Theology & Practice
A note from Pastor Matt on what you can expect to hear and experience on a Sunday morning.
Redeemer is a warm, jovial, laidback, diverse, and traditional community. You will experience our community’s warmth and joy through our people. We are laidback in terms of dress (casual) and sometimes we start worship five minutes late. We enjoy a diversity of different cultures, educations, stages of life, and interests. And finally, we are traditional in our practices every Sunday with a consistent liturgy, weekly communion, and sermons that center on Jesus and what God has done and is doing to transform us into His image.
Our desire is that you can enter Redeemer completely as you are, but that God’s presence deepens and changes how you think of yourself. We want worship to be transformative for everyone.
In worship, the scriptures in both the Old and New testaments are central to everything we do. The Bible is strange in that it is both very ancient and perpetually up to date. Thus, we can expect to be thrown off and even confused by some parts of scripture while comforted and attracted to other parts, depending on our personal temperament and culture. The most important thing about scripture, however, is God Himself. He reveals Himself on every page, and throughout scripture we see one dominant note: God desires to be with people. At Redeemer, we begin and end each service with that truth.
Whether you are a non-religious person, a first-time visitor, or a regular attendee, we want to confront and comfort you with the alarming and beautiful truth that the Lord of the universe is with you. The scriptures teach that all people are God’s image, like little mirrors. When our minds, bodies, and souls turn to face God, there is a sense of wholeness and freedom, so that we are literally being changed more and more into who we are meant to be in our deepest selves (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). This is one of the great purposes of the church and why we worship together each week: As we are in God’s presence together, we grow in our awareness that we are destined for a future presentation with the person who made all of this possible: Jesus Christ, the God/man (Jude 24).
One of life’s constant truths is that we are always changing. We continually change in mood, age, technology, and so many other ways. God, however, does not change. He has been the same since before the world’s creation and His good and perfect character remains the same today (James 1:17). Yet the way He reveals Himself throughout history adapts to meet any given time and culture, as ultimately seen in the person of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3). In accord with the Reformed tradition in which we are rooted, we believe the gospel is best embodied by maintaining a tension between our theology and practice: Theology (the things pertaining to God and His truth) is constant and stable across time and culture, but the way in which that theology is practiced adapts to meet the needs of our specific moment in history. Or, as we often say at Redeemer, we practice “fixed theology and flexible methodology.”
We intentionally lead with the core tenets of Christianity, as summarized in agreed upon documents from across Christendom and throughout history, like the Apostles’ Creed. At the same time, we come from the Reformed tradition, which flavors everything about our practice as Christians in the modern world. One of the phrases stemming from the Reformation is “Reformed and always reforming.” This, in large part, shows the wisdom of adhering to scripture’s teaching on both human nature and God’s nature. In every age, people will skew and misappropriate the gospel due to sin. Therefore, in every age, the church’s practice of God’s truth must be contextually conveyed to reach and apply its full perfection and goodness. This is the great privilege of participating in God’s kingdom, and the motivation behind this challenging work is the love of God and neighbor, and the call to proclaim the gospel to everyone (Matthew 28:18-20).
Why does all this matter? It matters because we want to emphasize the amazing condescension of God in human form, and our hope is to be formed in Christ’s image. We believe the best ministry and worship occurs when the focus shifts from how we practice our theology to being consumed by the awareness and joy of God’s presence. We need the Holy Spirit for that mysterious work!