree upon a price, Wilson said. A donated trailer will provide office and meeting space as building plans progress, he added. In the meantime, the churchs mission stays the same and the vision stays strong. Already Ive seen a change in the community, but theres still a lot of work to be done, said Nancy Randers-Pehrson, a mission disciple. | 
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