Statement on Body Life

The following statement from the Session was emailed to the Congregation by Pastor Michael Shover on May 10, 2022


Saints,

As we see our church being blessed with growth, we (the Session) are providing this statement to provide some clarity on how we see the role of the Church in the lives of the Saints of Christ the Redeemer Church.


The Primacy of Worship

God calls us to worship every Lord’s Day, and the Lord calls us all into His presence in this way. We expect to see everyone at Worship! :)


Church Calendar

CTR has weekly, bi-monthly and annual instruction times, services and events that are intended to teach, equip, and edify the Saints, and also serve as a means to minister to each other through regular fellowship. We highly encourage full participation in these events. While things do change over time, it is the Session's desire to make church sponsored events stable and predictable. When considering the addition of a one-off event or a change to any existing events, one of our main concerns is that the "average family" would be able to participate in all of our church sponsored events, without it becoming a burden to do so. In this respect, we believe our current calendar is within that parameter. We desire our members to have time available for civic, political, social, and educational involvement and ministry in the broader community. When we hold a “church sponsored event” we desire to see a good sized crowd. We desire to promote a culture of Church Friendly Families, and that we also truly be a Family Friendly Church in this way.


Our Schedule

Here is our current list of regular church sponsored events:


Regular Schedule

•Weekly Lord’s Day worship

•Sunday School

•Summer Sunday School

•Wednesday Congregational services

•Monthly fellowship meals

•Women’s meeting

•Men’s forum


Annual services and events

•Christmas Eve Service

•Epiphany Service

•Maundy Thursday

•Good Friday

• Ascension Service

• Pentecost Feast with guest speaker

• Children’s Summer Music Week

• Theology Conference with guest speaker

• Thanksgiving Eve Service


Body Life

We desire to see our members involved in one another's lives in a diversity of ways: ministering to one another, laboring in the world together, laboring in the Word together, schooling together, celebrating together, serving together, exercising hospitality together, exercising dominion together. In the near future, we plan to facilitate more "body life" communication by setting up a closed social media platform for use by our members to communicate and facilitate private and community events. For now, please continue to use the church email group list as needed for this purpose. Also, In the near future we will be creating a space in our building for members to post broader community information and events.


The Building

The Lord has blessed us with a building, and we want you to know that the church building space can be made available for use by our members for private use for activities that are not for profit and/or are Christian education based activities when not being used for a church event. Talk to one of the Deacons if you have an interest in reserving the building for such an activity.


In Summary

The Session has been having discussions for many months with each other, and other CREC church leaders around the primacy of worship, importance of doing our regular events well and encouraging full participation, and encouraging fruitful body-life full of hospitality and involvement in one another's lives outside of ”Church events". We desire intentionality in our activities and events, so as to not become "an activities based church", or lose our focus of Word and Sacrament. We thank and praise the Lord for all of our recent growth and look forward to continuing to serve the Lord together in our church and community.

All of Christ for all of life!

The Session


Statement on Ethnic balance

CTR Session Statement on Ethnic Balance

Adopted January 4th, 2023 A.D.


1. We believe that all men are created in the image and likeness of God and that their value and

worth and dignity is rooted therein (Gen. 1:27).


2. We believe that God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the

earth, having determined the allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, in

order that they should seek God. And that in a very general way under creation, we are all

collectively the offspring of God (Acts 17:26-29).


3. We believe that the natural human tendency is to congregate around and have a shared

affection for common families, tribes, people, language, customs, cultures, and place; and that

all people should be grateful to God for those things.


4. We believe that Jesus’ command that we love our neighbors, as we love ourselves, assumes the

right to love and be grateful for one's ethnic heritage, and to preserve their heritage in any way

consistent with the law of God, and is not the same thing as the sin of partiality (Matt. 22:39;

Jam. 2:8-9).


5. We also believe that because of mankind’s fall into sin, our God given natural affections have

become disordered, and disordered affections can create conflict between families, tribes, races,

ethnicities, cultures, nations, and churches.


6. We believe the grace of God revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ runs along both familial

and covenantal lines, restoring natural affections, and therefore brings true healing and

reconciliation between families, tribes, peoples, Jews and Gentiles, nations, cultures,

ethnicities, races, and churches that are in conflict (Rev. 5:9-10; 14:5-7; 22:2).


7. We therefore labor and long for the day when the Great Commission will be fulfilled, and all

nations will be discipled into the faith of Jesus Christ – baptized and catechized – and their

kings will bring the glory and honor of their nations into the New and Heavenly Jerusalem

(Matt. 28:18-20; Rev. 21:26).


8. Therefore, we oppose all racial enmity, hatred, bigotry, strife, and vainglory (Phil. 2:3). We

oppose the unjust mistreatment of people based upon their ethnicity or race. Furthermore, we

reject Kinism, which teaches that it is consistently unwise or a sin for people of different

ethnicities or races to intermarry, and that civil societies ought to take steps to remain

ethnically or racially segregated.


9. We further resolve to teach God’s people the biblical importance of loving their fathers and

mothers, their families, and their people and place, as well as the stranger and the sojourner,

without turning either into an idol, and without destroying the one for the sake of the other

(Deut. 5:16; Lev. 19:34; Luke 10:25-37).