Check Out the New #OnentaRides Kindness Fleet!

It’s been a quiet summer for RM, but that doesn’t mean we’ve been idle!

We’ve been working behind the scenes to expand our #OneontaRides community outreach effort. This time last year, we were down to only one small car. When we resume operations this Friday, 8-25, we’ll have a “kindness fleet” and be able to help even more people in our community make it home safe on the weekends.

This includes the addition of an 8-person “Kindness Wagon,” the original Kindness Car is repaired and ready to, Pastor Kaler's Kia is still insured for giving free rides and standing by as a backup car (should we encounter a big night), and gaining access to vans from other local organizations is shaping up nicely (more details on that to follow).

Expanding a community service comes at a cost—we’ve spent roughly $2,500 just this summer alone on car repairs, licensing fees, and an extra in-car security camera. Plus, we paid for a year’s worth of insurance on our cars, AND we paid extra to increase the amount of coverage for all of our passengers.

All of this has been a major expense for our little church, but it’s all possible thanks to the generosity of others. This act of kindness outreach continues to operate solely from the kindness and gifts of others.

We’ve got a big school year of outreach planned and we’ll need help from the community with funds and volunteers in order to pull it off and keep the crazy momentum that we experienced from our last Kindness Team outing in May. You can join the Oneonta Kindness Team Facebook Group to volunteer, monetary donations can be made online, and we’re always accepting donations of Kindness Station supplies.

The 10th semester of #OneontaRides kicks off this Fall!

The Redemption Movement Now Meeting on Thursday Evenings!

We’re excited to announce that, beginning August 3rd, The Redemption Movement will have weekly gatherings every Thursday that are open to the public.

What Will Thursdays at The Redemption Movement Look Like?

In keeping with our values, we want to keep things simple and relational. Here’s the breakdown of what this weekly rhythm will look like:

• We’ll meet at our storefront at 148 River Street at 6pm.
• We’ll have a meal together, followed by a study/group discussion.
• The meal will be coordinated by those who regularly attend and those who tell us ahead time that they’ll be there (first-time visitors shouldn’t feel obligated to bring anything). 
• Childcare will be provided. Children will join us for the meal and then be dismissed with a babysitter to a separate part of the building or property. Depending on the ages of the children and who’s watching them, we may have a Bible lesson prepared for the kids.
• Worship: Each gathering will offer some way to worship the Lord together, like music, prayer, communion, etc. 

We Finally Feel Like a Family When We Come Together!

This is an exciting time for us because we haven’t offered public gatherings or worship services since last November.

Instead, we’ve been investing exclusively in small-group discipleship. The idea here is that, for years, our worship services felt inadequate. Like, RM just didn’t feel like a family that was totally committed to each other (which is how the New Testament describes church).

Therefore, we made it a point to stop doing casual church events so we could better invest in one another through small, discipleship-driven groups. It should also be noted how, in the spirit of church unity, we spent this time attending worship services of other local churches. 

Blog further explaining RM's hiatus from public gatherings.

We called these small discipleship groups “Movement Meals,” and we kept them private so that a new person couldn’t come into the small group and disrupt the progress of community-building that was being made, i.e., getting to know each other and building trust.

Monday Night Movement Meal Group, Spring 2017.

For the upcoming Fall season, we plan on starting up new Movement Meal groups, as well as to continue providing Thursday evening gatherings that are open to the public.

After taking all of this time to invest in each other, it’s my hope that, when you visit The Redemption Movement, it won’t feel like just another social event. Instead, may you sense how committed we are to each other, and how we love one another like a family--this despite our church being made up of a rather diverse bunch. And, may this witness of community, togetherness, and unity speak louder than any sermon that’s preached, be more insightful than any Bible study that’s taught, and be more impactful than any performance by a worship band (which are all great things BTW).

Realistically, we’re expecting to start off small with just those who’ve been built up in our recent discipleship meals, along with their friends. Should Thursday evenings at RM grow into something more than what our dining room table or storefront can accommodate, well, I guess we’ll just have to come up with an entirely new plan!