There and Back Again: A Redemption Movement Tale

It was a good run. The dynamic ministry that took place out of a downtown storefront was a dream come true. Beginning with the Good Friday/5-year anniversary celebration on March 30th and lasting until the last week of June, for three months we called 80 Water Street our home.

This special time was made possible by all those who generously donated 3-months’ worth of rent money and then some, almost $5,000 in all. Despite this fundraising success, we were unable to secure the steady finances needed in order to sign a multi-year lease at the end of June. Therefore, The Redemption Movement board opted to pass on the property, and now we’re back to where everything started--at “The Ol’ Storefront,” our original home on River Street.

Instead of mourning the loss of a great space, we’re choosing to celebrate what a cool opportunity we had to expand the ministry in so many ways for three memorable months. What’s this move back to our past mean for our church’s future? I think highly enough of our many supporters that I’d like to provide you with a comprehensive update. Read More >>

The Case for Moving The Redemption Movement Downtown

It’s been five years since The Redemption Movement officially introduced ourselves to Oneonta by launching a weekly, Friday evening ministry out of a renovated storefront on River Street. Today, we’re presented with a cool opportunity to move operations from River Street to downtown.

It’s a move that makes sense in a lot of ways. It’s a move that will stretch us by requiring way more resources than what our little church has. But, it’s also a move that’s been marinating in vision and evolving since long before The Redemption Movement was ever, well, The Redemption Movement.

A Move 14 Years in the Making

The vision for ministering to a college nightlife scene out of a downtown location originated from my own college experience in Springfield, Missouri (2001-04). This is when I first became exposed to the vibrant nightlife with its hordes of young people walking the streets, hanging out, and just going from bar-to-bar looking for something (seemingly anything) to do.

As I talked with people from these crowds, I was taken aback by how hungry they were for friendship, how open they were to having honest conversations about God, and I was dismayed at how many people were putting themselves at unnecessary risk by being intoxicated (drunk driving, sexual assault, etc.). I also observed how this was a time when churches had their doors closed, and how few Christians were represented in the mix--primarily because they were resting up for the big show on Sunday morning.  

Emboldened by what I saw, I approached the church I was interning at and proposed the start of a storefront ministry to be operated downtown during these nightlife hours. The catchy name for this ministry endeavor: Night Church. Even though the church leadership all agreed that it was a good idea, for this particular suburban church, such a venture didn’t fit their target market.

Side Note: As I came to later find out, much of the ideas God put on my heart lie outside the box of traditional church activity, which is ultimately why I am a church planter today.           

Soon afterwards, I graduated and moved from Springfield (with its active nightlife) to my hometown where I ministered at a small, rural church. Even though I was making plans to settle down and enjoy married life in a small farming community, I couldn’t shake the vision of Night Church. It wasn’t but a couple of years later when this vision resurfaced in the form of church planting, and it took a couple more years for this vision to develop further and lead me to a location that would be suited for such a ministry--Oneonta, New York.

Pastor Kaler. Minute #3 in Oneonta: "I would love to start a church in one of these downtown storefronts." -July, 2009.

Like my experience in college, I had a difficult time convincing traditional church planting organizations that an idea like starting a new church in Oneonta was worth investing in (much less starting a night church). Therefore, upon arriving to Oneonta in 2009, Laura and I could only afford a building located a couple of miles from downtown. But no matter. We viewed our River Street headquarters as nice starter building, believing that it would only be a matter of time before the church plant would outgrow the space and support would one day allow for a move downtown.

In the meantime, we poured our hearts into Oneonta’s downtown scene, serving the crowds with thousands of free rides home and giving away thousands of dollar’s worth of snacks at the Kindness Station. All the while, we were building trust, networking, forming relationships with like-minded individuals, and connecting with other organizations that cared about Oneonta. Granted, I originally anticipated that such a move from River Street to downtown would take place sooner than this. But, as I’ve come to learn, God’s timing is perfect. 

The Amazing Opportunity Before Us Today

Fast forward to 2018 and the very building that we’ve been running the Kindness Station directly in front of for more than two years, 80 Water Street where our friends at LEAF used to call home, becomes available.

When this opportunity first opened up, myself, the Kindness Team volunteers, and our church members started dreaming:

• What if, instead of showing Kindness outside of this location every weekend, we also showed kindness INSIDE?
• What if the Kindness Station had a home--a home that wouldn’t require lugging two carloads of gear back and forth every single outing?
• And, to make this home happen, what if we didn’t have to move from the very spot that we’re known for--a spot that people KNOW they can go to and find us if they’ve had too much to drink and need a free ride home?
• And what if, instead of just giving out free snacks and rides, we’re able to take advantage of a building that would allow us to do much more for the community? Like, what if “Mission Oneonta” was more than a catchy title for a blog and it became the name of an actual downtown mission that served the community’s needs in a variety of helpful ways; such as, being a space for additional community groups, churches, and nonprofits looking to better Oneonta?
• What if the Night Church vision God put on my heart back in 2004, actually became a thing?

Oh yeah, and what if all of this coincided with the 5-year anniversary of the public launch of our church?

So, What’s the Plan?

It’s important to keep in mind that making the move downtown is just the first step toward making this vision a reality. It’s going to take a couple more steps to get such a downtown space where it’s a thriving mission that’s making a positive impact on the community.

Step 1: The Kindness Station, Indoors

Upon taking over a downtown space, the first thing we would do is to use the indoor space in conjunction with the already thriving Kindness Station outreach ministry. We’ll still pitch the tent outside and keep a hospitality table stocked with a few goodies and have a heater going, but we’ll also move much of what we do inside. Being indoors will allow us to serve the public with a warmer space, a closet full of clothes instead of just a single rack, public bathrooms that we’ll keep clean (so people will hopefully stop urinating in the parking garage or on the public sidewalks), and a safe and comfortable place to sit, to socialize, to give time for the alcohol to wear off, and to wait for a safe ride home. Plus, having a home indoors will allow us to create and leave up interactive displays designed to educate the public about alcohol consumption. Best of all, NO MORE SHUTTLING GEAR BACK AND FORTH EVERY WEEK!       

Step 2: Opening Up the Space to Other Community Groups
With our small church’s current operations in mind, we’ll likely start off only using the space a few times each week. That makes for a lot of times throughout the rest of the week that other groups can use the space. In addition to a move like this allowing for the building to be used to its maximum potential, it will help us pay the rent if we sublet these rooms to enough groups that may want a regular downtown presence, but not be able to afford renting an entire building. A step like this would be a win for the group subletting the space, a win for us to have help with the rent, and a win for Oneonta to have another community-minded group with a presence downtown.

Step 3: Night Church
Night Church is the third step because it’s a concept that’s going to take more people to pull off than what our small church currently has available. Therefore, it’s our hope that moving downtown will allow for our church to grow into this and other ministries. At the very least, moving downtown to a place that’s more visible and more accessible will make it easier for visitors to check us out--something that’s historically been a struggle for our church with its out-of-the-way/easy-to-miss location on River Street.   

In a nutshell, Night Church involves taking several elements of a church worship service, like music, prayer, and teaching, and it stretches these out over the course of a few hours; all within a casual, conversational, coffeehouse-style environment. For example, this could look like taking a typical 3-point sermon and breaking down each point into a short lesson, followed by a time of questions and answers from small groups. It’s actually a model of ministry that we experimented with successfully when we first opened our doors in 2013. We were even able to incorporate additional ideas such as board games, food, and group art projects. However, as much fun as we had doing this night-church style of ministry, it quickly became apparent that such a model is truly designed for a downtown location that lends itself to foot traffic.

Keeping with the community-mindedness purpose of the downtown space, it would even be cool if we could have other pastors and other ministries participate in Night Church.      

What’s All of This Going to Take?                

Truth be told. Taking advantage of this opportunity will only be possible if our friends, church members, other churches, community groups, student groups, etc., all catch this vision too. At the time of this writing, The Redemption Movement has saved up, at most, perhaps enough to cover one month’s rent. This is primarily due to the fact that our church’s approach to finances has always been to give back and bless others with as much as we take in, as exemplified in the free ride service and the Kindness Station.

We are now asking for the community’s help to make this move possible. To make this happen, we’ll need to have enough monthly commitments to total at least $1,700 per month. Considering all of the friends we’ve made over the years, this goal actually seems obtainable.

To give, visit: donate.theredemptionmovement.org/movedowntown

In all of our time here in Oneonta, it’s been rare for our church to ever directly ask people or groups in the community for donations. It’s just not been our style. But now, we’ve got an opportunity before us that I feel is compelling enough to play this fundraising card. If you agree that this is a good thing for Oneonta and that it needs to happen, then a gift of any amount will go a long way. We first and foremost are asking for monthly donations so we can plan our rent expenses accordingly, but one-time gifts will certainly help too and will either go toward moving expenses or be budgeted to help pay the rent. 

You can give to this cause online, or mail a check to 148 River Street. You can also contact Pastor Kaler at 607-434-2564 to learn about additional ways to give, or to schedule Kaler to come and speak to your church or community group about this need.           

Thank you friends for dreaming with me, and to see for yourself what such a move could look like, stop by 80 Water Street on Good Friday and join us as we celebrate 5-years of serving Oneonta!

How to Take a Church For All Its Worth! (Hint: It's Easy)

I've got two very different money-related experiences from last Sunday on my mind, and they're related in a powerful way.

"I'm Sorry, Did You Say Cash Voucher?"

I want to share the second experience first. A random guy called me, wanting to know if our church takes cash vouchers? I didn't know what he meant by this question, but after prying a bit, I discovered that he was looking for a cash handout.

He told me that he's called all the other churches in town and they all have policies about not giving out cash.

I told him that we're a new church with a small number of members and not a lot of resources, and that we don't have policies about giving or not giving cash, but we also don't have any funds designated specifically for people who call asking for help.

I then asked him, "Is there any other way that we can be of service?" I was thinking that he would then ask for gas for his car, shelter for the night, a meal, a ride, or help with moving furniture (all ways in which our church has helped strangers who have called looking for help). Unfortunately, he declined any other form of assistance besides cash and that was that. Phone call over.

Help That Goes Beyond Cash

I get desperate phone calls like this fairly often, but what makes this experience memorable isn't the call itself, but rather, it's how the stranger's request corresponds to something our church did less than an hour before he called. You see, I just got done collecting cash to give to a family in need.  
    
What gives? What made one family worthy of a cash gift from my church, and why did I feel uneasy and even irresponsible about just giving money to a random stranger calling for assistance?

Answer: The family goes to our church, while the stranger does not.

"But Kaler, isn't that showing favoritism? Aren't you supposed to help everybody that asks for help?"

Yes to both questions. You see, for people who make up our church community, their needs take priority and we have no qualms about providing them with cash if they need it. And in regards to the second question, I did offer to assist the man in a way that would practically meet his needs, but he was only interested in getting cash.

Another important aspect to these two stories is that the family from our church didn't even ask for money. Instead, my wife heard about their need by way of hanging out with them. When our church gathered on the following Sunday, she presented the need before the group, which lead to an offering being taken up for them.

When You're Here, You're Family

Herein lies the power of community; when relationships within a community reach a certain depth, a person won't have to even ask for help because the community will already know about it and its people will respond accordingly. 

You know what other social group offers this kind of support for unspoken needs? That's right, a family, and for people who make up the congregation of a church, they're supposed to see each other as a family. Spiritually speaking, this is a reality that's at the core of what we believe a church is--one big family.

With this in mind, I began to think about the stranger who called me for cash and I had a sobering thought, "What if, instead of looking for assistance by calling every single church in town (and it was obvious that our poorly financed church was at the bottom of his list), what if he actually visited these churches?"

And I'm talking more than a one-time Sunday morning visit, "What if this man would become a regular at a church? What if this man were to become known on a first-name basis with the congregation, join a committee, become an usher, help serve the city's poor, or even just show up regularly at the weekly gatherings?" 

I know exactly what would happen if this stranger-in-need attempted this approach. He would be welcomed into the life of the church community, he would cease being a stranger, and in a very short time, he would be treated like family.

This would be the best thing that could happen to a man in need, because once you've genuinely joined a Christian community, it's like you've gained a whole new family that has your back along with your best interests in mind. And as part of such a family, the church will stop at nothing and move mountains to take care of you and meet your needs, even if it means asking other members of the church family to give sacrificially in order to make it happen. 

Why? Because this is what any family who loves one another does for each other. In fact, if the church is doing what it's supposed to, and deep friendships and relationships are being fostered, then the man in need wouldn't even have to ask for assistance because the church body would be quick to respond to the need and meet it as soon as it's found out by another church member (like with the family we took up an offering for). 

Concluding Thoughts

A stranger looking for assistance from a church will often find it, but it will usually be in a small way that's limited by budgets and policies. However, for someone the church considers to be family, why, that person will essentially be able to "take the church for all its worth;" thanks to every resource of the church being made available to meet the needs of one of their own.

And how does one become a part of such a loving, supportive family? For starters, it's as easy as physically visiting a church and spending time with its people. If they show you love and accept you for "coming just as you are," then you've found the right church and it's just a matter of time until its people work tirelessly and give sacrificially in order to meet your needs. 

Granted, due to the disregard for the financial future of the church organization, this approach makes for an absolutely lousy business model, and it's a poor way to provide a social service. But a church is not a business, a church is not a social service; instead, a church is a family--a family that prioritizes in taking care of one another.                       

An Update On Finding a New Music Venue and Our Plans For Mobile Church

By Kaler Carpenter

The question I seem to get asked the most these days is, "When will The Redemption Movement do shows again?" In this blog article, I want to update all of our wonderful supporters about this, and share plans regarding what we’re currently up to.

Fans of our live shows will be happy to learn that we've got plans to host live music again... but first, some things need to happen.

What We've Been Up the Past Year

One year ago we were asked by the City of Oneonta to cease hosting shows at our storefront venue. To this day, I still get show requests from bands from all over the U.S. and Canada. It pains me to have to tell these artists (many of whom I call friends) that I've got nothing for them, and it bums me out when I have to turn down my favorite bands, which means that they end up skipping Oneonta altogether. 

Booking at Bluefields's Cafe

Last summer, I tried my hand at booking shows at other local venues. Even though I was successful at this, I soon discovered that it's too time consuming to coordinate shows at places that I don't run. It was much easier for me to simply unlock the doors where I live and let bands play downstairs.

After getting our live music shut down, we immediately begin looking into what it would take to obtain a space downtown that we could use as an all-ages music venue/community center/worship space (moving downtown makes more sense than fixing up our River St. storefront to meet the code requirements for live music). After learning about what it would take to rent various spaces, it quickly became obvious that we couldn't afford to make the move.

What about Fundraising?

I considered fundraising. It seemed like an attractive option because virtually every musician I know wanted to play a benefit show. As totally awesome as it would have been to organize one giant fundraising show, I knew that, realistically, such a show wouldn’t raise enough money to cover even one month’s worth of rent.

A major move like this would require some serious fundraising, especially if the new venue were to continue our policy of giving bands 100% of the door. This level of fundraising would require me to hit up every person and business I know with letters, and I would have to do bake-sale-like stuff every weekend. This would literally take up all of my time. 

“Well then, how about delegating the fundraising work to others?” I’d love to. Herein we get to the heart of the matter. For the past year, my church never had enough committed people to assist with fundraising, and to this day, we're still shorthanded. 

Helpers like Mike Deyo are valuable.

Also, I'd like to point out  that, in order to run a live music venue, additional help is needed that goes beyond fundraising. Even if we miraculously were given enough money to purchase a new venue, or someone donated a space, we wouldn't have the personnel to run it. 

Running a show requires a team of people. Church services too need a dependable team. Plus, if we had a downtown venue, we would additionally have to come up with enough people to offer something when the space isn't being used for church services and shows. Unfortunately, it would be impossible for me to run a new church/music venue like this with the number of people we currently have coming to our church.  

A Case for Growing The Redemption Movement

I've always considered the shows to be an outreach ministry of The Redemption Movement. Therefore, moving our shows downtown would coincide with moving the church downtown, which would require a committed team from the church.

Given our current church attendance, the responsibility of organizing and doing the fundraising to move RM would fall on its Pastor (me). Even though I am capable of making this move happen, given the fact that I'm a bi-vocational minister with a family, finding a new space for RM could only happen at the expense of something else, namely, my time pastoring the church.

Keep in  mind that The Redemption Movement’s primary role is to be a church where worship and discipleship take place. Hosting shows isn't our primary purpose (but is sure is a fun secondary activity!). Therefore, if the primary purpose of the church isn't being met, then it’s irresponsible for the church leadership to focus their limited energy on secondary things, like super-fun shows.

I think this lack-of-help situation highlights the importance of why people should commit to a local church. A small church like The Redemption Movement has plans to do some pretty big things in order to bless and better our community. Hosting small shows for local artists is just the beginning. We've got it on our hearts to tackle some of the worst societal issues plaguing our community, which includes the implementation of needed social service programs and spearheading social justice initiatives. However, we can only do as much as our limited numbers and resources will allow.

RM founding plans from 2010. We're on track to do a lot of good.

Not to boast, but consider all of the outreach and good things that The Redemption Movement has done for the Oneonta community. Whether it’s making the city a nicer place through acts of kindness, organizing events that bring the city together like The Town & Gown Gala, giving musicians a place to play and sleep, assisting people with their personal issues through Bible teachings and counseling, and even going so far as literally saving lives by taking intoxicated people home at night, all of these good works have been achieved with a group of motivated people from The Redemption Movement that rarely exceeds more than 10!

Hosting and feeding touring bands at The Ol' Storefront.

Can you image how big of an impact The Redemption Movement can make if we had double the number of church members? Triple? Or even if we had 100 people committed to what we're doing down here on River Street? Doing something like establishing a new all-ages arts venue would be a piece of cake. And take for example our designated driving service. Right now we're safely getting about 40 people home per week with just our small group and my personal car. If we had a large group of committed church members, we could get a fleet of vans and do the DD service multiple times per week and see those ride numbers skyrocket.

This doesn't even begin to cover what 100 motivated people could do about addressing poverty and social issues in our community. Big things can happen when the church is united with a clear mission. This is why we include the word "movement" in our name.

Growing the Church By Going Mobile

Therefore, my primary concern right now isn't moving downtown so that I can do shows again, it is to grow The Redemption Movement. To that end, we have a new model of ministry that we will be premiering this Spring called Mobile Church. After spending 18 months unsuccessfully trying to grow the church by inviting people to Friday gatherings at our River Street storefront, we have gone back to the drawing board and come up with a ministry where we go to different neighborhoods, parks, and public places to “have church” where the people are, instead of begging, pleading, and imploring the world to come to us.

Last Sunday our #church met at the park on a nice Spring day and worshipped under a big tree. Much more of this to come with #MobileChurch
— Redemption Movement  (@RedemptionNY) April 20, 2015

It’s my prayer that this new mobile church model will grow and produce committed people that will desire to lead additional incarnations of mobile church. This multiplication plan will hopefully yield a committed group that will take on the work of moving The Redemption Movement to a downtown venue so that we can one day do shows again.

To Recap 

Putting on shows is still a part of our plans, but we need your help in order to pull it off. 

If you would like to help us find a new music venue and participate in our community outreach efforts, then we encourage you to  talk to us about making a commitment to join The Redemption Movement, and you're welcome to visit us on a Sunday for Mobile Church in order to experience what we're all about.

Mobile Church kicks off this Spring, premiering at Huntington Park at 10am on April 26th. Through May, we'll continue hosting Mobile Church at Huntington Park for the following Sundays: May 3rd, 10th, and 17th. After that, we'll move Mobile Church to a new location which we'll post on this blog and to our social media pages. When it comes to our new Mobile Church model, “If you can find us, you can worship with us.” 

Breaking the Cycle of Defeat with 501(c)(3) Approval!

By Kaler Carpenter

We are pleased to inform you that upon review of your application for tax exempt status we have determined that you are exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

This if from a letter that The Redemption Movement received on Feb. 28, 2014 from the IRS confirming our status as a 501(3)(c) tax-exempt public charity! Concerning the needs of our church, this is a huge break, and in regards to us first submitting the application to the IRS in the Fall of 2012, this is a long time coming!

For our church, what makes this achievement extra momentous is the fact it's a major step in breaking what I call "The Church Planting Cycle of Defeat." Because we essentially started this church without the support of a national organization, church planting has been extra challenging. As we labored to get the church off the ground, I noticed a "Cycle of Defeat" that we were facing. It goes like this:

No Organizational Support = No 501(c)(3) Status
No 501(c)(3) Status = No Money

One advantage of being a part of a religious denomination or national organization is that a new church automatically has founding paperwork and tax-exempt status given to them from their supporting group. Because we lacked this support, we had to procure this paperwork on our own. We moved to Oneonta in July of 2009 to start The Redemption Movement, and in May of 2011 we had our church chartered with Otsego County, NY as a nonprofit organization.

Despite this accomplishment, we were still not tax-exempt in the eyes of the IRS. Therefore, one of the first actions of our newly installed board of officers was to pursue this status, which entailed a mountain of paperwork and a $450 fee.

What makes having 501(c)(3) status for a church so important is that people and other organizations are much more likely to donate to you if you have it. This is how we operated in the past concerning giving: We told donors that, as a church and a nonprofit organization, they can legally write off a donation to us on their income taxes. However, if a giver were to be audited, the burden to prove to the IRS that we are indeed a church would be on them, and we have information handy that we promise to provide donors if they were to be audited.

For many, the prospect of having to jump through an extra hoop with the IRS to prove that their donation is tax exempt is enough to deter giving. This is understandable, especially when a person is also being hit up for donations from various 501(c)(3) certified organizations that pose less risk of an audit.

Because we lacked 501(c)(3) status, we targeted our past fundraising efforts towards friends and family--people with whom we had personal relationships with and knew our hearts. In the Spring of 2013, we fundraised over $2,000 via social media to launch the church. This was a wonderful financial boost that allowed for the church to open our doors to the public, but virtually all of these donations were one-time gifts, which meant that our new church had no consistent funding to operate on (the majority of our current church attendees are new to church and tithing is a new concept). And let's face it; nobody wants to go through a second round of directly fundraising to family and friends, especially within the same year.

