April 2025

Belonging

Upon entering Viv Reeves’ home, one is immediately met with a sense of warmth and welcome.  Colorful handprints stamped on the powder room wall chronicle her grandchildren’s visits over the years, and a mural decorated with family artwork graces the sitting room wall.  Viv welcomes her guests with a smile, an offer of a warm drink and a comfy chair.

Home is important to Viv, not only within her own four walls, but also within her church family.  “Home is the place where you are known and loved anyway,” says Viv. “It is the place where people tell you the truth, the place where you belong.”

Viv recalls that when she and her husband Duane came to New Hope about ten years ago, she felt an immediate sense of belonging.  And while that belonging certainly includes relationships that have deepened over the years, her sense of home stems first from New Hope’s steadfast and faithful commitment to teaching God’s Word.  She has often been impacted through the prayers led by church elders, and finds herself frequently resonating with phrases or Scripture passages spoken in prayer.

Viv observes that New Hope’s commitment to the beauty of the Word yields wonderful fruit.  As the church is faithful, she finds that a desire for personal growth follows, which leads to relationships of genuine accountability and a deep desire to care for and minister to one another. 

Viv found this to be especially true when facing a recurrence of Duane’s cancer in 2020.  A global pandemic just beginning, coupled with Duane’s radiation treatments and subsequent complications, resulted in months of online church attendance and a deep longing for community.

So Viv was deeply moved and delighted when a New Hope elder contacted her to ask if she and Duane would be blessed by the church coming to them.

On a beautiful September Sunday, a group of New Hope members and worship leaders gathered on the Reeves’ front lawn to worship together.  “It was our first taste of community since March,” Viv reflects. “The incredible thing is that this wasn’t something that we asked for.  It was initiated by the church.  They were sensitive to a particular need, and then found a way to meet that need.”  

Viv has found that these kinds of intentional, thoughtful acts build bonds within the church, as those who are encouraged want to in turn care for others who are hurting, something she and Duane have experienced firsthand. “New Hope,” she smiles, “loves people well.”