An Affirming Church on 7th Avenue and Indian School
Community Church of Hope sits on the northeast corner of 7th Avenue and Indian School Road in central Phoenix, a few steps from the Melrose District and its tree-lined blocks of galleries, shops, and restaurants. The main entrance opens off 6th Drive, and worshipers pull into the lot at 4122 N. 6th Drive on Sunday mornings. Founded in 1996 by Rev. Patrick Stout together with twelve gay, lesbian, and straight allies, the church describes its purpose in a single sentence that has not changed in three decades: "a diverse group of people who are God-centered and Christ-driven to provide Hope and Love to ALL." The congregation identifies as an independent, open and affirming community, and it explicitly welcomes LGBTQIA+ members, non-binary and two-spirit people, families, and anyone who has ever felt pushed to the margins of faith.
Humble Beginnings in 1996
The story of Community Church of Hope starts with a question. In 1996, twelve people sat down and asked themselves, "What don't we want in a church?" From that conversation came a community built around welcome rather than exclusion. The first few years required creativity. The fledgling congregation met in a Red Roof Inn near Camelback Road and 7th Avenue, setting up and breaking down every Sunday. After six months the group moved to a space at 4400 N. Central Avenue, which served as home for the next six years.
In 2001 the current property on 6th Drive was acquired, and a long stretch of renovations followed. Volunteers hauled equipment each week from a Ramada Inn back to the property under construction. On Christmas Eve of 2002, with the work complete and the City of Phoenix approvals in hand, the church joyfully inaugurated its "new" building and began a new chapter. Today the building still anchors a ministry that has raised and distributed more than $40,000 through its Change for Hope offering alone, and has branched out into LGBTQ+ youth giving, food banking, rodeo volunteering, and hospital and hospice care.
Sundays at 9 and 11
Two Sunday morning services are offered at identical 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. times, and both follow the same simple order. Worshipers enter off of 6th Drive and find their way into the sanctuary. The music service is designed to give people room to express themselves in whatever way feels right: singing, clapping, raising hands, praying, or meditating quietly while the band plays. Ushers pass the offering plates and the church's e-readers allow debit and credit card gifts before and after the service. Communion is shared with bread and grape juice, with self-serve gluten-free wafers also available; no one has to be a member of the church, or of any church, to come to the table.
Children are not just tolerated but actively cherished. A restroom with a changing table is available, and a quiet and play room is equipped with a monitor and speaker that broadcast the current service so parents can step out without missing what is happening. Visitors who cannot attend in person can listen to past sermons through the Sermons page and on Spotify, where the church maintains a regular podcast.
What to Expect on a Sunday Morning
The congregation has put together a gentle primer for newcomers called "To Our Visitors." It walks through the parts of the service so no one is caught off guard. Praise and worship music runs twenty to thirty minutes, the congregation usually stands but is welcome to sit, and clapping or raising hands is normal. A short time of greeting follows, when people stand, smile, hug, or shake hands with those nearby; participation is optional.
The offering is collected with a prayer of thanksgiving, and an envelope is provided in each worship folder for those who want to give by cash or check. As the church notes, "Community Church of Hope is completely self-sustaining, and the financial gifts received each week are our primary means of monetary support." Communion, called the Lord's Supper or Eucharist, is served by three to six people who bring bread and grape juice to each pew, share a brief prayer, and invite worshipers to remain seated if they would rather not participate.
An Open and Affirming Vision
The vision statement at the foot of the church's pages is simple and unchanged: "We are diverse group of people who are God-Centered and Christ-Driven to provide Hope and Love to ALL." The four pages that explain how that vision is lived out are short. It is accomplished through worship, community involvement, and nurturing spiritual growth. It is modeled through diversity, relevancy, and quality. It becomes practical because the congregation is balanced in activity, committed to community, reliant on God's grace, and committed to maintaining integrity.
The Bible used in worship and study is the New International Version. The church identifies itself as "independent, open and affirming" and asks visitors to remember that "faith communities are many and varied and each has its own traditions," an invitation to bring your full self through the door. Monthly affirmations published on the site echo this in prayer form. The September affirmation reads, "I carry my community with love. Through love, we make room. Together, we rise. Together, we grow. Together, we create a more welcoming world. Together, we are an epicenter of Hope. Amen."
The Pastoral Team
Five clergy share the work of ministry at Community Church of Hope. Rev. Patrick Stout serves as Pastor Emeritus and remains the symbolic founder of the community he helped to launch in 1996. Rev. Andy Anderson serves as Pastor and Chaplain, leading pastoral care and officiating at celebrations of life. Rev. Kimberly Bittner serves as Pastor and Minister of Connections, the point person for newcomers and the wider network of relationships the church maintains. Rev. Sean Creighton and Rev. Adam Alonso round out the pastoral team; Rev. Alonso also serves as Worship Coordinator. Karen Bywater handles finances and directs the University of Hope, and Kevin Hansen manages the church's social media presence.
