“We are a church with a desire to reach the community — our work with Serve City and our care for the developmentally disabled being two areas of emphasis in recent years,” Pinley said.
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As some older churches have struggled to survive, Pinley said Redeemer Church can buck that trend by focusing on its traditional and contemporary service offerings, along with community service.
“We have been have been thinking about doing ministry to people who have cancer and possibly offering ministry to caregivers that are helping them and also doing the regular things you do at a church, like youth ministries …,” he said.
Pinley said contemporary service offerings are attempts to appeal to a wider variety of people.
“Like many traditional churches, we have had our struggles in recreating ministries that are relevant for a younger generation,” Pinley said. “I think our traditional and contemporary worship services are quality efforts. The biggest thing that will be helpful to our future is how to be relevant in our community.”
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Redeemer’s traditional service has more liturgy involvement — different call to worships and invocations and a more traditional music style featuring an organ and piano.
“It has a little more of a formal feel to it, with the order of worship being fairly similar throughout. Our contemporary service is a little bit more informal,” Pinley said. “There is probably a little bit more room to be flexible in the difference elements of worship. But the sermons are the same and the relational elements of prayer and seeking God through the love of music similar.”
When the weekend anniversary events are over, Pinley said it will be time to look to the future.
“Certainly, 125 years is certainly a significant event and as you look at the ups and downs of churches and the evolution of a congregation and the ministries that it creates for itself … We are glad to be able to enjoy some time together and to look back and maybe even look at little bit forward and think about what the next decade or so will look like as we evolve,” he said.
HOW TO GO
WHAT: Redeemer Church 125th anniversary
EVENTS:
- Garth McGrath, Supt. of the Great Lakes Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church, will speak at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23
- After the 10:30 a.m. service Sunday, the Christian Education Wing will be rededicated in honor of the late Margie Childress, a longtime parishioner.
WHERE: All events will take place at Redeemer Church, 3431 Hamilton Middletown Road
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