New Hope for East Hamilton -- Loving Our Neighbours
by Steve Dykstra
New Hope worshipped in a variety of locations in the early years. But when 1429 Main St. E. was purchased and adapted for housing by Indwell, New Hope Church truly found its home. Meeting inside an affordable housing building provides an incredible privilege to walk alongside a unique and beautiful community. Today, engagement with the tenants where we worship and across the street is a hallmark of our ministry.
In the rhythms of our church life, we love our neighbours in practical, rhythmic ways throughout the year. We make freezer meals for the hungry. We open early on Sundays for coffee. We host monthly dinner potlucks and community brunches on Sunday mornings. We host a weekly Bible study. These simple acts, performed consistently over years, have built trust and affection.
New Hope seeks to model mutuality and reciprocity in all we do, including with tenants who make New Hope their church home. By God’s grace, we’ve built rich and satisfying friendships, and tenants are beloved members of our worshipping community.
In all our years together, no one has modelled this quite like Thelma. Her gifts and ministry to our community continue to resonate with us.
Thelma is a single, retired pastor who was approached some years ago to live in an Indwell building and offer chaplaincy services to tenants. However, shortly before her tenancy began, she was faced with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. Given Indwell’s supportive function in housing, her plan to move in remained, though her role in that building would simply look different - she moved in as an unofficial chaplain and neighbour. She cultivated a trusted circle of friendships from her building and offered welcome, support, and care for people in her building, our church community, and still more who joined from her former congregation.
Thelma encouraged us to be a place where we know one another deeply. She once spoke at a congregational meeting to remind us to stay deeply connected by sharing, “There is no sound that’s more beautiful than the sound of hearing your own name.”
While her presence and kindness were constant, gaps in her memory continued to widen through the years. She began to require more and more support from those around her. Her neighbours, the very ones she was called to serve, took on caring roles for her alongside other friends, family members, and other supports; she continued to love her neighbours deeply even while requiring support in increasing measure.
Thelma’s health has continued to decline, and she has come to require a different level of care. She no longer remembers our names, though when we visit her eyes still glow with recognition. It’s a joy to observe her caring interactions with her fellow patients on her ward. And at New Hope, the community she cultivated continues to thrive, with our lives marked by the honesty, vulnerability, and joy she modelled.