Our vision is to equip people from all around New Zealand to feel empowered to journey alongside anyone with a life-limiting illness, offering Christian spiritual support which is full of hope for them and their whanau.
A message from Mike Porteous Board Chair and co-founder of Hub of Hope:
“As a Pastor working with Greenlane Christian Centre (now Gracecity Church), I had the wonderful pleasure of walking alongside many from our congregation, whose vision and passion inspired me in my journey to believe that God can do far more than we can imagine.
The late Barbara Broome was one of those members. Despite many health battles, she remained focused on the vision God gave her in the middle of a Ministry of Health meeting: “that spiritual leaders would be the answer to the desperate need to support those who are dying.”
Having personally walked alongside many through their end-of-life journey and seeing how an encounter with Jesus changed them, I instantly identified with Barbara’s vision. I have witnessed burdens lifted, freedom from fear of the unknown, and guilt and shame removed so that they were able to die completely at peace.
Therefore we are very passionate about doing all we can to equip as many people as possible to walk alongside those on this journey, regardless of who they are. This is why we created the Hub of Hope NZ Charitable Trust (HOH).
As part of our mission, we have developed an e-Learning course specifically designed to equip individuals throughout New Zealand to support not only family and friends but also others within their communities. We have also developed a whole support strategy for all those involved in delivering this service.
I strongly believe that all should have the opportunity to know this life-changing hope and peace on their journey, found through a personal spiritual experience.”
Bringing Hope to those facing hopelessness
Mike Porteous
Co-Founder of Hub of Hope
Board Chair
Barbara Broome
Co-Founder of Hub of Hope
Barbara passed away on Good Friday morning 2023
Hub Of Hope - Our story
The two most "Impactful" and "Challenging" times in life are birth and death. Our society and our medical system are well-equipped to care for families through the birth of a child, however, we often miss opportunities to care for each other as life comes to a close. The details of this process are mysterious and emotionally charged.
Hub of Hope NZ has grown out of more than 20 years of partnership between Barbara Broome and Mike Porteous. They have worked together on various issues that gave them an awareness of the shortfalls in care people receive at the end of their lives. Barbara’s experiences have led her to pursue ways to journey with people with life-limiting illnesses and their families. She was particularly passionate about involving volunteers in providing spiritual and pastoral care.
Mike’s pastoral experience has shown him how vital this spiritual support is. Like-minded people have joined them in this cause, and in August 2019 they established Hub of Hope NZ Charitable Trust.
Benefits of Good Spiritual Health
Spiritual health is one of the cornerstones in Te Whare Tapa Whā: The total wellbeing of a person as they approach the end of their life, as well as the total wellbeing of their family/whānau. Spiritual health is an important part of a person's overall health.
Spiritual health is an area that needs investment of time and money, and people willing to serve. There is a need for trained support volunteers to be available to provide care and compassionate support for anyone who wants it. This is the role of our Hope Supporters. These volunteers are equipped to provide practical and spiritual support that doesn’t just ‘sound good’ (or tick a box); but can facilitate true understanding and assist in welcoming life-changing results for the client. The Hub of Hope NZ is building a network of Hope Supporters throughout New Zealand who, with support from their faith communities, will be able to serve anyone who wants someone to journey alongside them.
Our journey towards the vision
The Hub of Hope NZ is a charitable trust established in August 2019. Up until this point, the trust has begun journeying alongside individuals by providing pastoral care to support their spiritual wellbeing.
HOH has previously run “live in person” courses in Auckland, the last being in 2020, with people from a range of churches and nationalities. The second course was concluded online via Zoom due to pandemic lockdowns. This also sparked the awareness and benefits of online training, two of the latter include being resilient against lockdown restrictions, and the potential to roll out a nation-wide course more efficiently.
Now the Trust has developed, tested, re-developed, and tested an eLearning Course called “Journeying Alongside” to allow it to spread the help and message far and wide.
Will you join us on this Journey and enroll to take this e-Learning Course?