The Hope Family Church Network originally started as a multi-denominational Ecumenical Centre back in the 1970s. Eventually the Church became Oxclose Church, run solely under the Church of England banner, and serving Ayton, Blackfell, Lambton, and Oxclose in Washington. More recently, we became a "resource church", supporting other churches in our area and planting new worshipping communities across the North-East. Oxclose Church became revitalised, changing it's name to Hope Family Church: Washington to more accurately capture our new identity, and beginning the Hope Family Church Network. We're now really excited to be revitalising and planting into Christ Church, New Seaham with weekly worship beginning in May 2024.

As part of the Church of England, our belief in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is at the heart of our faith. We believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that Jesus reveals to us that God is our Father, and that God is available to us through the Holy Spirit.

We are very different to more traditional Church of England churches in that you’ll find a modern, family-oriented style of Church, with all the noise and chaos that family brings and a hive of activity and conversation. We place a strong emphasis on welcome and being a family who supports each other through the ups and downs of life, unconditionally loving and accepting each other. Our Sundays are quite informal, with contemporary worship, and an openness to the leading of God's Spirit, and we love having children and young people in church (even if they're noisy).

At Hope Family Church, being family is a massive part of who we are! We believe that we are all children of God and part of His big family. We believe that God’s desire is for everyone to trust, love, and know Him, as a Father, and that this is how we are designed to be.  Jesus showed us what a life with God is like and it is through faith in Him that we get to enjoy this relationship with the Father who loves us so much. We want to be a Church family who loves and supports each other through all the ups and downs of everyday life. Regardless, of your background, your views, or your current stage of faith, we would love for you to come and join the family!

We are people of hope – we believe that hope is transformative, it transforms us on a personal level, it transforms our community, and it transforms our society.  We get to share that hope with everyone around us. Our hope is rooted in Jesus, in who He says we are, and who He says we can be.  Because of what Jesus has done for us and in us, we believe that everyone can live life to the full now because of the promises of Jesus. This transformative hope is only found in Jesus, and through Jesus, and so we want to bring people to a personal relationship with Him.

We want to follow Jesus and try to be like Him in our every day lives. And so we put our faith into action and try to embody Jesus in all that we do. We try to reflect the way Jesus interacted and loved people, showing compassion, mercy and honour to everyone. We also believe that Jesus wants people to experience His kingdom, and so we pray for the world, introduce people to Jesus, and expect the miraculous to happen everyday.