Membership
Would you like to join Redeemer as a member of the church?
Our membership process is intentionally thorough, because we would like to ensure you have the opportunity to get to know who we are, our vision and values, and what is expected of a member at Church of the Redeemer before joining.
The membership process consists of four steps:
1. Newcomers Dinner
2. Discovering Redeemer & Things Anglican
3. Catechumenate
4. Confirmation
You can read more about each of these steps below!
Part One: Newcomers Dinner
Attending one of our Newcomers Dinners is the first step in getting involved at Church of the Redeemer. These dinners happen several times a year and take place at Bishop Alan’s house. They serve as an opportunity to enjoy fellowship with other newcomers, meet some of the staff at Church of the Redeemer, and eat a delicious meal together. Newcomers’ Dinners are vital to building intentional community early on in your time at Redeemer and often lead to friendships and connections that can last for years.
Part Two: Discovering Redeemer & Things Anglican
Our Discovering Redeemer and Things Anglican course is a basic introduction to Church of the Redeemer and to Anglicanism in general. We meet over 10 weeks during our Connections nights on Wednesdays, where we enjoy fellowship over a meal before heading off to classes. The first section, Discovering Redeemer, is about all things Redeemer—especially to our Parish, Park, Farm, and Abbey vision—and lets you know how you can get connected here! Then, in Things Anglican, we get into the history and theology of Anglicanism. These are covered in more detail in the next step of the membership process, our catechumenate course, but Things Anglican serves to give you a starting point for your experience in the Anglican tradition.
Part Three: Catechumenate
The catechumenate (pronounced cat-uh-qu-men-ate) is a period of instruction that serves as a foundational piece of community and an introduction to full involvement at Church of the Redeemer.
The word catecheo is Greek for “instruct.” In the ancient church, everyone coming into the life of the Church went through a period of instruction called the catechumenate, where they would learn the basics of the faith. We have embraced this ancient model because we see the wisdom in it.
Catechumenate classes also meet during our Connections nights. In two sessions of 12 weeks, we walk through the parts of our catechumenate: First, we go through the book To Be a Christian, which outlines the basics of Christian belief and Anglican theology. Then, we explore The Drama of Scripture, unfolding the story of the Bible and what it means for us today. Completing this process opens the door for joining Redeemer as a member and participating in the full life of the church through confirmation.
Part Four: Confirmation
Our membership process comes to its fulfillment in confirmation. Confirmation is an ancient practice of the church of laying on of hands to confirm the baptism of Christian believers and empower them for ministry in Christ’s church. As an Anglican church, Redeemer holds to the historic office of bishops, who carry apostolic authority and responsibility to lead and serve the church. The laying on of hands by the bishop follows the apostles’ practice of laying on of hands for the filling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17). Through this, followers of Jesus are equipped and empowered to serve according to their gifts and callings in the ministry of Christ’s Church.
Before confirmation happens during a Sunday morning service, we meet with those in the membership process for a one-day membership retreat with pastoral interviews, final discussions regarding membership, and signing of membership commitments.