Our History
In 2000, Dr. Jim Belcher planted a church in Orange County. He envisioned a church that emphasized the beauty and substance of ancient Christian worship, that empowered Christians to live as kingdom ambassadors in every sphere of life, and that maintained a deep engagement with the scriptures. Redeemer was born. By God’s grace and through the dedication of many faithful people, Redeemer grew and matured.
After firmly establishing and growing the church, Dr. Belcher left Redeemer in 2010 to write for InterVarsity Press and serve as professor at Knox Seminary in South Florida. During his last few years at Redeemer, Dr. Belcher wrote Deep Church, the story of our church and the ideas that shaped us. While Redeemer continues to develop, these ideas remain central to our identity. Dr. Belcher returns often to visit and preach.
Rev. David Juelfs joined Redeemer as an assistant pastor in 2008 and was called as the senior pastor in 2012. Under Rev. Juelfs’ leadership he didn’t simply want Redeemer to thrive, he wanted our neighbors, their children and their grandchildren to thrive. During this second chapter of Redeemer, a team of dedicated elders, deacons, deaconesses, and many other talented leaders were developed while staying faithful to our history. Rev. Juelfs resigned from his role as senior pastor in fall 2018 to pursue a non-church ministry vocation.
Rev. Josh Hahne was installed as Redeemer’s third pastor in September 2019. He has twenty plus years of pastoral experience and most recently he planted and then served at King of Kings Church in Goodyear, AZ for 14 years. He is excited to lead Redeemer into her next season of life, together with Rev. Adam Feichtmann, a 4th generation Orange County native, who is the associate pastor and has served on staff at Redeemer since early 2013.
Redeemer is committed to connecting deeply with our local communities and serving our neighbors. We have worked in partnership with Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) to establish a college ministry at UCI that offers students the hope of Jesus and a vision for their responsibility to shape the culture of Orange County. New leaders are being empowered and trained across Redeemer to teach, mentor others, and shape the ministry of our church. We are praying and working to draw those in need of a church community into Redeemer, and as our neighborhood parishes grow to plant new churches committed to loving their neighborhoods as Jesus has love them. We are thankful for all God has done in the life of our church and the path he has set before us to love and serve Orange County as together we follow Christ in the renewal of all things.