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- Written by: Pastor Tobias
- Category: Blog
Ministry - Christ’s ministry among us - is always ministry in progress, “ministry in motion.” My work as a pastor, my calling is to nurture this in-progress work in our congregational community, as well as in the New Paltz, Hudson Valley, and world communities. This month I’ll reflect on nurturing the ministry in motion of Faith Formation (education in a faith context).
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- Written by: Redeemer
- Category: Blog
The newly begun Tri-Church Sunday School (St. Andrew's Episcopal, New Paltz United Methodist, and Redeemer, New Paltz) meets THIS Sunday, Oct. 2nd, again. in the Community Room at Redeemer, New Paltz, starting at 10:45 am with icebreakers, snacks and music, followed by the Sunday School Lesson, and wrapping up by 12 pm.
Wonderful leadership for Tri-Church Sunday School includes Alex Brown as a teacher. Alex has been teaching 7th grade in Montgomery for nearly twenty years. Alex's two daughters are Ella and Abby. Rich Carroll and Janet Frommer will be taking turns leading music and teaching the children various church camp songs. Rich is a principal at Arlington High School and will also take turns leading icebreakers and get-to-know-you games. Janet Frommer is the church organist at St. Andrews in New Paltz and teaches piano locally and for Dutchess Community College.
Please join us in keeping this fledgling ministry in our good thoughts and prayers - and in thanking those stepping up into leadership roles!
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- Written by: Council President
- Category: Blog
Thanks to the congregation for all your prayers. The Holy Spirit was certainly with us during the successful Ideation Session led by Pastor Tobias and Jerry Banach. Also attending were Council members and community partners Tim Rodgers, Matthew Eyler, Lyla Yastion, and Pastor Limina Grace Harmon.
The session's focus was to grow Community Partner building use at Redeemer in support of great people doing extraordinary things while generating the financial means to sustain and enhance the fantastic resource entrusted to us in the building at Redeemer, New Paltz. Ideally, we would like to see the building use go from 20% of the time to 80% with reasonable, sliding scale fees that would allow great people with great ideas to flourish in a safe, beautiful space.
After a tour of the building, participants brainstormed observations of needs in the community and ways the building could be used in fulfilling those needs.
Additionally, community partners were especially helpful in suggesting contacts and networking resources.
It is going to take some time to sift through all the ideas generated, so stay tuned as we move toward developing community partnerships.
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- Written by: Council President
- Category: Blog
Redeemer's Congregation Council will be having their annual retreat meeting on Tuesday, 9/20.
This year we have invited New Paltz community leaders to participate for the purposes of brainstorming ideas for increasing our Redeemer church building use that might also serve the community. Increasing the building use is both for the purposes of Sharing Christ’s Welcome and trying to increase revenue to contribute toward maintenance of the building. We invite the congregation to pray with us for a successful brainstorming session.
If you have any creative suggestions for building use or know of a need in the community, please pass these ideas on to a Council member before 9/20. You can always reach the Council President at
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- Written by: Redeemer
- Category: Blog
Redeemer has been invited to participate in the Sustainable Solutions for Sacred Sites (also called the S4 Program). This is a Lilly Foundation grant run out of Judson Memorial’s Bricks and Mortals Program which we learned about from Donna Schaper, the consultant who visited us in April after we studied her book during Lent. The purpose of the program is to “produce sustainable solutions to the persistent concerns of congregations about their buildings. We turn problems into possibility by teaching and learning with imagination and experience.” This ties in perfectly with the goal of Redeemer’s Congregation Council to increase the use of our building to expand our mission and help pay for maintenance. However, we have found that putting this into action is a challenge, and we think this program will be a great for giving us direction and motivation. The S4 program is provided by forming cohorts of churches for joint learning opportunities and through professional coaching. Redeemer will be part of a virtual cohort meaning all sessions will be online. The offered trainings are estimated at a $30,000 value for a meager congregation contribution of $500. Redeemer’s Council has approved this expenditure and the application was submitted two months ago. It is so exciting that we have now been accepted!