Stories from our Members
The number of things that are really special about Church of the Redeemer (CoR)
are certainly "too numerous to mention", but here are a few of my
personal favorites:
- CoR is the most welcoming church you can find anywhere. Everyone
who comes in the door can expect to be greeted warmly. At CoR we
believe God's love is available to everyone.
- CoR is diverse on
almost any plane you can imagine. People who come to Church of the
Redeemer have made a deliberate decision that they do not want to just
attend a church where everyone looks and acts like they do. We are
ethnically diverse, yes, you can see this immediately. But we are
also culturally diverse, with many members who are originally from
other parts of the world. We are generationally diverse, welcoming
babies in to sanctuary with the same enthusiasm that we welcome our
oldest members. We are economically diverse: people at our church span
the whole range of wealth, education, and backgrounds. The family
make-up of our congregation is diverse: we have single, married,
divorced, widowed, mixed-race, same-race, mixed-gender, same gender,
with no kids, with lots of kids. We strongly believe here at CoR that
when we worship with people who are not like ourselves, we learn more
about what God wants for us and what God wants for the world.
- The worship at CoR is really great, and reflects the diversity of
our membership. Worship styles as CoR vary from service to service
and even within a service. The service is warm and relaxed, and yet
deeply meaningful. You'll hear "Amen"'s shouted, you'll hear children
laughing, you see tears on people's faces and joy in their eyes. The
worship at CoR has an authenticity that transcends cultural boundaries
and even personal preferences. At CoR worship means truly coming
to grips with what it means to say that "God is in this place."
- CoR is paradoxically modern and at the same time old-fashioned.
We are just as comfortable dealing with issues of science and religion
as we are singing praise to Jesus in an old-time gospel tune. CoR is
a place where the membership understands the value of the traditions
and lessons of the past. We take the Bible seriously and we look
to prayer for guidance and strength.
- People at CoR realize that coming to church does not mean that
you check your brain at the door. We embrace the Wesleyan ideal that
reason has a role to play in discerning what God has for us in our
lives. Our church includes many "intellectual professionals",
lawyers, doctors, scientists, etc. We attract students from nearby
Case Western Reserve University and John Carroll University. People
at CoR embrace a wide range of "personal theologies" and we aim
to welcome all seekers who are still working through their beliefs and
their ideas of what God has in store.
- CoR is progressive. Our members are often active on the
forefront of some of the most important social issues that the church
faces today. For people at CoR, taking action in the face of
injustice is simply responding with what Jesus would have us do. Many
members are especially concerned about issues regarding racial
justice, gender equality, economic justice for the hungry, poor,
and/or homeless, and issues of war and peace.
- CoR is a "missions-oriented church". We have a deep and abiding
love affair with the old Methodist notion that the Church is the body
of God acting in the world. We feel that God calls us to serve those
outside our walls. We serve locally, nationally, and globally. We
regularly help to feed the hungry serving and cooking meals. We send
a mission team out annually for a week of volunteer service somewhere
outside our state. Almost ever church group -- men's women's and
youth -- devotes substantial time and effort in in missions and
service, helping those in need. Through our annual apportionments to
the larger denomination we directly support the service and charitable
efforts of the larger church. We also set aside money to help
individuals in need and for those suffering through disasters. For
many of our members, there is no better way to participate in God's
work than in service to others.
- CoR is a "medium sized" neighborhood church....most everyone knows
most everyone else. It's a family, a supporting community. And yet
at the same time our church and the members in it
always seems to be playing major roles in the larger district of
the United Methodist Church. We have more than our fair share of
leaders and trend-setter, pillars and prophets.
- At Church of the Redeemer, living a Christian life as a disciple
of Jesus means being there for each other and for the world in times
of trouble. At CoR a central part of every worship service, indeed
of every activity, is a time for sharing joys and concerns to be
lifted up in prayer. We know that through prayer, we are there
for each other to offer support, to ask for healing, to lend a
hand in need.