Our Values
God loves Orange County. With over 3 million spread across 798 square miles of beaches, mountains, and mesas, living in 34 very different cities, it takes hundreds of faithful churches to love and serve our neighborhoods.
Redeemer is a distinct community in Orange County. Learn about the culture of Redeemer by reading about our values:
GOSPEL
Redeemer is a redeemed and redemptive community with the gospel of Jesus Christ at center of everything we do. The gospel shapes and is infused throughout the whole worship service, preaching, sacraments, church calendar, small groups, and ministries. The gospel is also the pattern and power of all our friendships, marriages, parenting, vocations, hospitality, and service in the local community. We never grow beyond the gospel. We delight in being with Jesus, as we follow Jesus’ pattern, and a rely on his power instead of our own.
Because of our love of the gospel, at Redeemer you will grow in your knowledge of the scripture and your ability to apply it in your life. We don’t shy away from the confusing and hard parts of the Bible, but preach, teach, discuss, and wrestle with all of it. God speaks to us through the scripture, points us to Jesus Christ, and brings comfort, challenge, and health to our lives.
HOSPITALTY
A hallmark of Redeemer is our hospitality. Guests are warmly welcomed around our tables and made to feel at home. The Christian Church historically has been known for its hospitality and at Redeemer we desire to recover that traditional. Every week our doors are open to skeptics and Christians alike. We have cultivated a culture where people can belong before they believe. We long for everyone to be seen, heard, valued, and known in a welcoming community. Every week after eating and drinking around the Lord’s Table, we conclude our worship service with a blessing over our people for them to be sent out as a blessing to their neighbors, co-workers, and friends around their dining tables, office tables, and café tables.
Hospitality in a Multigenerational Community
Our church is flush with families, youth, and children, but we are also a multigenerational community. We like to have four generations in the pews. We are small enough that you probably know the name the person sitting near to you, and big enough for you not to know everyone in the room. Redeemer draws people from across Orange County, from Fullerton to Newport Beach, from Costa Mesa to Irvine, from Huntington Beach to Mission Viejo, and from a vast array of professions, from professors to homemakers, from teachers to CEOs, and engineers to therapists, and from a diversity political views and ethnic backgrounds.
Hospitality & Intentional Care
At Redeemer the pastors, elders, deacons, and deaconesses know the people of the church; they pray for them, support them, and walk with them in difficult times. They work hard so that the congregation is connected with each other and can thrive. We can’t grow where we hide and we can’t make real progress unless we are walking together with people who really know us.
BEAUTY
“Humanity can live without science, it can live without bread, but it cannot live without beauty. Without beauty, there would be nothing left to do in this life. Here the secret lies. Here lies the entire story.” -Dostoevsky
At Redeemer people experience a sacredness and transcendence through our liturgy, art, space, and music. This beauty is heighted in the moments of silence in our service and also by the giggles and crying of our children, which infuses a euphoric joy and gratitude across all the generations present.
Beauty & Worship
We follow a thoughtful yet energetic rhythm in our worship. We sing together, we recite together, and we pray together. For our worship music, we often use hymns written in the 17th century but set to music composed last year. The service culminates in the Eucharist, which we celebrate weekly. Generous members of Redeemer commissioned artists to create a special table and silver service for the Eucharist, and these pieces of art help remind us of the gravity and beauty of Christ’s sacrifice.
Calling - God takes the initiative, moves towards us with grace, and invites us to know and worship him.
Cleansing - God forgives us and reminds us of his great love in Christ.
Constitution - God builds us up and nourishes us through the Scriptures.
Communion - God draws near to us and invites us to partake of his grace in the sacrament.
Commission - God sends us out into his world empowered to be his ambassadors.
Beauty & Culture Care
Christians are called not to hide behind the walls of their community but to take their new hearts, minds, and perspectives into the surrounding communities. As Abraham Kuyper contends, the believing community, gathered around word and sacrament, must radiate “beams of faith’s light into the realm of common grace”—into education, art, science, politics, business, economics, and the marketplace. This means that Christians are called to create schools and universities, build businesses, organize neighborhood groups, create charities, make art and music and books, and start political action groups. We are to make culture. As Jeremiah exhorted the newly exiled Jews in Babylon, “Seek the peace (shalom) of the city” (Jer. 29:5-7).
Our values are embodied in and practiced through our Rhythm of Life Together: Worship, Formation, Mission, & Culture.