An Important Announcement from Pastor Dale

Dear Community of Hope,

I come to you today with an important update regarding our Community of Hope West Palm Beach Campus. 

It is with a heavy heart that I share the difficult news that our ministry season at the physical location of the West Palm Beach Campus is coming to a close. 

The West Palm Beach campus has been an integral part of the Community of Hope family since our merge in 2017. This campus has been instrumental in reaching out to hundreds of families and lives with the hope of Jesus Christ, including welcoming COH Español, our Community Care Center through Love the 561, and our initiatives with the local community to combat homelessness, addiction, and human trafficking. 

The West Palm Beach campus has an enduring legacy even before Community of Hope being the former Good Shepherd UMC. It has also been a special place for me personally. It was in this church that I watched the faith of my family grow, and where I had my life transformed as a young teenager, including where I received my own call into ministry. 

When we disaffiliated from the UMC last year, many of you are aware that we moved out of a group insurance program, and into a single insurance situation. Following our disaffiliation, our new insurance company began to raise concerns about our West Palm Beach Campus, and its long-term deferred maintenance. 

To fully understand our deferred maintenance challenges, we began to collect bids, eventually learning that those projected bids amounted to over 1.8 million dollars.  Our Lead Team, (Board of Directors) were working with this number, when, on April 25th, we received a letter from the company, informing us that we had until August 2nd to resolve our deferred maintenance, or risk losing insurance on all our campuses. We elevated this concern and asked for an extension to their deadline.  On April 29, we received an official letter from the firm, informing us that we would not be allowed any additional time, and the date of August 2 for all compliance issues would stand, or they would remove coverage from ALL our campuses on August 29.  Our Lead Team met on May 13, and after deliberation came to the sad, but unified decision that we have no other option.

With this in mind, we are looking to the date of July 14th as the final Sunday on this campus, along with other special consideration around our COH Español congregation. As you would imagine, the staff is working to adjust to these new realities, and get updated information related to coming celebration events to you as quickly as possible. 

Let me also share that all staff related to this campus are taken care of, and have been reallocated to the Loxahatchee Campus,

In this season, as in all seasons,  we hold to the truth of Jesus' words in John 12:24 "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." 

We believe God is already at work here and will even use this moment to produce more and maturing disciples of Jesus Christ through His work at Community of Hope. Please pray for your church in this time of transition. 

With love and hope for our future together!

Pastor Dale