“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.” – Nehemiah 9:6
GENERAL Ministry UPDATE
- God has been so faithful again this year for our Fall Kick-Off. We had wonderful services, with a great reminder of our focus on “The 5G Life”. We are excited for what God will do in and through all of us this ministry season.
- Our Sunday attendance (including Kids) through September has been around 1300-1400 each week – praise God!
- We have seen God at work through our Sunday services and mid-week ministries and have been blessed to hear the testimonies of those who have come to faith in Christ and taken the step of baptism. So far in 2023, we have had close to 50 baptisms!
- Our mid-week ministries have had a great start to the year as well.
- Our Men’s ministry had a wonderful kick-off and will be studying the book of James.
- Our Women’s ministry is about maxed out with their morning and evening times and are continuing on with their study in the book of Exodus.
- Young Adults groups are back in full swing. We have added some new groups, so there are many options for YA’s to be a part of a group in various homes around London and on a night of the week that works best for them.
- The first night of youth was a night full of excitement and energy, great numbers, and we just concluded a wonderful fall retreat where God was working in many lives.
- Our Kids ministry never stops, but attendance on Sundays this fall has been more kids than we can handle, at times, and so we again need more volunteers to help out.
- On Sundays for the next two years (aside from a few seasonal breaks), we will be going through the book of Genesis, and we are anticipating that God will work through this book. We are just finishing chapter one and have great feedback. This book of foundations is so necessary for the turbulent times we live in.
- Just a reminder to arrive for services early. Sometimes multiple seats together can be hard to find if you arrive close to when the service starts, so arrive early, and please try to use every seat. Not having empty seats between groups will really help us fit more people in!
A Request from the Elders
One of the expressions of our discipleship in Christ is using the spiritual gifts, opportunities, and finances He has entrusted to us, as His stewards. Our desire is that we all would be continually growing in our walk with Christ, being sanctified by His Spirit, growing in our likeness of Him. This is why we encourage all those who call Redemption their church home, to be a good steward of what God has entrusted to you, by serving and giving. We need more people plugging in to our Sunday services, to help us serve and care for the large numbers of people God continues to bring. Please consider signing up to help in our Kid’s ministry as there are significant needs there, as well as with our security, usher, and greeting teams. Thank you for considering.
設施更新
- There have been some delays with the final projects on our renovations, but let’s be honest – in a building this old, there will always be facility projects happening! We are so thankful for the many who continue to give of their time and skills to help with maintenance and projects in the building, and outside the building.
- As you have likely noticed, work on our vestibule has picked up again, so we are hoping to have this complete by the end of the year.
- Once the vestibule is complete, we will have the final inspection done. There will be a few other side projects remaining, but at that point, the main renovations will be completed.
- The new lobby has been wonderful, but we recognize it can be quite loud on Sundays. Remember – this is a wonderful problem! To have so many people fellowshipping together is something we don’t want to complain about. It can get hard to hear, however, so we are looking at putting some sound dampening features in the room to make it a little easier to hear each other.
- We are also still planning to do some renovations to the washrooms on the upper level, to provide a multi-use Men’s washroom and a new location for an accessible washroom. It will likely be late 2023 or early 2024 before we get to this project, but it’s on the radar. If you would like to help with this, please contact the office and let us know.
- And remember, if you are new to Redemption or are bringing someone new, please stop by the Info Area in our lobby, after services so some of our leaders can greet you and answer any questions you have. If you are not new to Redemption, please refrain from crowding that part of the lobby (north wall area to the west of the new vestibule doors) so it’s open for new guests.
Financial Update
- God continues to do what only He can do. We have been so encouraged as a church by how God has stirred in the hearts of our people to give. We have seen a very encouraging trend in our finances – praise God!
- Our year-to-date giving has been right at or slightly above our year-to-date budget. This is exceptional, as normally this time of year we are running behind and hoping to catch up in December (which we usually do). It looks like we will finish the year strong, Lord willing.
- If you have been around Redemption for a while, you know about our annual Christmas Offering. We are excited for how God will provide for us to be able to bless some other ministries again this Christmas season. Watch for more information as we near December.
- We will be providing an update on a few ways the Lord has allowed us to bless other ministries this past year in one of our services over the next few weeks, so watch for that update.
OTHER UPDATES
GCC Conference
- GCC (Great Commission Collective, gccollective.org) is the church association we are a part of, and we now have 26 GCC churches in Canada.
- Additionally, there are 47 GCC churches in the US, and another approximately 40 internationally located GCC churches in the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Nepal, East Africa, South Asia, and Scotland.
- GCC is holding their annual conference, “Unashamed” this year at Hope Bible Church in Oakville from October 24-26. This is going to be a wonderful conference, and we’d encourage you, if you can make it work to go, register while there’s still time!
Church Planting
- Our partnership with the church plant in Romania remains strong. God has continued to grow this church, and we are excited to be sending a team of six to Romania this fall to help out and participate in the GCC Eastern Europe conference.
- We sent a team to the Belize church plant this past August and are hoping to send another team next summer. Watch for more information on how you can get involved!
- Later in October, we will be giving an update in our services on the Montreal church plant. We are excited for you to see how our Christmas offering last year had an impact!
Heritage College and Seminary Update
- Redemption is a partner church with Heritage, and it has been wonderful to see God at work in many ways through the school and in the executive, faculty, staff, and students.
- Heritage has begun construction on a new seminary building which will allow for continued growth and expansion of the seminary.
- We have been very involved in the school in numerous ways, especially this year. We believe this school is the preeminent Bible college and seminary in our country and we would strongly encourage you to consider taking courses there. Students looking for a Bible college or even just for a one-year program to help prepare you, as a Christian, for study in a secular university, please check out Heritage. For you who are older, they offer so many courses that you can take from home to help you grow in your Bible knowledge, theology, and various ways to serve Christ. https://discoverheritage.ca
耶誕節在救贖
- Mark your calendar! Our Christmas Eve services at Redemption will be on Sunday December 24 at normal service times.
- Watch for announcements about various Christmas events coming soon!