The solution to this fundraising problem is to have 501(c)(3) status. The IRS was taking their sweet time getting back to us about this, so we looked to the support of a church planting organizations and denominations for help. Only, the problem with this is:

No People = No Organizational Support
No Organizational Support = No 501(c)(3) Status

Laura and I resigned our ministry credentials with our previous denomination in order to church plant in Oneonta. It was a difficult choice for us, but we thought finding another group to partner with would be easy. We were wrong. Over the years, we have looked into at least 6 different groups to partner with, primarily so that we can have help us with obtaining founding paperwork, which includes getting 501(c)(3) status. So far, none of the groups have worked out. Some didn't work because we weren't compatible with their doctrines, which included disagreements on doctrines like women in ministry and spiritual gifts (we are for both of these hot topics).

But the most common disqualification that we ran into with established religious organizations is that they required 20-50 consistent people attending our church before they would even consider processing our application. This is a huge roadblock for us because we essentially "struck out on our own" with just the two of us, instead of being given a team of volunteers from a mother church (as is the most common way to church plant).

I totally understand where these groups are coming from, after all, there has to be policies like this in place to ensure that your organization is backing a church planter that's serious about the work and won't flake out after getting approval. However, for a small church like The Redemption Movement planting in a small town like Oneonta NY, 20-50 people = a successful and solid church in our eyes.

RM Launch 3-29-2013

Most church planting groups think bigger than us. They tend to target bigger and growing communities, and they mobilize dozens or even hundreds of people to see church launch events where hundreds, if not thousands, of new people show up. I have personal reservations about the sustainability and priorities of this model of church planting that I won't go into here. But I will say that our approach to church planting is different, as evidenced by how we launched The Redemption Movement. Instead of spending our launch money on advertising, we spent it on community outreach and we had 20 people attend our launch (a number that I am proud of).        

The need to spend money on advertising brings us to the next leg of our "Church Planting Cycle of Defeat."

No Money = No/Poor Marketing
No/Poor Marketing = No People

My heart is to give every dollar donated to the church to community outreach, but the reality of our situation dictates that we need to use some of our resources for marketing in order to tell people about the church. Our church marketing efforts so far have been pretty miniscule. We've used newspaper advertisements, Facebook, flyers, and a banner, but without a significant amount of money set aside for marketing, that's about all we can do. To properly market the church and gain the attention of more people, we need more money. Scroll up to the first part of the cycle to see how fundraising has gone for us, and now you can fully appreciate what it's like to church plant in this "Cycle of Defeat."

For years, I've referenced this cycle and been optimistic that if just one leg of it broke than the other parts will be sure to crumble. This is why our church finally gaining 501(c)(3) status is such a big deal for us!

What about The Redemption Movement Proudly Paying Taxes?     

This is a fair question because our church makes it a point to proudly pay property taxes as a way to show our local community love and support. In fact, twice a year when the property tax and school tax bill hit the mailboxes, we put out a sign in front of the church building that says "This Church and Property Pays Taxes. We Love Oneonta." We also regularly post a blog article about our stance on taxes to our church Facebook page.

At the heart of our reason for choosing to pay property taxes is to be a witness of Christ' love to our local community that's overburdened with high property taxes. This high tax burden has led to hostility toward local churches by people who don't think that this tax arrangement is fair. Rest assured; we're still committed to paying local property taxes as a way to bring  healing to this situation. It's our hope that an unbeliever who's skeptical or even angry at the church for not having to pay taxes will see our actions, be moved by them, and ultimately consider our message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I think that our church gaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status through the Federal government for fundraising purposes is an entirely different situation than our church choosing to pay local property taxes for the purpose of being a good witness. For over three years now, our church has been trying to operate as a tax-paying organization. For reasons noted above in the defeat cycle, you can see how futile it is to operate a church in America without 501(c)(3) status.

Essentially, people and businesses are hesitant to donate to an organization without this tax-exempt status. In my personal observation, I find it interesting that the same people screaming, "Churches and charities should pay taxes," aren't donating their money to for-profit groups. Why? Because they can't write it off on their taxes. This is a different cycle of defeat that I think boils down to what's going on in a person's heart; because, when it comes to money, how someone spends or doesn't spend their money shows where their heart is at.

At The Redemption Movement, we're focused on ministering to the heart, and we're figuring out this money stuff along the way.

To Donate to The Redemption Movement   

If you want to contribute to the ministry of The Redemption Movement, checks are payable to "The Redemption Movement." You can mail them to:

148 River St.
Oneonta, NY, 13820

EIN: 45-3027565
DLN: 17053271349002

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Our $2,600.00 Outreach to Oneonta NY

By Kaler Carpenter
You can describe The Redemption Movement as a low-to-no budget church plant. Going against the advice of traditional church planting organizations, Laura and myself moved to Oneonta in 2009 with zero support, not knowing anybody in NY, and having just enough money saved up to put a down payment on a vacant storefront on River Street. Some may call it crazy, we call it faith, whatever you call it, this church has been a lot of hard work.

