A History of Hope
For over 60 years, Hope Lutheran Church, ELCA has been growing in Northwest Cincinnati.
Hope was officially established in Colerain Township in 1955. The Rev. Clovis S. Frank called on residents of the area and invited them to the first meeting held in the Mt. Airy Civic Association building on North Bend Road. Twenty-four people attended. After purchasing a house for a parsonage on Colerain Ave., a building committee started. There were 41 baptized members of Hope by 1955. By 1956 there were 92 baptized members!
A church was built on Colerain Avenue with a lot of hard work and determination. Nan Davis wrote “Hope has always been a people church.” Hope grew in faith and weathered the storms. In 1988 Cathleen Thompson was installed as Hope’s pastor. She would shepherd the congregation in the relocation of Hope Church from Colerain Avenue to Blue Rock Road. The first worship service in the current space was Christmas Eve 1998.
In Hope’s history there have been children’s choirs, junior choirs, and in addition to the talented traditional choir, was the formation of the Praise Band, an ensemble of vocal and instrumental forces that came when the church initiated a Contemporary worship service April 7, 2002. Pastor Christie Beckmann accepted the call January 1, 2019. Hope invites you to be part of its future in faith!