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- We Believe
- Mission
- Core Values
- Vision
- History
We at Redeemer Lutheran Church firmly believe that each person is put right with God through the work of the Holy Spirit by God's grace through faith because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. We commit ourselves to the teachings of the Christian faith as stated in the Bible. Redeemer is a confessional church; we have arrived at certain agreements in what we understand the Bible to say and in how we perceive the nature of the church.
We believe:
...in agreement with the Ecumenical Creeds (The Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian), that the God of the Bible has revealed Himself as three distinct Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—in the single Godhead.
...that God the Father created human beings and all creation to live in never-ending harmony with Him and with one another; we believe that this continues to be God's purpose for His creation.
...that all people, both by innate inclination to oppose God's will and by individual choice, have broken a perfect relationship with God and with other people.
...that God has revealed Himself and His exclusive plan to restore broken relationships with Himself and with other people through God the Son, Jesus Christ. We believe this plan to be the central teaching of the Bible; we believe that the Christian Church exists to preach and teach God's plan to all people.
...that God the Holy Spirit works through tools He has given us to use in our preaching and teaching to call us back into harmony with Himself and to keep us close to Him and to other people; we believe these tools to be the Bible as the teaching Word of God, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion as visible and tangible evidence of God seeking to connect us with Jesus Christ.
...that the Christian demonstrates his/her awareness of God's will through every choice he/she makes. We believe that such demonstration will include regular formal worship; study of the Bible; prayer; the desire to share with others one's understanding about God; responsible use of all of one's time, skills, and resources.
...that those who ignore or reject the Person and work of either God the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit refuse restoration to fellowship with God and will experience never-ending separation from God and from all the blessings that God provides. We believe that those who have ignored or rejected God in the past are still precious to God. They can change by God's grace and become open to God's reaching out for them.
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Redeemer Lutheran Church proclaims Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and the Bible as God's true Word. With passion from our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we plant seeds of Faith to make disciples of all people. Saved by God's grace, we strive to be like Jesus Christ, united through Him in fellowship with one another and growing as the Holy Spirit leads us.
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- 1. Worship
- 2. Nurture
- 3. Outreach
- 4. Service
- 5. Fellowship
“Redeemer Lutheran Church proclaims Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.”
WHAT IS WORSHIP?
The dictionary defines worship as "the action whereby people honor or revere a supernatural being or power or a holy thing, to adore with appropriate acts, rites, or ceremonies." We express the worth or value of our God in acts of reverence and devotion.
According to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, worship is faith. True worship is to believe the Gospel and to receive from the Lord by His grace forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Worship, therefore, is our whole life response to God as He has revealed Himself to us through His creation, His Word, the Bible, and through His Son, Jesus Christ (Psalm 103, Hebrews 1:1-3, 10:19-25).
WHAT IS OUR PHILOSOPHY OF WORSHIP?
God invites our worship of Him for our own benefit, for He alone is worthy of our adoration, obedience, and praise. Jesus said that the Father longs for us to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-34). Worship, therefore, is the central activity of a Christian congregation. The church is a community gathered around the Lord as He presents Himself in Word and Sacrament. When the community gathers, it empowers the community to take the Gospel out into the world.
WHAT IS FORMAL LUTHERAN WORSHIP?
As a Lutheran church, there are basic theological standards that bound and mark the service. For us, justification (the forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ) is the chief article by which the church stands or falls, as St. Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV): "For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Furthermore, Lutherans have understood that Christian doctrine is expressed in Law and Gospel. The Law of God is that which shows us our sin, while the Gospel is that which shows us our Savior. The Law and Gospel are proclaimed through Word and Sacrament. Therefore, for us, the means of grace (Word and Sacrament) are central.
The following then are the basic ingredients that we believe characterize a service as Lutheran:
* Singing of hymns and spiritual songs
* Confession and Absolution
* Praise and prayer
* Reading of the Word of God
* Exposition of the Word of God (sermon)
* Prayer for all sorts and conditions and offering of the people
* Consecration of bread and wine with the Words of Institution
* Dismissal with the Lord's blessing
We believe that styles may vary as people and circumstances vary. Scripture reveals God's primary concern to be the motivation of our hearts. Consider the following Scriptures as motivation for worship: Colossians 1:15-18, Hebrews 13:8-15.
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“Growing as the Holy Spirit leads us.”
WHAT IS NURTURE?
Nurture is spiritual growth of a believer through Scripture and the teachings of life experience. This spiritual growth leads us to become people who are driven by the love of God and to live that Christian life by word and action in all relationships with others.
WHAT IS OUR PHILOSOPHY OF NURTURE?
The purpose of life is to know, love, serve, and praise God. From the beginning, God has encouraged us to discover this world with His blessing. God wants us to find Him in ourselves, our lives, and in the universe. Our discoveries reveal a portion of God's infinite wisdom and His love for us: Genesis 1:28-30, Psalm 19:1-6.
When we fell into sin, our original harmonious relationship with God was destroyed. The restoration of this relationship comes through our God-given faith in Christ's death and resurrection. Nurturing is the process of growing and strengthening our faith through the word and sacraments.
HOW DO LUTHERANS NURTURE?
Learning is a life-long process. Through a mixture of faith, knowledge, and experiences, we become caring, Spirit-driven disciples who see what God has already done, is doing, and promises yet to do with each of our lives. Redeemer Lutheran Church nurtures growth through many ministries for all ages.
Weekly classes, sessions, and workshops are offered across a range of ages to bring the lives of these people into contact with God's word and the love of Jesus. The day school education presented to students from Prekindergarten through the 8th grade in a classroom setting brings the students into contact with coursework in an atmosphere of Christ's love. Redeemer Christian School's goal is that children grow in knowledge, faith, and service within the faith relationship with our Father in heaven.
