Redeemer East Side Update
We recently introduced our ministry year theme for 2016-17 at all three Redeemer congregations. We are calling it “Rise Where You Are” because we know that our 10-year vision is a kingdom-sized one and will require every Christian in the city rising together in new ways to serve God and neighbor. And that means we need you!
It also means that we, as your church, are going to have to focus a lot more on equipping and supporting you for, what I call, your “personal ministry.” That is why I am thrilled about our East Side Classes and the new approach we are taking with them. Here are a few highlights. First, we are focusing our offerings this year to help us all grow together along the lines of “rising where you are.” Second, we are providing more of a community-building element to them, because we know that learning is most transformative in the context of community. Third, we are introducing a new online platform to help you deepen and enrich your learning experience within the regular rhythms of your life.
So, if you have never taken an East Side Class before—or maybe it’s just been a while—now is a great time to start. We’ve listed our offerings for the entire year to help you plan for them. Register soon, but more to the point: start investing more in your own spiritual growth!
Warmly,
Rev. Abraham Cho
East Side Congregation Lead Pastor
Rev. Michael KellerRedeemer Lincoln Square Pastor
I am so excited and grateful for this opportunity to serve as the pastor of Redeemer Lincoln Square.
+ New to Redeemer? Check out a Beta or Community Group or attend Intro to Redeemer.
+ Are you an artist in the Redeemer community? Come to the Healthy Artist workshop to learn practical ways to steward your gifts through the healthy disciplines of self-care.
+ Register for Fall East Side Classes that begin this Sunday!
+ How did Hope for New York get started 25 years ago?
+ Mentor under served youth and their families with tools that build hope, confidence, and the skills to attain their goals at weekly small group.
The new Redeemer Lincoln Square (LS) church pastor has been at Redeemer from the beginning. He was 9 years old when the Keller family moved to New York City in 1989. And although he grew up in the city, Michael went to college at Vanderbilt University, where he majored in History and Psychology. It was there that he met Sara, to whom he became engaged his senior year. Michael returned to NYC after he and Sara married, lived in a traditional 4th floor walk-up off of 3rd Ave and worked at New Life Fellowship church in Queens.
Seven years ago, Michael founded Reformed University Fellowship City Campus to minister to the needs of college students in New York City. During those years Michael had formal City Campus meetings after East Side, Downtown, and West Side services and met regularly with students all over the city. Michael deeply enjoyed the opportunity to help build and serve a community for college students in the city, and he is now looking forward to pastoring a new community for congregants in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
“As we begin to plan for the launch of Redeemer Lincoln Square I am humbled when I think about all the ways God has worked in my and Sara's lives and through the beautiful, diverse community of Redeemer to bring us to this point,” says Michael, when asked about being sent out by Redeemer West Side to start the Lincoln Square congregation.
“Since I first arrived in NYC as a kid, Redeemer's vision has remained constant—to be a church that could speak the gospel into New York culture in a way that both convinced skeptical unbelievers and built up and nourished believers to be a church that loves and serves the city for the good of everyone in it. I am so excited and grateful for this opportunity to serve as the pastor of Redeemer Lincoln Square and work along side Redeemer staff, leaders and volunteers who have committed to joining us in this endeavor.”
He tries to play pickup soccer or ultimate frisbee whenever he can. He bikes to work as a last ditch effort to exercise, though he claims it's so he can easily get around town.
With only six months until the launch, Michael is busy encouraging others to pray for the Lincoln Square congregation: “Please pray with us for this work and for all the many pieces of our plan to come together so that we are able to begin holding worship services on Easter Sunday, 2017.”
Michael says, “We look forward with great anticipation to see what God will do in us and through us as we love and serve this new community.”
You can join Michael and others to pray for Redeemer Lincoln Square on October 20 at 7 p.m. at W83 Ministry Center. RSVP at redeemer.com/lincolnsquare.
VISION
The Redeemer family of churches and ministries exist to help build a great city for all people through a movement of the gospel that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal to New York City and, through it, the world.
Redeemer East Side
Church Offices: 150 W. 83rd St. | New York, NY 10024