Our Taxing Situation

In the face of such hard work, like remodeling and working full time jobs instead of fundraising, we are sometimes tempted to take shortcuts. Having shortcuts placed before us causes conflict in our hearts. Jesus teaches that the easy way will often be in opposition to God's ways (that's why it's called the straight and narrow). One easy way we could have taken with the church is in regards to taxes.

Here's our taxing situation: back in 2009, we went before the Oneonta City Planning Committee to request that the River St. property purpose be changed for church use. By one vote and God's grace the measure passed, we then purchased the building and began working on our money pit. The agonizingly high New York property tax bills soon followed. Paying these tax bills took a lot of money away from the new church and made the work go much slower. Although, God has been very faithful in providing for our needs.

We are well aware that it's within the right of every church to seek exemption from property taxes. This thought crosses our minds with every check we write to pay our tax bill. We could have spent the last 4 years doing whatever it takes to get our property off the tax rolls; and in 4 years time, we surely could have figured it out. I mean, in the last 3 years we were able to write founding documents like articles of incorporation and church bylaws, and we put together a board of trustees and officers; therefore, achieving a tax exemption status for property tax is well within our capabilities, yet we chose not to. This is because of our values.

Taking People's Religious Objections Seriously

As a new church, one of our driving values is to strip away all the religious objections that people have against church, while remaining true to the Gospel. We believe that by taking this approach, it will make it easier for people to connect with God by discovering His love through His church. This is commanded in scripture; Acts 15:19, “We (the church) should not make it difficult (be dumb with our religion) for the Gentiles (non Jews, or modern application: irreligious people) who are turning to God (people who are genuinely seeking to know God).”

In this spirit, we have scrapped several objectionable religious practices, making it so that the only thing standing in the way of a seeker of truth turning their faith towards God is the cross of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). For us, ministering in a postmodern Northeast American culture, this means getting rid of Sunday morning church services, allowing women to teach, happily letting people who believe differently than we do use our space, removing the formal and judgmental tone from our teachings, and much more.

Showing God's Love By Paying Taxes

One objection that keeps many people from stepping foot inside a church is the issue of religion and taxes. Churches do not have to pay local taxes and many people believe this is unfair or even downright criminal. We believe that if churches skipping out on taxes is keeping a person from discovering the grace, hope, freedom, peace, joy, and love found in the body of Christ (the church), then we will gladly shell out a few thousand dollars per year ($2,625.25 to be exact) if that is what it takes to remove a religious objection and open one heart to the Gospel.

Making the commitment to pay taxes is a sacrifice for us (but hey, making sacrifices is what it means to be a Christian). We know we can take that money and do a lot of good with it by blessing the community of Oneonta in ways that the government, with all of its red tape, simply cannot. Generations ago, the entire nation felt the same way, which is why these tax exempt laws were put into place; but, times have changed and the majority of the public now believe the church is a bunch of crooks whose lack of paying taxes contributes to people's ever-growing tax burden.

Finical Abuse in Churches

I can think of several good examples of churches that are using their tax-free dollars to bless their communities with noble charity works. But you know what? I can also think of more examples of churches that are only using the money to ornately decorate their buildings while giving their wealthy Pastor another raise. As Christians, we apologize for this abuse of your hard earned tax dollars at the hands of religious people. Please accept our tax dollars as a first step towards making amends. Also, we want to do more than just pay bills, we want to show love to our community by investing time and money into making Oneonta a better place.

The City of Oneonta's Unique Tax-Exemption Dilemma

Normally, I do not like to shine the spotlight on church fiances; but I feel like in light of how strongly many people feel on this issue, shining a light on our actions can help to mend church-community relations. If you do not think this is an issue, then read the online public comments of the local newspaper every time a tax problem is discussed. Half of the comments say something to the tune of, “Tax the churches!” In fact, the not-for-profit institutions within the Oneonta city limits owns 51% of the real property value in the city. Due to this reality, many local residents hold nonprofits and churches responsible for their high tax bills. 

I would like to illustrate this point further by telling two brief stories. The first one is when I encountered a local business owner in May. It was while I was inviting Oneonta 6th Ward businesses to participate in our neighborhood block party by competing in a chili cook off (I was purposely not soliciting funds). One hardened 6th Ward Oneonta business owner replied to my introduction by scowling, “Church huh? Must be nice to find a way out of paying taxes!”

Another encounter I had was with a lady who was walking on the sidewalk in front of our building. She looked at our Redemption Movement sign and, not knowing that I was within earshot, said out loud to herself, "Oh great, this place doesn't have to pay taxes." As she continued walking, I called out to her about wanting to talk about our tax situation but she ignored me.

