A Vision for Redeemer

Redeemer Presbyterian Church exists in the power of Christ’s gospel, as a community of Christ’s kingdom, for the spread of Christ’s glory.

The Power of Christ’s Gospel
Thus, the gospel is not simply the gateway to the Christian life; it is the way of life for the Christian. Just as a breakthrough of freedom and release occurs in your soul by the power of the gospel at your conversion, so you need continual breakthroughs of freedom and release through the power of the gospel. We need to be renewed again and again through the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. We do not need repeated decisions for Christ; rather, we need repeated encounters with the powerful gospel of Christ that comes to us through his word.

The gospel is good news about Jesus that demands to be believed. More specifically, in the gospel, King Jesus offers himself to us as the One into whom we are to believe. Saving faith in the New Testament is repeatedly described as faith into Christ (Romans 3:22, 26; Galatians 2:20). Thus the New Testament also describes Christians as being in Christ (Ephesians 1; Colossians 3:3). Redeemer Presbyterian Church seeks to take up this task of calling families and individuals to believe – not to a static, stagnant faith, but to a growing, enduring faith – in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Community of Christ’s Kingdom
The church is the community of the gospel; nothing else establishes us, holds us together, and pushes us forward other than the gospel.

…Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to … us. This is true not merely at the beginning, as though in time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and for eternity. I have community with others and I shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us. …And that also clarifies the goal of all Christian community: [we] meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Through his gospel, Christ ushers us into his kingdom, a kingdom life that is lived out together in the church, in local congregations, like Redeemer Presbyterian Church. This vision of Redeemer Presbyterian Church as a communal outpost of Christ’s kingdom because of Christ’s gospel has important applications: we are a worshiping, learning, sharing, serving, growing community of Christ’s kingdom.

The Spread of Christ’s Glory
Although the advance of Christ’s gospel will meet fierce opposition, both from inside (Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29) and outside (see Acts and Revelation throughout) the kingdom community, we know that his church will gloriously march forward. Even the very gates of hell will not be able to stand against Christ’s glorious advance through his church (Matthew 16:18). It is our sure and certain hope that Christ’s fame will more and more spread throughout Austin and the world until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord fills the earth, even as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).

We will be part of Christ’s glorious advance in the world as we are:
• A church that is in the world, but not of the world – culturally sensitive, aware and relevant, but biblically and traditionally rooted and grounded.
• A church that stands against the world, for the world – prophetically “salty”, but loving open and actively helping and welcoming.

May our service to the King be well-pleasing in his sight, and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever!