In the Fall of 2003, the vision for River of Hope Church was first conceived of by Neil Thielke as he was driving through Grand Forks on his way to visit a sister church in Grafton, ND.  Neil asked David and Jennifer George to pray about leading a church plant team in Grand Forks.  Within the next 9 months, River of Hope Church started coming together.  People volunteered to join the team, the church was named, and a location to meet in was found.  River of Hope’s first service was held on August 28, 2004 at 219 4^th Street South, in downtown Grand Forks.    

The “early days” of River of Hope Church are filled with fond memories of prayer walks around downtown, potluck dinners, reaching out to those staying at the Rescue Mission, and small, intimate Saturday night church services.  At that time, only one member of the church plant team had been able to move to Grand Forks.  The rest of the team commuted to spend Saturdays together in Grand Forks.

As River of Hope (RoH) switched locations to 414 University Avenue, a new era began.  Services moved from Saturday night to Sunday night and outreach efforts switched from the Rescue Mission to the University of North Dakota.  Service attendance slowly grew as the church started to grow its’ roots down into the community. 

River of Hope experienced major changes the summer and fall of 2008 leading the church to where it is now.  At the end of that summer, more members lived in Grand Forks than out of Grand Forks and services moved from Sunday evenings at 414 University to Sunday mornings at 321 Belmont.  This provided momentum for RoH to expand outreach efforts, see an increase in guest attendance, and branch outside of Sunday church events to Wednesday night Bible studies, social events, and church planning meetings. 

River of Hope is still relatively small by most standards, but has a healthy, committed church family that desires to see God impact the Greater Grand Forks community.  During the next few years, the vision for River of Hope Church is to see an increase in reaching out to and incorporating young families into the church, increase its efforts and effectiveness in leadership training and development, and have a more permanent meeting facility, a building to call ‘home’.