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"With passion from our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we plant seeds of faith..."
WHAT IS OUTREACH?
The dictionary defines outreach as "the act of reaching or going beyond, of extending something outward."
WHAT IS "OUTREACH" IN OUR CONGREGATION?
We believe that outreach is the mission or purpose of the Church in response to God's intention "that everyone should confess that 'Jesus Christ is Lord' to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:11 NIV). Outreach moves our proclamation of Jesus Christ beyond our individual selves to extend the Kingdom of God outward. We believe that witnessing, sharing our faith in Jesus Christ, is the central message of our proclamation.
We believe that Jesus spoke to His followers of all times when he said, "You will be My witnesses…to the ends of the earth" (Acts. 1:8 NIV), and "In Christ (God) reconciled the world to Himself ... and He put into our hands the message of this reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors (i.e., representatives) for Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:19-20 NIV)
To "proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior", Redeemer Lutheran Church purposefully reaches out to those within our membership and to those outside our membership, seeking to demonstrate in life and define in words what it means to be part of the Kingdom of God.
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"Saved by God's grace, we strive to be like Jesus Christ."
WHAT IS SERVICE?
The dictionary defines service as "duties of a servant, duties or work for another," but also "acts of devotion to God."
WHAT IS "SERVICE" IN OUR CONGREGATION?
We believe that recognition of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and striving "to be like Christ," imitating Him, engages the Church and each member in willing service toward meeting the needs of others. We cherish our place in the Kingdom of God as "servants of Christ" (1 Corinthians 4:1 NIV), and view our acts of service as our loving response to the grace of God.
Galatians 5:13 (NIV) enjoins us to "serve one another in love"; Ephesians 6:7 (NIV) helps us see service as an act of worship: "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were servicing the Lord, not men." 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) adds this thought: "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
Service encompasses one's family, one's church, one's workplace, the local community, the global community, and the environment.
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“United with Him in fellowship with one another.”
WHAT IS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP?
Fellowship is the bonding of members of a community of believers building relationships in the local and wider Christian community. Together Christians are encouraged, strengthened, supported, renewed, and cared for by Christ and each other in order that they may more fully live out their lives as children of God in His family.
WHAT IS OUR PHILOSOPHY OF FELLOWSHIP?
The all-encompassing message of the Bible is this: GOD LOVES PEOPLE. It was the love of people that led to Jesus' death on the cross. "For God so loved the world that He gave..." (John 3:16 NIV) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another...” (John 13:34-35 NIV) We, therefore, are a community joined together by the love of God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Together we seek practical and spiritual solutions to our life struggles. We strive to create an environment where people can move towards the healing of division and brokenness in their lives and ultimately towards wholeness. Our goal is to be a supportive and nurturing community where people can develop real and authentic relationships that lead to deeper relationships with God and others.
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The members of Redeemer Lutheran Church individually and as a congregation believe the Christian Church to be the Body of Christ on earth. Our goals are:
To embrace each other through fellowship
We offer a series of programs to expand the ministry at Redeemer beyond the traditional Sunday morning church service/Bible class setting; we foster spiritual growth and Christian caring through social interaction.
To share the precious message of salvation
We reach out, using means available to us, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
To bring the Gospel to all areas of society
Following Jesus' example, we seek to bring physical, emotional and spiritual help and guidance to all areas of society.
To touch and heal those with physical or emotional ailments
We seek to make a priority of Christian care-giving, especially toward those hurting physically and/or emotionally.
To celebrate Christ's Lordship through public worship
We seek to provide a variety of public worship forms and music (classical/traditional, informal/contemplative, contemporary) to enable people to celebrate Christ's Lordship in their own soul language.
To nurture one another through the Word
We seek to instruct one another from God's Word for living in the Kingdom of God.
To walk in communion with our God
We see our mission as children of God, created in His image, to live each day to do the will of God
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 The Redeemer story was conceived deep in the heart of God and began to be told late in 1916. Five families, three from Zion Lutheran Church in Akron as part of Zion's outreach ministries, formed the nucleus of what would become Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church. These twenty-seven pioneers gathered for worship twice a month with Pastor William Single first in the home of the late Mrs. Pauline Schlichte on Brick Street, and later in the home of the late Mr. & Mrs. Chris Feucht.
On January 20, 1918, the group formally organized as a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. In June 1919, a building site was acquired on Fourth Street, directly east of our present location. The new church on that site was dedicated in February 1921.
Quoting a church historian, in April 1949, "a fire of undetermined origin almost completely destroyed the interior of the church on Fourth Street." Until permanent worship arrangements could be made, the congregation opted to gather in the old Falls Theater, where it continued to worship until 1950.
Property of Fifth Street had been purchased for the purpose of building a school. However, by November 1950, a "multi-purpose" building was constructed. "In addition to offering a place for the worship services, the building housed the Pastor's office, kindergarten classes and Sunday school rooms, with the main hall serving many purposes as it does today."
The next building needed to accommodate overcrowded Sunday school rooms and to formalize a Christian Day School. On June 15, 1958, the educational wing was dedicated, marking the beginning of Redeemer Christian School. The 1958 school year continued a kindergarten program that had begun in 1933 as an assist to the public schools in Cuyahoga Falls. 1959 introduced the first grade. With the addition of a grade each year, the first eighth grade class graduated in June 1967.
There was a desire in the hearts of members of the congregation for a specifically designated sanctuary, a dedicated place for worship that had been absent since the fire of '49. With determination and a shared vision, the congregation made plans for our present church building. Construction began in September 1964. Dedication to the glory of God was held on October 17, 1965. 1994 saw the addition of nine new classrooms, service and storage areas, dedicated in August, to meet our growing needs for more space.
WATCH US GROW!!!
  
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