Seeds of Hope Church - Our Neighborhood

The Call. Marilyn and I felt called to move to Pittsburgh in September of 2000. We believed and believe that the Lord was calling us into a new time and ministry. Initially, we joined Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship, an inner city church in the Oakland area of Pittsburgh. The Church is pastored by Mike Wurschmidt and ministers to the homeless and broken on the streets of Pittsburgh. After two years training in inner city ministry and church planting, it was discerned by my wife and I in conjunction with the Shepherd's Heart Leadership Team that we were to start an inner city cross-cultural church in the Bloomfield & Garfield area of Pittsburgh.

The Need. The Church in the Bloomfield, Garfield and Friendship area of Pittsburgh has been going through a period of decline for some time. There have been five Protestant Churches that have either closed or moved out of the area since 1970: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, St. John Lutheran Church, Bloomfield Methodist Church, Friendship Congregational Church and Greater Pittsburgh Temple. There has also been the closing of one Catholic Church and the consolidation of two others. This has happened even though the population has only declined 10-15% over the same time period. The apparent need is for a church that wants to minister to the people who live in the neighborhoods of the inner city.

One of the pressing needs that was identified through a survey that was conducted in 2002 was a need to care for the children of the community. A census done by the University of Pittsburgh in 2000, showed that there are 2500 children 16 years old and younger within a two mile radius of the Church. This Is why one of Seeds of Hope's primary areas of ministry is directed at the children and families of our neighborhood.

How We Got Started. In the fall of 2001, a small group of us were meeting at the Friendship House. Friendship House is a twelve-bedroom rectory, located in the Bloomfield area of Pittsburgh on Friendship Circle that we purchased as our new place of residence in the spring of 2001. Initially, we had three or four college aged students living with us. It was this group that formed the initial core of the small group that was started the church plant in the fall of 2001.
Near the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002, we were told about a summer day camp program that was funded by Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation. As we explored this idea, it became clear to us that the Lord wanted us to do a Summer Day Camp in 2002 and that this would be the start of the new Church plant. Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation was also very excited about the potential of this joint venture and together we started to make plans for the summer. Our first camp served around 40 children who then started to attend our new Church plant in the fall. Over the last four years, our summer day camp has been come one of our signature programs and the little church of 15-20 that first met in the fall of 2002, is now around 60 or so.

We still meet every Saturday night at 5:15 p.m. and have a meal after our service. Come join us Saturday evening.