Jitesh Soans

Jitesh Soans began to serve officially as pastor at Bright Hope alongside our interim pastor, John Courchesne on October 9, 2022. Jitesh will fully transition into the lead pastor role at Bright Hope on November 1, 2022.  He and his wife, Lora, currently live in Elizabethtown with their daughter, Geneene.

Before coming to Bright Hope, Jitesh served for two years as pastor of the Sherman Congregational Church in Sherman, Connecticut. He served as lead pastor at Oldham Memorial Methodist Church in Pune, India from 2012 to 2017. Before this, from 2007-2012, he was lead pastor of the Vernon Memorial Methodist English Church in Kalyan, Maharashtra, India.

Jitesh holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Jai Hind College in Mumbai, India. Both Jitesh and Lora received Bachelor of Divinity degrees from Union Biblical Seminary in Pune, India. Pastor Jitesh received his Master’s in Ministry from Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster. Lora earned her Master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Lancaster Bible College.

“I was born in a Christian family,” Pastor Jitesh explains. “I was part of a teenage Christian group and later a Christian band, sharing the Gospel through skits and songs in churches, on streets, in prison and juvenile homes.” It was only after intense Bible study and prayer every day that Jitesh surrendered his life to Jesus and eventually went to seminary expecting to be part of a teaching ministry.

When Lora’s mother was diagnosed with end-stage cancer, Jitesh took a year off before his Master’s degree study to be with Lora’s parents. “I applied to the Methodist Church, and God opened the way for me to pastor a small church. I had never planned or dreamed that I would ever be a pastor.”

Jitesh has said, “Through various hardships, God continued to help my family and me to depend upon Him and not upon our own wisdom, strength or understanding. Through insurmountable situations, God taught us to wait upon Him.”

I believe that God has been working in me,” then Jitesh added, “shaping and teaching me to be a better pastor to meet the growing challenges and needs of the future.”

Jitesh’s interests include computer hardware and software operation and repair, graphics, music and video editing, desktop publishing, and projection. True to his roots in India, he enjoys the sports of cricket, soccer, and badminton.