Consider Serving In Redeemer’s Youth Fellowship

Redeemer Family,

Some of the most important and influential people in my life story are those men who served as Youth Ministry volunteers in my city back when I was a teenager. They wrote me letters, called me, visited me at school, came to my sports games, gave me rides to and from events before I was old enough to drive, and in so many ways - they showed me the pursuing love of Jesus.

I don’t know where or who I would be without them.

They changed my life.

Today I’m writing to invite some of you young adult men and women to consider volunteering in our Youth Fellowship: to be those same kind of people who change lives by pursuing our teenagers with the love of Jesus.

We already have a fantastic group of 14 young adults who serve as Youth Fellowship Leaders and, ideally, we would like to add 14 more to the team.

If you’re interested, keep reading!

Profile of a Youth Fellowship Leader

  • A young man or woman who has received the good news of salvation through Jesus, has been baptized, and is actively seeking to grow in their faith.

  • Attends Redeemer regularly, and is either already a member or intentionally moving towards membership.

  • Passes a background check and participates in child safety training.

  • Has a genuine desire to see students encounter the love of Jesus and to grow in the practice of their faith.

Commitments of a Youth Fellowship Leader

  • In the Fall and Spring semesters, help lead weekly Youth Fellowship gatherings on Sunday evenings, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

  • Give at least 1 hour/week to relationally pursuing students outside of program time (we call this “contact work”).

  • Help lead Fall and Spring Youth Fellowship Retreats.

  • Help lead 1 Summer trip (either middle school or high school).

  • Help lead weekly Summer Bible studies.

Now, if you’ve made it this far, you might be thinking something along the lines of, “This sounds like a lot.”

You’re not wrong.

The teen years are an absolutely crucial season of identity formation and decision making. Our Youth Fellowship is an incredibly important ministry, and, therefore, we ask a lot of our volunteer leaders and believe it is 100% worth it!

One of the greatest joys of the past few years has been watching the camaraderie amongst the young adults who currently serve on this team. It is an incredible group that is so much fun to be around. They work hard, they give of their time generously, and they have a front row seat to witness what God is doing in the lives of our students.

If you are interested in volunteering with our Youth Fellowship, email Kate Ramsdell, and she would love to talk with you about it.

In the Father’s love,

 

Property Search Update: We are under contract!

Property Search Update: We are under contract!

Redeemer Family, I am writing to inform you that our church is officially under contract to purchase a property. This is good news! However, it’s not a done deal yet, and so I am adopting a posture of “cautious excitement and prayerful discernment” and I invite you to join me in this. Now, there are a lot of nuanced details to communicate, so please read the following carefully!

Introducing Our New Church Planter-in-Residence

Introducing Our New Church Planter-in-Residence

One of the greatest joys over the past eight years has been the role our parish has played in helping to plant new churches. Every time we send out a new church plant, it reminds us that the Kingdom of God is so much bigger than merely what is happening here within our local congregation. It also reminds us that the work of the church is never solely for itself; we exist for the sake of others who do not yet know and love the Lord Jesus.

About Redeemer’s Prayer Ministry

About Redeemer’s Prayer Ministry

At Redeemer, we believe prayer is not just a ministry—it is central to our life together. Prayer is where we meet people in their deepest places of joy, grief, longing, and hope, and stand together before the Lord who hears, knows, and acts. Through prayer, we participate in God’s ongoing work of healing, freedom, and redemption in the lives of his people, including those who find themselves in places of pain, despair, or brokenness.

Redeemer’s Search Team Update

Redeemer’s Search Team Update

The Search Team meets monthly to evaluate potential long-term home options for our parish. Our criteria are based on preferences and needs shared by both the staff and the congregation, including:

  • Desired location

  • Aesthetic considerations

  • Programmatic needs

  • Cost of purchase and potential renovations

Three Questions with our Volunteers: Stories from Redeemer Kids

Three Questions with our Volunteers: Stories from Redeemer Kids

Every Sunday about ten minutes after the hour, a wave of parishioners (mainly under 4 ft tall) swells through the sanctuary and into the classrooms, where they stay until they come flooding back in before Holy Communion begins. For many sitting in a service at Redeemer, this sweet movement begins and ends as they pass through the doors of the sanctuary. But what happens on the other side of those doors?

Children in Worship: an Invitation for the Summer

Children in Worship: an Invitation for the Summer

It’s almost that time of year again! We have learned from older, more established ministries that the summer months provide two unique opportunities for our parish. The first is to allow our hard-working Redeemer Kids volunteers a much-needed chance to slow down. The other is the chance to embrace more participation from children during the worship service for the summer season for the sake of both our children themselves and the adults around them! As our parish moves into the season of Ordinary Time and we find ways to practice our faith in, well, ordinary ways, this is a wonderful time to shift the way we teach our children as well.

Renewing Our Membership Commitments

Renewing Our Membership Commitments

May is pledge month at Redeemer. During this time we encourage all members to make Membership Commitments which involve giving Time, Talent, and Treasure to the Lord Jesus through his body, the Church. Whether you are becoming a new member this month or are a returning member, this is an important action item for all of us. Pledging provides important information to our Vestry and Ministry Leaders to make wise and strategic plans for our parish.

Becoming a Member at Redeemer

Becoming a Member at Redeemer

On Sunday, May 18th, we have the joyful opportunity for you to be Confirmed by The Rev. John Guernsey and welcomed as new Members into the Parish. This is a wonderful event that takes place only twice a year, and is available to all who have been baptized and attended our Foundations class! I thought I’d take a moment to share a few details about what it means to take this important step in your faith.

