Don't Forget Who You Are

Key Points:

• Don’t Forget Who You Are: Identity Matters. When identity is questioned—personally or corporately—we become defensive because identity shapes behavior. For the church, identity is expressed through culture, mission, vision, and values. If Be Hope forgets who it is, it will drift into who it is not.

• Jesus Is Our Hope (Not Wishful Thinking). Hebrews 10:23 calls believers to hold unswervingly to the hope they profess. That hope is not an idea or optimism—it is a person. Jesus is our confident expectation, worth holding onto even at the cost of our lives. The church does not forget who it is because Jesus is and always will be our hope.

• Growth Can Create Identity Drift. As churches grow, distraction increases and drift becomes real. When focus shifts from mission to programs, from people far from God to preferences, or from encounter to insight, the church slowly loses alignment. If we forget who we are, we drift into who we are not.

• Hope Does Not Drift—It Remains Unswerving. To be “unswerving” means actively staying on course despite pressure, distraction, or difficulty. This journey and mission are matters of spiritual life and death. Remaining unswerving requires resisting distraction and refusing deviation, personally and corporately.

• We Remain Unswerving Together—Living Out the Call to Be Hope. Hebrews emphasizes “Let us hold”—this is a shared commitment. As a church, Be Hope remains unswerving to:

• The Mission: Becoming someone’s first church

• The Vision: Pursuing the hopeless and seeing lives transformed

• The Calling: Every believer using their gifts to point people to Jesus

• Being Hope is not a name—it’s an identity lived out through worship, encouragement, service, invitation, and mission.