Change for Hope and the First Sunday Giving
The most visible rhythm of the church's community giving runs on the first Sunday of every month. Members and visitors are invited to bring their loose change for Change for Hope, a long-running offering that supports people who have "more month than money left," and to bring donations of clothing, sanitation products, and non-perishable food for Nourish Phoenix, a Phoenix food and clothing bank that also provides job resources and training. Together, these twin gifts on the first Sunday of each month are simply called First Sunday Ministry.
Throughout the rest of the month, the church extends that same generosity. The Christmas in July Food Drive, which runs through the summer Sundays, asks members to "fill that ramp" with goods for Nourish Phoenix. The Christmas season brings a Diva Tree for one•n•ten, an LGBTQ youth organization; a presence at the Arizona Gay Rodeo Association during its annual event, with volunteers in ticket sales, gate duty, and program handouts; Christmas gifts to LGBTQ+ youth; Shoe Box Ministry gifts for the homeless; prayer shawls and lap quilts for those facing challenging times; and recognition of community members who have served in the military.
Community Partners: Nourish Phoenix, AGRA, and one n ten
Three named partners carry much of the church's outreach. Nourish Phoenix, the closest, is a food and clothing bank with job resource opportunities and training; the church supports it through monthly First Sunday giving and seasonal drives. The Arizona Gay Rodeo Association, a regional LGBTQ rodeo tradition, sees the church pitch in as volunteers for ticket sales, gate watchers, and program handouts, and the church also participates in the rodeo's "12 Days of Christmas" and offers a spiritual message during the Christmas Eve service. one•n•ten serves LGBTQ youth and young adults ages 11 to 24 through social and service programs that promote self-expression, self-acceptance, leadership development, and healthy life choices; the church partners with one•n•ten at Christmas by sponsoring wish lists and Diva Tree gifts for their Queermas celebrations.
Beyond these three, the church's geographic community is the Melrose District itself, the stretch of 7th Avenue from Camelback Road south to Indian School Road that has become "a shining star in Metro Phoenix." The church considers itself "a part of the community, not apart from it," and supports local festivals and neighborhood partnerships as part of its regular work. Other longstanding ministries include hospital and hospice visits, Baptisms and child dedications, weddings for couples of all orientations, celebrations of life and memorial services, and confidential prayer requests held by the pastoral team.
University of Hope
University of Hope is the church's lifelong-learning arm. Classes and workshops focus on personal life skills and community building, with a blend of interactive sessions, hands-on activities, fun and creative crafts, group projects, and personal growth. Past series have included Bosom Buddy Building with instructor Ryan Johnson, a four-part craft series in the Conference Room leading up to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with a small materials fee. Other recent offerings have included sewing pattern reading with Rev. Patrick. Most classes are free; some carry a small materials fee, and the church notes that it is "yes and no" when asked whether there is a charge.
Weddings, Baptisms, and Celebrations of Life
Weddings are a core ministry of Community Church of Hope. The church's description is direct: "We fully support marriage for couples of all sexual orientations." Couples meet with a pastor to plan a ceremony tailored to their love story, with the church acting as a supporting environment and co-creator of the celebration. Baptisms and dedications are offered for infants, children, and adults, and the pastoral team guides families and individuals through the meaning and preparation for the rite.
Celebrations of life, sometimes called memorial services, are conducted with care for diverse traditions. A pastor meets with loved ones in advance to plan readings, music, and sharing from family and friends. Prayer requests are submitted confidentially through a form on the church's prayer page and are held privately by the pastoral team. Together these rites of passage form a full pastoral cycle that runs alongside the Sunday services, and the same pastors who preach on Sunday morning are the ones who walk with families through weddings, baptisms, and farewells.
Around the Melrose District
Central Phoenix is a fitting home for a congregation that began by asking what it did not want in a church. The Melrose District to the north and the residential blocks to the south are walkable and human-scaled, and the church's lot on 6th Drive places it a short distance from Camelback, Indian School, and the 7th Avenue corridor. Visitors driving in for the first time will find the entrance just north of Indian School on 6th Drive; parking is on the same lot, and the sanctuary, the play and quiet room, the Conference Room where University of Hope classes meet, and the lobby that displays the Pillars of Hope copper-and-black tribute piece are all under one roof. Donations can be made through PayPal or in the offering boxes on the sanctuary walls. Sermons are archived on the Sermons page and on the church's Spotify feed, so anyone who cannot make a Sunday morning is welcome to listen in.
More than twenty-five years after twelve people met to imagine a different kind of church, Community Church of Hope still opens its doors off of 6th Drive every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m., still passes the bread and the grape juice, still collects loose change for those who need it, and still asks the same question it began with: "What don't we want in a church?" The answer, week after week, is a community that has room for everyone.