What We Believe
Our Vision
We want to see every life shaped by God’s redemptive story.
Our Values
Gospel
Centrality.
The gospel of Jesus is central to everything we do, not simply as an abstract idea but as an embodied reality. We strive to be formed by this gospel in every area of life through a pervasive rehearsal of the gospel story - the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming return of Jesus.
Formative
Community.
A church is a community of people who practice faith together. This community is the context that God uses to form us into the image of Christ. We practice deep, intentional community rhythms for spiritual formation.
Faithful
Presence.
The task of the church is to represent the kingdom of God in and for the world. This calling requires us to view all of life as mission, using our homes, our vocations, and our energies in ways that reflect and reveal the presence of God’s kingdom. We call this approach to mission faithful presence.
Our Ethos
Presence.
In a world increasingly dominated by digital devices, spaces, and networks, we seek to be a community that majors in physical presence. Human beings are beautifully and irreducibly physical. We intentionally gather around the gospel, community, and mission in ways that require physical presence.
Mystery.
In an age characterized by secularism, doubt, and pragmatism, our church steadfastly pursues the real and tangible presence of a transcendent, personal God. From worship gatherings to community groups to mission, we seek to facilitate encounters with the living God.
Rhythm.
In a culture that obsesses over innovation and novelty, we rely on the time-tested patterns that have defined Christian communities for thousands of years. Rhythms of prayer, fellowship, and hospitality are the trellis upon which the vine of our church community grows.
Basic Beliefs
Our faith is rooted in the historic creeds of the Christian Church. We affirm both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as true statements of our faith.
Confessional Statement
We affirm Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition as a helpful and thorough statement of our theology.
Practical Distinctives
In addition to affirming the Confessional Statement of The Gospel Coalition, there are six other practical distinctives that may distinguish Redeemer from other churches who hold to our faith and theology. We highlight these issues because of their practical relevance to church practice and the wide spectrum of views within orthodox Christianity.
On Theological Tradition.
We locate ourselves within the Reformed Tradition, both theological and historically.
By reformed theology, we refer to a theology rooted in the major tenets of Protestantism -- the doctrine of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, the doctrine of salvation, and the necessity of evangelism.
By reformed history, we refer to the churches, confessions, and leaders who shaped the Reformed branches of Protestantism after the Reformation.
We view the work of salvation as fundamentally a work of God, from the foundation of the world through the end of time. This impacts our view of God, salvation, mankind, and the biblical storyline. Our preaching contains an emphasis on the sovereignty of God in all things.
On the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the continued work of the Holy Spirit in the church, distributing all kinds of spiritual gifts including sign gifts (healing, tongues, prophecy, etc). We believe the practice of the gifts is meant to be orderly and edifying to the Body.
On Church Governance.
We are an independent, self-governing church. Our governance practice is called plurality of elders. This means that we are governed by a group of at least three ordained elders who each together share the responsibility and authority of leadership. We also ordain male and female deacons to specific areas of servant leadership in the church.
On Baptism.
We believe baptism is the external sign of entrance into God’s covenant community. It is given with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit. We only baptize people who confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Recognizing the diversity of practice and conviction on this issue throughout church history, we do not require those who have been baptized in other church traditions to be re-baptized in order to join Redeemer.
On the Lord’s Table.
We affirm that God himself is a primary actor in the sacrament of the Lord’s Table. The bread and the cup are to be received as means of God’s grace, and God is present in a way that is both real and mysterious. We invite anyone who acknowledges Christ as Lord to participate at the Table.
On Gender.
We affirm that men and women are unequivocally equal in essence, dignity, and value. We also affirm that God created humans male and female to be distinct and mutually dependent. We seek to honor both of these convictions while acknowledging the longstanding difficulties and cultural assumptions that often inform church belief and practice. We believe that the home and the church (a spiritual household) will be healthiest as men and women are mutually dependent in their distinctiveness. At Redeemer, our practice is to ordain qualified men as elders who serve as spiritual fathers, and to ordain both men and women as deacons who lead and serve the church in various ways.