So ... what is Redemption about?

Everyone has a story to tell. This is ours. We'd love to share stories in person, but until then, watch and read below.

How It All Began ...

In the Fall and Winter of 2011, God stirred Pastor Jeff’s heart with a growing vision for new church called Redemption. As he prayed with his wife, Nan, to seek God’s direction, the doors opened for them to launch a new church for the Edmond and Oklahoma City area. What began as an idea, a name, and weak attempt at a logo sketch, soon become something more.

It started in a living room.

We began in a living room with a handful of people who were willing to take a risky step of faith. We didn’t know exactly where it would lead us. We didn’t know if our new church would make it, but we were willing to take a step of faith.

In 2013, more people began to rally around this dream, a leadership team emerged, and new family came together. We prayed together, prepared together, learned together, laughed together, and served together.

At a school in 2014 ...

Our Sunday morning launch at John Ross Elementary took place on August 17, 2014. It was a fantastic day of celebration. While the gathering of the church on Sunday is a wonderful and important part of our church life, there is more to church than a once-a-week gathering. Redemption Groups meet in homes during the week to study the Bible and share life together, and our people scatter to live on mission throughout our city and world.

... to another school in 2017

In July of 2017, we moved to Cheyenne Middle School. We love our Edmond schools and the opportunity to connect with our community and to serve our city. We are grateful for this partnership. We won’t always meet in a school and are beginning to pray and plan about a future home base for our church, but we are enjoying the season we are in.

Our Redemption Vision

These are the big brushstrokes of our vision. You won’t get lots of detail here, but we hope you at least get a sense of what we care about and how we seek to live passionately for those things. Here is our original church vision video from year one. We still believe in this vision. While the big picture vision and mission stay the same, some of the nuances or details of our strategy will change as we discover more effective ways of doing what God calls us to do. Gospel mission always drives our methodology.

Worship Gatherings

The gathering of Christ-followers for worship and preaching is one of the church’s most powerful experiences. We exist for God’s glory, so God is always at the center of church life. In our gathering, we worship the living God, proclaim the gospel, share stories of redemption, demonstrate both the unity and diversity of God’s people, submit to God’s word, celebrate baptism and communion.

Some things to describe our worship gatherings:

We engage both the head and the heart, the mind and the emotions.
We boldly and deeply proclaim the gospel, but will do so in an engaging way that makes sense to the average dude.
We believe the gospel is not the ABCs of the christian life, it’s the A to Z of the christian life; it’s how you start out as a follower of Jesus and also how you grow as a follower of Jesus.
We seek to follow Jesus’ example in addressing the brokenness of both religious sinners and irreligious sinners.
We do not attack our culture, acquiesce to our culture, nor hide from our culture; we thoughtfully engage in our culture.
We describe our music style as contemporary worship with a respect for history and local vibe.

The Discipleship Process

Discipleship is not a strategy, program, Bible study, or ministry–it’s a way of life. We are all on a spiritual journey that has both highs and lows, mountains and valleys, celebration and struggle along the way. Our greatest good is found as we walk with Jesus through it all.

We want to be a church where discipleship is talked about, invested in, celebrated, lived. We believe following Jesus is a group project, so we are intentional about connecting people in small groups that learn, laugh, challenge, struggle, serve and share life together. We want to help one another live in light of the gospel and in line with the gospel. Together, we pursue growth as followers of Jesus who are well-equipped for life.

Missional Living

Jesus told his disciples, “As the father has sent me, even so, I am sending you.” We take this charge very seriously. We live intentionally in our community connecting with our neighbors, co-workers and classmates. In these relationships, we proclaim the redemption available in Jesus and demonstrate what life with Jesus is like. Rather than doing church as a once-a-week meeting under a steeple, we live on mission throughout the week wherever we go. We want to build bridges into our community and form partnerships with others who are doing good in our world. God compels us to mobilize ministries and missional efforts both locally and globally. Mission is not just for a few people–we are all called to fulfill Jesus’ mission.

As stated, we believe strongly in the Gospel reaching the nations and our neighborhoods. If you are interested in our upcoming trips to Ecuador, click here to connect with our Go Global team. Or, if you would like more information on our local opportunities through RestoreOKC, click here to connect with our Go Local team.

Planting Churches

Our Beliefs

We are a church where people from many backgrounds come together. Some of us grew up in church, and some of us did not. If you are not yet sure of what you believe, you are certainly invited to walk alongside us as you explore what faith in Jesus is all about. As a church family, we have placed our faith in Jesus, and we are on a journey to follow him wherever he wants us to go.

We unite ourselves with millions of Christians throughout the world and throughout history in affirming these historic doctrinal confessions: The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed.

We hope these concise statements provide a clear articulation of the beliefs that ground and guide our church. Our goal is that the people of Redemption Church would hold these doctrines in boldness and kindness, strength and humility, truth and love.

God

The Father

God the Father

God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By His word and for His glory, He freely and supernaturally created the world out of nothing. Through the same word, He daily sustains all His creatures. He rules over all and, together with the Son and the Spirit, is the only Sovereign. His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. He is faithful to every promise, works all things together for good to those who love Him and, in His unfathomable grace, gave His Son, Jesus Christ, for mankind’s redemption. He made all things for the praise of His glory and intends for man, in particular, to live in fellowship with Himself.

The Son

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, lived a sinless human life. As Savior, He gave his life as a substitutionary sacrifice for human beings in his death on a cross. By His death in our place, He revealed God's love, removed our guilt, and reconciled us to God, if we put our faith in him. Having redeemed us from sin, on the third day, He rose bodily from the grave, He ascended into heaven.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, is to be respected, honored and worshipped as God, the Third Person of the Trinity. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, gifts to serve the church, and guidance in doing what is right.

Scripture

Humanity

Sin

Salvation

Eternity

People were created to exist forever. We believe that Jesus Christ is returning to the world in the future to judge the living and the dead. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are real experiences of eternal existence.

Want to learn more about our beliefs?

Behind our story, vision, and the team that helps get us where God wants us to go, are the beliefs that guide us. There is a lot to learn from the Bible in this regard and no way we can spell it out all right here. If you have a additional questions, we’d encourage you to sign up for lunch with a pastor for further conversation.

Lunch with a Pastor

Our Leadership Team

Every church has a story, vision, and beliefs. These are the people that help guide our journey so we stay on-mission.

Jeff Lawrence

Lead

Jeff Lawrence

Lead Pastor

Tammy Regier

Administrative Assistant

Chris Clark

Worship & Arts

Chris Clark

Worship & Arts Pastor

Chase Ifland

Community Coordinator

Audra Swindell

Ministry Coordinator

Our Elder Candidates

This is an exciting time as we announced our first elder candidates on October 4. These men invested the last year in elder training and assessment, and we sense the Lord's leading to them to this role at Redemption. After a 45 day watch period, we will be able to affirm them as our first local elders.