Friend, partner with us in the Kingdom expansion work of the gospel! The church is a Christ-confessional covenant family of God. A covenant is an unbreakable promise depending on God's faithfulness alone to fulfill. We enter this covenant family by His grace alone, into this often messy yet majestic community called the Church, whom Jesus Christ loved and washed with His own life. We enter into this covenant not as passive spectators, but as humble servants - fully active partners on mission with Jesus, who calls us to be His disciples in covenant with Him and to one another. Won't you partner with us in growing God's Kingdom through this particular body of Jesus Christ - His Hosanna Church - making His Church stronger and more able to reach farther and wider for souls in need of Him? Join us in covenant partnership as we make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus Christ in fulfillment of His Great Commission!
COVENANT PARTNERSHIP PROCESS
Stage 1: Explore
We encourage new visitors to explore our community and ministry for at least one month, to give you (and your family) time to get to know Hosanna, its history, vision, mission and values, as well as meet existing covenant partners of the church, alongside the team of servants and shepherds. Fill out a visitor card. Let us introduce ourselves to you and contact you! Feel free to stay for lunch provided by our sister church (Bethany Korean Church) and enjoy Korean food served Sunday's after worship service in the gym, or for an informal fellowship time. Explore what makes you curious! We welcome it.
Stage 2: Experience
After visiting with us for at least one month, we would love for you to move from exploring to experiencing one of the many ministries we offer to build community, discipleship, and mission-mindedness in Hosanna. The heartbeat of Hosanna is our Life Group ministry, and one of our Life Group shepherds should reach out to you to come swing-by during a gathering. Men's and Women's ministries are also available for you to experience within those special gatherings of sisterhood and brotherhood in Christ. Our Pastor - who is always available to field questions or have an extended time of fellowship - will also be available for you. Experience also our unique relationship with Bethany Korean Church, in our co-partnership together through blended ministries. Experience what makes Hosanna uniquely Presbyterian, and how we also welcome diversity from other evangelical denominations and heritages upholding the authority of Scripture. At this stage, we desire for you to truly experience the life of Hosanna, even in her broken and messy parts, so that in your prayerful time of discernment, you may hear God's calling clearly as to where He is leading you. Our aim is to help you experience Christ-centered community and point you in the direction the Lord is guiding your walk with Him.
Stage 3: Engage & Extend
After experiencing a sufficient breadth of Hosanna, it is time to do what Jesus calls us to do - to make covenant with a local church family, to grow God's Kingdom through it, and fulfill Jesus' calling to be active disciples and servants over passive observers and consumers. At this stage, we encourage you to engage with any of our existing servants, Deacons, Elders, or Pastor, and courageously extend your desire to become a covenant partner with this particular body of Christ - Hosanna Church - communicating clearly how God has led you to this next step of covenant and spiritual life. At this point as well, existing covenant partners, Deacons, Elders, shepherds, or our Pastor may initiate this conversation with you, as we too in our prayers would have come to the same conclusion in the Spirit concerning your partnership. Praise God for His answer!
Stage 4: Be Equipped & Enjoy
It is our desire to equip all new covenant partners with a 1-hour new member orientation class to introduce the theology of our reformed Presbyterian heritage, review the general expectations of covenant partners, sign the covenant partner agreement, and examine if the sacraments of baptism (infant or adult) and confirmation of faith (if infant baptized) have been administered. If any one of the sacraments are needed, our Pastor will gladly officiate the needed baptism or confirmation of faith simultaneously during the announcement of the new covenant partner status. All respective social media private chat groups will be opened to the new covenant partner, alongside other information pertaining to Congregational Meetings. All that remains is to enjoy the new partnership with the Lord's church! Congratulations!
COVENANT PARTNERSHIP INTRODUCTORY ORIENTATION
I. Historical Milestones
1995 – Began as a small English-language Ministry within Bethany Korean Presbyterian Church (BKPC)
March 2019 – BKPC Session recognizes English-language Ministry as a congregation; known as Bethany EC (English Congregation)
June 2019 – Completion of building extension project - Vision Center and Ezra Chapel dedicated to educating and spiritually nurturing the next generation
January 2023 – BKPC Session, alongside passing vote of the Congregational Meeting, approves Bethany EC to become a co-located church-plant
May 2023 – Bethany EC renamed Hosanna Presbyterian Church; Hosanna is incorporated by the Texas Secretary of State as a nonprofit organization/church
August 2023 – Hosanna Presbyterian Church becomes the first church-plant to be chartered in Texas by the Texas Presbytery, Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO)
September 2023 – Hosanna Presbyterian Church is celebrated through a dedication worship service and first officers are installed (the Session [comprised of the Senior Pastor/Head of Staff and three ordained Elders], alongside two ordained Deacons)
Hosanna is an independent church co-located with its Korean partner church, BKPC. There is a Unity Covenant between the two churches as we desire unity - not uniformity - in the way we reach souls with the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hosanna seeks this unity in joint endeavors with BKPC to embrace all ages, generations, cultures, and languages for the building-up of the larger body of Christ, strengthening the co-partnering relationship with BKPC and beyond.
Hosanna's vision is to bridge diversity (among families, generations, cultures, languages, backgrounds) into a mosaic of one transformed gospel community unified to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
II. Essential Tenets
The great purpose toward which each human life is drawn is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever
1. God’s Word: The Authority for Our Confession
We glorify God by recognizing and receiving His authoritative self- revelation, both in the infallible Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and also in the incarnation of God the Son.
2. Trinity and Incarnation: The Two Central Christian Mysteries
A. Trinity - With Christians everywhere, we worship the only true God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who is both one essence and three persons.
B. Incarnation - Jesus Christ is both truly God and truly human. The divinity of the Son is in no way impaired, limited, or changed by His gracious act of assuming a human nature, and that His true humanity is in no way undermined by His continued divinity. Jesus, who was sent from the Father, has now ascended to the Father in His resurrected body and remains truly human. We are able to confess Jesus Christ as Lord and God only through the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. Essentials of the Reformed Tradition
A. God’s grace in Christ - The present disordered state of the world, in which we and all things are subject to misery and to evil, is not God’s doing, but is rather a result of humanity’s free, sinful rebellion against God’s will. No part of human life is untouched by sin. Our desires are no longer trustworthy guides to goodness, and what seems natural to us no longer corresponds to God’s design. In union with Christ through the power of the Spirit we are brought into right relation with the Father, who receives us as His adopted children. Jesus Christ is the only Way to this adoption, the sole path by which sinners become children of God
B. Election for salvation and service - Having lost true freedom of will in the fall, we are incapable of turning toward God of our own volition. God chooses us for Himself in grace before the foundation of the world, not because of any merit on our part, but only because of His love and mercy. Through His regenerating and sanctifying work, the Holy Spirit grants us faith and enables holiness, so that we may be witnesses of God’s gracious presence to those who are lost.
C. Covenant life in the church - In Christ, we are adopted into the family of God and find our new identity as brothers and sisters of one another, since we now share one Father. Within the covenant community of the church, God’s grace is extended through the preaching of the Word, the administration of the Sacraments, and the faithful practice of mutual discipline.
D. Faithful stewardship of all of life - The ministries of the church reflect the three-fold office of Christ as prophet, priest, and king – reflected in the church’s ordered ministries of teaching elders, deacons, and ruling elders. Jesus teaches us that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. There is no part of human life that is off limits to the sanctifying claims of God.
E. Living in obedience to the Word of God - Progress in holiness is an expected response of gratitude to the grace of God, which is initiated, sustained, and fulfilled by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
Covenant Partner Progress in Holiness - "I SHALL..." TOP 10
1. Worship God alone, living all of life to His glory, renouncing all idolatry and all inordinate loves that might lead us to trust in any other help
2. Worship God in humility, being reticent in either describing or picturing God, recognizing that right worship is best supported not by our own innovative practices but through the living preaching of the Word and the faithful administration of the Sacraments
3. Eliminate from both speech and thought any blasphemy, irreverence, or impurity
4. Observe the Sabbath as a day of worship and rest, being faithful in gathering with the people of God
5. Give honor toward those set in authority over us and practice mutual submission within the community of the church
6. Eradicate a spirit of anger, resentment, callousness, violence, or bitterness, and instead cultivate a spirit of gentleness, kindness, peace, and love; recognize and honor the image of God in every human being from conception to natural death
7. Maintain chastity in thought and deed, being faithful within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman as established by God at the creation or embracing a celibate life as established by Jesus in the new covenant
8. Practice right stewardship of the goods we have been given, showing charity to those in need and offering generous support of the Church and its ministries
9. Pursue truth, even when such pursuit is costly, and defend truth when it is challenged, recognizing that truth is in order to goodness and that its preservation matters 10. Resist the pull of envy, greed, and acquisition, and instead cultivate a spirit of contentment with the gifts God has given us
In Jesus Christ we see the perfect expression of God’s holy will for human beings offered to God in our place. His holy life must now become our holy life. In Christ, God’s will is now written on our hearts, and we look forward to the day when we will be so confirmed in holiness that we will no longer be able to sin. As the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, Jesus leads us along the path of life toward that goal, bringing us into ever deeper intimacy with the Triune God, in whose presence is fullness of joy.
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III. Privileges & Responsibilities
1. Consistent attendance on Sunday’s main worship (50%)
2. Participate in Life Group, Men’s/Women’s groups, Bible study groups, and any other Hosanna sponsored gatherings and events; officially added to all appropriate communication channels and groups
3. Take part in Holy Communion
4. Pastoral care through baptisms & confirmation, prayer sessions, visitations, counseling, wedding and memorial service officiating
6. Participate in annual and special Congregational Meetings and vote as necessary on items mentioned in HPC’s Bylaws
7. Tithes & Offerings
8. Discover your gift and serve to build-up the body a. Welcoming Team b. Praise Team c. Media Team d. Event Coordinating e. Life Group (LG) leading f. Social Media (announcement, design, event flyer, etc) g. Bethany Korean Church's Kitchen Team – Saturday AM food preparation & Sunday after-lunch dishwashing 9. Move from a passive church goer to active worshiper, having the willingness and availability to participate, and openness to share life with one another that you may love and encourage your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and live transformed lives to becoming more Christ-like
10. Be respectful of one another and church leadership; use proper communication channels to voice issues or concerns; actively greet one another with a smile