The doctrine of the diocese—the content of our faith—is unapologetically biblical and orthodox. 

Proper doctrine guides us to reach the true goal of Christian faith: a living relationship with God, who is revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our allegiance to the faith is, therefore, allegiance to and worship of the Triune God. We seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength (Matt. 22:34-40). In response to God’s grace and love poured out through Christ Jesus, we follow Him in faith, trust, obedience, and love (John 8:31-32). We earnestly and actively depend on the Holy Spirit in order to live, grow, and serve as true Christians every moment of every day of our lives (Rom. 8:1-17).

When we reflect on the story of our personal Christian lives and the story of our corporate life and ministry together as a growing Diocese, we are overwhelmed by God’s grace and goodness. His grace is poured out through the Cross of Jesus, resulting in “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) The gift of the Holy Spirit is astonishing. Indeed, we have been made rich in Christ (2 Cor 8:8-9). “We have nothing but what we have received.” Gripped by this amazing love and generosity, we proclaim the Gospel with deep gratitude. We also seek to be radically gracious toward one another and toward our neighbors. We encourage generosity of time, love, resources, service, and hospitality—both within the church and for the sake of our communities, friends, and families.

The Diocese of Christ our Hope was born in the context of strong personal relationships between Rwandan church leaders and American clergy—the Rwandan Connection. We guard and grow this relational DNA throughout our Diocese, among our leaders, and within its churches through genuine love, faithful prayer, solid friendships, joyous celebration, heartfelt conversations, and pastoral care.

Our founding Rwandan leaders taught us to be highly collaborative and sacrificially generous. They set a course that continues to this day. We love working together with other Christians in the work of the Gospel. We particularly rejoice in the many ministry partnerships and friendships we continue to share with the Anglican Church of Rwanda and other East African Anglican churches and leaders.

Participating in the mission of Christ and planting healthy, multiplying churches is at the heart of our Diocese. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16-17). Jesus calls us to proclaim the Gospel with power, by word and deed, wherever we live and serve.

Though we strive to spread the gospel through establishing new churches, we also view compassionate service “to the least of these brothers and sisters” (Matt. 25:40) as essential to our faith. Throughout Scripture, God has unmistakably shown His love for the poor, the needy, the afflicted, the widow, orphan, and stranger. He calls His people to be the hands and feet of compassion and service in this world. Not only do we encourage and foster local efforts of mercy and justice in every community we serve, but we also take calculated risks for the kingdom of God. We stretch ourselves to consider the possibilities. We pioneer into new territory, following the lead of Jesus, the ultimate “pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2).

We are rooted in the historic catholic Church and in a Reformed Anglican tradition. We are reformational, evangelical Anglicans who take seriously what we have received: the call to engage in common (shared) liturgical worship and prayer centered in Word, Sacrament, and Spirit; worship and mission in the language and culture of the people; lifelong discipleship for all; and missional engagement of the Gospel with the needs and questions of our communities. We are ever ancient, ever new.

In addition, God has blessed us with leaders who are not only passionate for Gospel mission—they are also zealous for the transformative power and true integrity of God’s word. We seek to develop and live within a God-centered, biblical view of the world. We believe in the enduring applicability of God’s revealed truth in the Bible to the issues and struggles of real-world people. We are convinced by personal experience and sustained testimony that God heals souls, sets prisoners free, opens the eyes of the blind, ministers hope and blessing to the poor and needy, and brings all of us into the ever-brightening dawn of flourishing life in Christ.

God desires to transform us into the image of Christ—people who think, feel, and live differently because they follow Christ (Rom. 8:31-32; 1 John 3:1-3). We take whole life discipleship seriously, with the goal of forming children, teens, and adults to live and serve effectively in the academy, industry, business, home, the sciences and medicine, and in the Church. 

Our Anglican heritage is a path of spiritual transformation founded on solid biblical teaching but includes much more. Discipleship begins with learning correct doctrine, but ultimately, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are transformed into the image of Christ, from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:17-18). Therefore, on every level in the ministry of our churches, faithful obedience, the pursuit of holiness, prayer, worship, multi-generational relationships, and robust family life are joined to biblical teaching.

We believe that God has created humanity as stewards of creation and developers of culture. He has redeemed a people for Himself and established good works for each Christian to do, for the sake of others (Eph. 2:10). He empowers and calls us to serve Him as agents of the Kingdom in every imaginable vocation that can be done with integrity and truth. Therefore, we are passionate about next-generation leadership development for every discipline of life. We believe future Christian leadership for the city, the church, the academy, the business community, and the world of the arts starts in the nurseries of our churches and the living rooms of our homes.