Calvary Chapel Hope
History
The first Kansas Calvary Chapel Fellowship in Wichita began in 1980. Don Duncan accepted a call to come here from southern California. He came from an overlooked group, those with a prison history. Don was around 20 years old when he went to prison for his actions, and it was there that he met Jesus. Don had a heart for those that had a lack of hope in this world and a gift to share the word of God.
Don was in the middle of researching and making connections with those who had a similar vision for developing a post-prison ministry when he passed away. Over the five years prior to his death, he had returned to his roots and was developing a ministry for this new group of the overlooked, those coming out of prison.
The core principle for Calvary Chapels are not dogma, traditions, or rules. It is to simply live out the two greatest commandments; love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. Don’s goal was to do just that; to guide, train, and encourage men coming out of incarceration and to treat them as our neighbors.
Vision
Calvary Chapel Hope (CCH), will strive to be a ministry designed to build hope, trust, stability, and compassion into this segment of rejected, overlooked people in our society. This stigma is that they have no value left. Having little or no trust placed in them by businesses or family, they have little or no stability in their lives and little chance of attaining it under the current system. Our current society’s system is not designed to care due to their limited point of view.
CCH is being designed to be a safe residence for men coming out of the county jail and state prison systems. This forgotten segment of society is seen as a financial drain, and our current system is doing little to nothing to rehabilitate lives. In fact, the current system is not designed to rehabilitate, it is designed to incarcerate.
Goals and Objectives
CCH main goals are designed to rebuild broken relationships and the understanding of how that affects the decisions we make and the consequences that come from them. As men graduate from the program, we want them to be able to operate successfully and be a contributing part of society.
Keys to Success
CCH believes this is a ministry designed to meet men where they are, with the desire to take them where they want to be, a valued member of multiple relationships. To be successful doing this, we will need several things;
a. We will need a prayer team
i. We are seeking 10,000 prayer partners
b. We will need community support, specifically the neighborhood associations.
c. We will need the support of the churches in the area.
d. We will need to build alliances with other community resources that are already in place. This is currently in the process and will be a continual item of attention for relationship building and understanding.
e. We will need to get the approval from the City of Wichita for zoning and licensing.
f. We will need a building that can be remodeled to support 36 to 48 men.
g. We will need the finances for the start up and the first year’s expenses.
i. We are seeking 10,000 financial partners to commit to $10.00 per month.