Connect with an MC
Redemption Church gathers together as a family to connect with God and one another and be reoriented around the story of Jesus. We place a high emphasis on hospitality and listening to God in the community, in song, and in the scriptures. We hope you will find stepping into one of these gatherings to be disarming and welcoming. No dress code, no expectations, no manufactured emotions, no heavy-handed seriousness. Just a real encounter with the family of God in the presence of God for the sake of our formation into His image.
So what do we do?
We sing songs.
We take time to have more than “small-talk” conversations with each other.
We pray.
We listen to the scriptures.
We share stories.
We are sent out missionaries.
It’s simple. But it’s formation. All of it.
One of the primary places we engage in discipleship is with our children. We assume that, as a church family, we are all together at least partly responsible for every young person in our community. We commit to pray for them, serve them, and teach them along their way to adulthood as active participants in the whole life of our church. Our goal is to see all Redemption’s children take hold of our shared faith personally and communally through education, community participation, and a commitment to mission beyond our community.
Our goals are that our kids:
All classrooms are staffed by at least two staff at any given time. Our kids leadership team has worked to create an enjoyable vibrant environment for each stage of development:
Newborns up until about age three enjoy a time of nurture, play, and learning early development skills. Snacks and very simple lessons are introduced as they hit those milestones.
Education time expands, with more space dedicated to the story, praise, and interaction - along with plenty of time for play. Typically, this class holds children from three to five years of age. Children in this class begin the service with their parents and then join their class after the opening songs.
Kindergarten through 2nd grade is offered a robust class that caters to their developing minds through teaching, music, prayer, and scripture memorization. Children in this class begin the service with their parents and then join their class after the opening songs.
3rd through 5th graders are given an opportunity to engage in deeper discussion, advanced bible skills, and more age appropriate activities. Children in this class begin the service with their parents and then join their class after the opening songs.
Want to help out with RC Kids? Contact Lauren White (lauren.m.white@outlook.com). For more info on safety and policies for RC Kids, see the forms below.
Unfortunately, for many of us, the following is an all too common reality: we head to the weekend gathering, drop off our little ones in their classrooms, our teens head off to their designated spaces, and we make our way to the “main service.” When we all reconvene afterwards, we’ve all had entirely separate experiences of God and the community.
At Redemption, we want to avoid this. For junior high and high school students, we want them integrated into the normal life of the community as much as possible. We include them in the entirety of our weekend gatherings. They sing, pray, listen, and take Communion alongside their parents. We assume the shared spirituality of our community is weightier and more transformative than the current trends and cultural fashions that often dictate how we try to teach the teenagers in our community.
We want them to begin to take Jesus more seriously than anything else, and we believe the sphere for that to happen is alongside those further along in the journey. We believe students, like all of us, long to be made whole, in heart, soul, mind, and strength. In order to guide them in this, we encourage Missional Communities to include those at this stage of life in full participation in the regular rhythms of their particular MC.