Call to a Corporate Fast on Good Friday, April 18

Redeemer Family,

Two weeks ago, we contemplated the Practice of Fasting and together we explored how this spiritual discipline has cultivated virtue in the lives of God’s people from Old Testament times through to the present. If you missed the sermon, you can listen to it here. While most of us are likely familiar with the concept of a private, personal fast, we may be less familiar with the concept of a corporate fast. Here are just a few (of the many) examples of corporate fasting in scripture:

  • Leviticus 16: The Israelites practice an annual corporate fasting on the Day of Atonement.

  • Nehemiah 9: The Israelites practice a national time of confession, fasting, prayer, repentance, and public scripture reading.

  • Joel 2: God speaks to the prophet Joel and calls him to declare a time of corporate fasting and repentance.

  • Jonah 3: The people of Nineveh respond to Jonah’s prophetic preaching with fasting and repentance.

  • Acts 27: Paul and his 275 shipmates fast for 14 days through a storm at sea before breaking their fast in a manner that is a nod towards the Eucharist (vs 35).

Throughout scripture, corporate fasts are marked by themes of repentance, confession, and calling on God to show mercy and provide atonement for the sins of the people.

Therefore, how appropriate that throughout church history, it has been common for both clergy and parishioners to fast on Good Friday of Holy Week - a day devoted to repentance of our sins and remembering the mercy of God in the atoning death of Christ on the cross.

As the Book of Common Prayer states in the preface to the Good Friday service on p.564, “This most somber of days is appropriately marked by fasting, abstinence, and penitence, leading us to focus on Jesus and the meaning of his cross.”

And so Redeemer Family, on Good Friday of Holy Week (April 18th), we are all invited to fast together, as a parish. No one should feel coerced or peer-pressured to participate. Fasting is most spiritually effective when it is something you choose, not something you do because other people guilted or shamed you into it!

So, if you wish to participate, here are two potential ways:

Full-Fast

  • The fast begins at the end of the Maundy Thursday service on March 28.

  • Eat an early dinner beforehand.

  • Come to one of the Maundy Thursday services, 5:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m.

  • Practice foot-washing and receive the Eucharist, then the fast begins.

  • The bread and wine of the Eucharist are the last food in your stomach from Thursday evening, through all of Good Friday, to Saturday morning.

  • Attend one of the Good Friday services, 5:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m.

  • Break the fast on Saturday morning with a simple and light meal.

Partial Fast

If you are new to fasting or have a medical condition that makes fasting unwise, here are partial ways to participate:

  • Shorten the fast: Sunrise to sunset on Friday. Eat an early breakfast Friday morning and a late dinner Friday evening. Skip lunch and fast for the daylight hours.

  • Limit the fast to only refraining from solid foods. Replace meals with fruit juice or a smoothie.

Beloved brothers and sisters, the goal here is to not create some new law that everyone must obey. The goal is to help us participate in the passion of our Lord together. We are not in this alone; we are a church family.

Let’s fast together on Good Friday and then, let’s FEAST together on Easter Sunday!

In the Father’s love,

 

The History & Significance of Nursery Childcare Staff

The History & Significance of Nursery Childcare Staff

Today, as an 8-year-old parish, we are blessed with more babies than ever before. Looking back on our childcare staff, I’m thankful for the leadership team that made the early decision to address the needs of our nursery. What started as a practical solution to an overcrowded nursery has become a beautiful partnership that supports our mission of creating a space where families with young children can find belonging in our church community.

Let the Kids Come Along

Let the Kids Come Along

Over the past few years of ministry, I’ve heard a common refrain from adults in our congregation who are new to the practices of our church, either Anglicanism or Christianity altogether, that they feel a reluctance to fully engage in what Redeemer is up to that season. They want to spend some time observing before they try out a new practice or attend a new kind of service. Perhaps more honestly worded, they want to gain more information before they run the risk of not being good at something new. What naturally flows downstream of this hesitation is that they wait to bring kids into a spiritual practice until they are able to articulate their decision well.

What Does Practicing a Reordered Imagination Have To Do With Redeemer’s Search for a Building?

What Does Practicing a Reordered Imagination Have To Do With Redeemer’s Search for a Building?

The first bit of underlying logic motivating our Epiphany series is the conviction that we human beings live out of our imaginations. Many of you have heard me say this before and I have written elsewhere, “From the imagination springs desires; from desires flow actions, which over time wear grooves into habits; from habits develop beliefs that justify; and from beliefs come doctrine.”

We are homo imaginari.

The second bit of underlying logic is the conviction that our imaginations can be molded, shaped, and changed by our practices. The human imagination is dynamic, not static.

Therefore, our practices (especially the ones we take for granted) are of profoundly deep importance to the spiritual wellbeing of our souls.

Now, what does all this have to do with Redeemer’s search for a building?

Join a Retreat This Spring

Join a Retreat This Spring

Jesus often withdrew to quiet places and prayed (Luke 5:16), even amidst the busiest moments of his life. He didn’t allow the stress — or success! — of his work to outweigh his need to break from his regular rhythms and get away to spend time with his Heavenly Father. We’d like to invite all of our Redeemer family to attend our Men’s or Women’s Fellowship retreats this spring. Each will have some good biblical teaching, conversations for connection and encouragement as we listen for God’s direction, and plenty of time for rest and play.

 
 

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