We Pay Taxes Because we Care for Our Community

Therefore, instead of morning the loss of $2,600, and pouting about how the money could have gone towards opening up our building earlier or reaching more people with God's love, I have decided to pay our taxes and make the amount public knowledge. We pray for our government and hope that these tax dollars will go to genuinely help people in need. The mission of The Redemption Movement is to bless our community, therefore we view our taxes as a $2,600 community outreach expense, and we will happily find ways to bless our town with what little we have. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s”--Jesus.

Simple Church is Beautiful

Our new church's simple stage and Christmas decorations, 2013.

It's June 2009, and there are still several steps I must take before officially launching a new church. Assessments, interviews, marketing, procuring a meeting place, the list is long and rather daunting. Most of the requirements I face excite me. However, there's one requirement in particular that weighs on me: fundraising.

I'll do it because I have to, and I have faith that God will provide. But my thinking here is that, "if the mission of the church is to tell lost people about Jesus, how much fundraising should this actually take?" It's a fair question to ask, especially when breaking down the daunting church planting mission to it's simplest form: proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.

For my vision of church, I wish to keep things simple as simple as the mandate that Jesus gave to his followers. Here are a few thoughts on the benefits of keeping a new church as simple as possible, and why this is actually a beautiful thing.

Simple Church Follows the Biblical Church Growth Model

The story of the church begins in the book of Acts with a small group of faithful people (about 120) left over from Jesus' ministry. We know they were organized in leadership, and that they had a clear mission, but we don't hear much about money. When the Holy Spirit gave birth to the church on Pentecost, the numbers of believers increased rapidly. Instead of taking this large crowd and pooling together resources and raising funds for a bigger place to meet, the church simply moved their meetings to a very public and very free place, the Temple courts. It's interesting to me how willingly the church moved out of the upper room, and into the public forum. If such a revival were experienced today, I wonder how many modern churches would remodel and expand their simple upper room into an elaborate revival headquarters.

Another simple church story from Acts is found in chapter 3. Days after Peter preached his sermon, Peter and John are approached by a beggar near the temple asking for money. Did Peter and John dip into the church's benevolent fund or call up the para-church outreach ministry? Peter's response is stunning, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Then, Peter physically helped him up, and the cripple was healed, giving praise to God.

Wait. Hold up. Peter was the leader of the growing church, didn't he have some cash on hand from his full-time salary as Senior Pastor? You know, the salary he worked years to raise before starting the Jerusalem church? No, it says Peter had nothing.

I have to admit that I have lied to street beggars before and told them that I had nothing to give when I was really bursting at the seams with cash, but I think Peter honestly had nothing. Unlike my awkward response to beggars, I am sure Peter did not tell a “convenient lie.”

Did the church have any money at this time? Yes, just 4 verses prior, we get a romantic snapshot of the early church and we see offerings being taken up. What are they doing with these funds? Paying salaries? Buying tracks of land to build on? Shopping for the sound equipment? No, read closely, “All the believers had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” They didn't have a building, and the money they raised went toward helping each other. What a beautiful, yet simple picture of church.

Simple Church is Practiced Around the World

I recently attended a discipleship training class taught by a foreign missionary. He told how, in the poor African country he serves in, he trains several local pastors who have started multiple new churches. What does it look like to start a new church in the poorest part of Africa? Years of networking and fundraising? Obtaining loans to build a building? Dumping piles of cash on an amazing church website?

He showed us a picture that told a thousand words. It was a newly trained pastor, sitting under a tree with a group of new converts, teaching the Bible. What a beautiful yet simple church.

The Redemption Movement enjoying a simple meal outside, 2013.

Simple Church is Beautiful to Postmoderns

Government bailouts. Greed. Exploiting workers. These are negative images a growing number of Americans associate with giant corporations. People who mistrust the slick/impersonal style of the corporate machine might have reservations about trusting well-funded churches that attempt to copy the professional attitudes of corporate America. A church built on “professionalism and excellence” and has a building resembling a mini-mall with every program imaginable (each with a cool hip logo), will only scare away people with trust issues who are seeking a simple and authentic encounter with God.

While I do believe the mega-church model has its benefits, not everyone is attracted to the mega-church way. A church with used furniture, meeting at an old storefront or a living room, using just the basic sound equipment, having candles instead of fancy stage lights, all while learning about Jesus from a pastor with ripped jeans and a T-shirt; everything about this church is designed to help a young postmodern man or woman feel comfortable enough to give the people sitting around them  trust enough to open up about their serious questions about faith.

What a beautiful yet simple church.