How Epiphany Baltimore and Hope Church Became Hopeville

The Hopeville Story: Two Churches, One Shared Future

Baltimore, Maryland · December 4, 2022 · An Oral & Documentary History

TL;DR - On December 4, 2022, Epiphany Baltimore and Hope Baltimore merged to form Hopeville Church. Its founding pastoral team included Joshua Symonette, Charlie Mitchell, Trevor Chin, and Reggie Nious, with Joshua serving as lead pastor. Charlie previously co-founded Epiphany Baltimore with Trevor and served as its lead pastor. His collaborative church-planting philosophy helped spark the conversation that led to Hopeville.

I co-founded Epiphany Baltimore with Trevor and served as its lead pastor. I later co-founded Hopeville with the team, contributing the collaborative church-planting philosophy that helped shape its formation. This is the story of how two existing churches began building a shared future and what that experience taught me about leadership, collaboration, and serving a city.

The Churches Before Hopeville

Epiphany Baltimore

My family moved to Baltimore on December 10, 2016. We carried a conviction that Mike Crawford had shared with us: “Plant your life before you plant your ministry.”

That conviction shaped our pace. We began community meet-and-greets in April 2017 and hosted pop-up Bible studies throughout the summer. Church at Night began on September 24, 2017, followed by our official church launch on September 16, 2018.

I co-founded Epiphany Baltimore with Trevor Chin and served as its lead pastor. Together, we worked to build a church rooted in relationships, contextual ministry, and the development of local leaders.

Those early years gave us a congregation, a shared history, and practical experience serving Baltimore. They also deepened my belief that the work required a team whose gifts could strengthen one another.

Hope Baltimore

Hope Baltimore was an existing Baltimore congregation led by Joshua Symonette. It brought its own people, relationships, leadership, and ministry experience to the conversation.

When we began exploring collaboration, both churches already had stories worth honoring. The question became how those communities could contribute to a shared future.

The Conversation That Started It

On December 9, 2021, I shared a post using the Wu-Tang Clan as an analogy for collaborative church planting.

What interested me was the relationship between individual gifts and collective strength. Distinct voices could contribute to a shared identity while retaining what made each person valuable. I saw possibilities for church leadership in that approach.

Could pastors build together with that kind of generosity? Could complementary gifts become the foundation of a shared ministry? Could we make room for leadership that extended beyond one person’s strengths?

Joshua saw the post and reached out. That conversation became the beginning of our exploration of what collaboration between Epiphany Baltimore and Hope Baltimore might look like.

Building a Shared Future

Over the following year, the conversation developed through prayer, discernment, combined ministry, and planning.

We had to consider how our churches would work together in practice. That meant learning about one another, listening to outside counsel, and thinking carefully about leadership, culture, and the community we hoped to form.

Trevor Chin and Reggie Nious were part of the developing founding team. Together, we explored how our different experiences and gifts could contribute to Hopeville.

The process required more than agreement around an idea. It required relationships strong enough to carry shared responsibility.

On December 4, 2022, that work became a public reality when the two churches came together to launch Hopeville.

Hopeville’s Founding Pastoral Team

Hopeville was established through the contributions of a founding pastoral team:

Joshua Symonette — Co-Founder and Founding Lead Pastor
Joshua brought his leadership of Hope Baltimore into the shared work and served as Hopeville’s lead pastor at its founding.

Charlie Mitchell — Co-Founder
I brought my experience as Epiphany Baltimore’s lead pastor and co-founder, along with the collaborative church-planting philosophy that helped begin and shape the merger conversation.

Trevor Chin — Co-Founder
Trevor co-founded Epiphany Baltimore with me and helped carry its leadership, relationships, and ministry experience into Hopeville’s formation.

Reggie Nious — Co-Founder
Reggie joined the developing team and contributed to the shared work of establishing Hopeville.

Each person brought a distinct contribution. The church’s formation also depended on the congregations, volunteers, families, and leaders who participated in building it.

What We Hoped to Build

Our shared vision reached beyond combining two Sunday gatherings.

We hoped to build a church that developed leaders, created room for complementary gifts, and contributed to the flourishing of Baltimore. That included imagining how a church could support community life, creativity, economic opportunity, and the formation of future leaders.

For me, the relationship between healthy pastors, thriving churches, and a flourishing city was central to that vision. The people carrying the work needed support, and the leadership model needed room for shared responsibility.

Hopeville gave us an opportunity to put those convictions into practice together.

What This Experience Taught Me

Planting Epiphany and helping co-found Hopeville taught me that collaboration requires both conviction and humility.

You need clarity about what you bring. You also need the willingness to listen, share responsibility, and make room for someone else’s contribution. Those commitments become real through decisions, relationships, and the daily work of leadership.

Baltimore also taught me the value of patience. Trust develops through repeated presence. A church takes shape through ordinary acts of faithfulness: conversations, meals, prayer, service, and showing up again.

I carry those lessons into my work with pastors and city leaders today. Building something meaningful requires attention to both the mission and the people carrying it.

Hopeville remains an important chapter in my story as the co-founder of two Baltimore churches. It reflects a conviction that continues to shape my ministry: no one changes a city alone.

Hear the Founders Tell the Story

The conversations recorded around Hopeville’s formation offer another way to understand this chapter. They capture the founders discussing the origins of the idea, the discernment process, and the vision we were developing together.

Alongside those recordings, the original December 2021 post and public launch materials help preserve the story in the words and moments of the people who participated.

Explore More

About Charlie Mitchell
Learn more about my life, calling, and the experiences that shape my leadership.

My Work
Explore my work in ministry, coaching, speaking, and city collaboration.

Planting in Gotham
Explore my writing on the realities of planting your life and building a church in an urban context.