History
A History Of Hope
HOPE Christian Fellowship is a multi-ethnic, interdenominational community church, located in San Gabriel, in Los Angeles County. HOPE was birthed out of Sierra Madre Congregational Church in Sierra Madre in 1997. Mayflower Congregational Church, in San Gabriel, had decided to disband and had gifted it’s building to SMCC for the purpose of planting a new church at this location. After a period of prayer and discernment, SMCC sent out Pastor Jeff Bassette, director of the international student ministry, as founding pastor of HOPE. HOPE held its first official service on Easter Sunday, 1998.
The founding core group at HOPE was composed of folks from a variety of distinct backgrounds and perspectives. Many of the members of Pastor Bassette’s international student ministry served as the core group for the church plant. This gave HOPE an international, diverse congregation. Today, there is no one ethnic group that comprises more than 30% of the congregation. In addition to the ethnic and philosophical diversity at HOPE, there was also a diversity of doctrinal perspectives and Christian traditions. Even though HOPE was founded out of a Congregational church, it did not remain within that denomination, but decided to remain non-denominational. This has allowed the leadership to differ in their perspectives on secondary matters of theology and practice, and yet still remain a unified community.
In 2010, Pastor Bassette transitioned to another ministry and David Holcomb and his family were called as Lead Pastor. In 2021 David Holcomb transitioned to another ministry. In 2022 Donn Halla and his family were called as the Lead Pastor. Today, HOPE continues to seek to be a light in this community and a catalyst for the expansion of the Kingdom of God.