Growing Hope
Stephen T. Berg

5.25 x 8 - 224 Pages
The Story of Edmonton's Hope Mission

The accumulation of our joys and sorrows are softly sculpted into our faces. The nuances and the potencies of every experience are etched in. By dint of time, our faces-those unfinished paintings through which we meet the world-reveal the passages of our lives. While we often mask, hide, or make them up, on inspection they tell our story. They are vulnerable veneers.
But the veneers of people on the street are far more vulnerable, their faces often etched with desolation and sorrow. Their stories, the details of which are all unique and varied, tell of tragedy. Clearly their personal dramas have to do with deep and complex ruptures, ones that have increased in scope and number even while our living standard has steadily risen.
This book is the story of shared hope through face-to-face encounters. It is the story of Hope Mission’s growing response to people who are not only in need of food and shelter, but who are in need of a tenacious hope.

“It’s so easy to see the hand of God at work in the Hope Mission.”
-Premier Ed Stelmach


Stephen T. Berg began volunteering at Hope Mission in 1984. In 1991 he started working part-time as a chaplain assistant. In 1992, when Hope Mission took over operations of the former Single Men’s Hostel, he became manager of the renamed Herb Jamieson Centre and held this position for seven years. After this post ended he worked as the youth home manager for one year. He then worked in volunteer services and communications and has been Director of Development for the past eight years.
Stephen is a frequent contributor to the Edmonton Journal’s Religion page. He writes features and articles on issues of social care and justice, and Christian responsibility.

All proceeds from the sale of this book go to the ministry of Hope Mission.