2018 Marks 5 Years of The Redemption Movement and #OneontaRides

This upcoming Spring, The Redemption Movement will celebrate our 5-year anniversary of the public launch of our church, as well as the #OneontaRides ministry. The growth of these two ministries actually parallel each other in such a unique way that it’s impossible to tell the story of one without telling the story of the other. In fact, when I’m out giving rides on Friday nights and I’m asked, “How did this free ride service get started?” This is what I tell people:

When my wife Laura and I started the church in 2013, we were looking for a way that our new church could serve the community. In particular, we wanted to meet a need that wasn’t already being met, as well as have it be something that our small church with its limited resources could actually do. During this time, we took an assessment of the community’s needs and prayed about ways we could help.

We came up with a list of 30 different outreach activities we could do. Giving free rides home from the bar was one of them. We then organized the different activities into a community service campaign called “30 Days of Kindness.” 

For the campaign, a night of designated driving was scheduled for Saint Patrick’s Day, and the public launch of the church was to be held on Day #30, Good Friday, 2013.

Out of all 30 service projects performed, the night of designated driving was the biggest hit. Giving the public free rides home made the biggest impact as far making a difference and connecting with people. Therefore, a few months later we scheduled a second designated driving outing, and then a few more outings a month or so after that. It didn’t take long before we found ourselves downtown offering free rides every weekend, thus making it a full-blown service.

#OneontaRides continued to grow in some exciting ways, like the addition of multiple vehicles, and adding a Kindness Station in 2015. Today, it’s a ministry that’s credited with providing more than 6,000 safe rides home to the local community, and it’s super exciting to see new people volunteer and more community groups get involved.

It all makes for an exciting story that we’ve documented extensively with our Ride Reports blog articles.

All the while, The Redemption Movement continues to host weekly worship gatherings. It’s here where a community of servants gather and where the vision, co-mission, and passion for the free ride outreach comes from.

Five years in and #OneontaRides is such a big part of The Redemption Movement that it’s what our little church is known for. Subsequently, it’s grown into such a major activity that it literally takes more resources to operate than what our little church can come up with, requiring us to regularly seek out help and funding from outside of our congregation. But no worries, the impact of this exciting outreach continues to be worth the work, and we’ll continue to expand it in ways that the Lord allows for. 

As we think about the next five years of The Redemption Movement, the continuation of #OneontaRides is a given. That said, the vision for the future is for us to be a church that does much, much more than just take people home from the bars, especially when it comes to discipleship. What other ministries and services will come out of The Redemption Movement in the next 5 years? Why, that depends on the gifts and talents of the people that grace our doors!

If you’re looking to grow in the Lord and have your passion for helping people get plugged into a movement that’s changing lives and giving people hope, then volunteer with Kindness Team and check out the next Thursday evening gathering at 148 River Street. It’s never too late to get plugged into our “loving community, that loves the community.” 

New Weekly Rhythm Offers a Holistic Approach to Church

There’s now more variety to be had on Thursday evenings at The Redemption Movement. The 6pm meetings at RM’s River Street storefront will take place on a rotating schedule--one that provides a different kind of gathering each week. The schedule is as follows:

Worship Service: Communion

These gatherings will most closely resemble what one would expect from a traditional, church worship service. The congregation will sing worship songs led by a team of musicians, followed by a time of teaching and communion. 

Fellowship Meal: Community

These gatherings will be characterized by food and fellowship. A potluck-style meal will be provided, and time will be dedicated to sharing about each person’s lives--ranging from struggles to celebrations. The goal of these meals is to strengthen relationships, build community, and help people find the support and encouragement they need within the church.

Celebrating a birthday with friends at RM's storefront church.

Community Outreach: Co-Mission

Putting words into practice by showing the love of God to others in our city is a big part of what it means to be the church. On Outreach Thursdays, this will either be done by actually going out as a church to bless the community in a practical way. Or, we’ll combine our efforts to strengthen and build up RM’s existing outreach ministries, like the Kindness Station and the free ride service. 

Why Not Just Do the Same Thing Every Week?

The idea behind this new, rotating schedule is to provide a rhythm that gives worshippers a more holistic approach to weekly church gatherings, one that includes communion, community, and co-mission. Since moving our church’s weekly gathering to Thursdays, we’ve discovered that it’s difficult to accomplish all three of these purposes within a two-hour, once-a-week gathering.

It’s our hope that, by dedicating an entire evening to each of these three purposes, we’ll be a church that’s balanced when it comes to communion, community, and co-mission. We also hope that being intentional like this will produce a kind of spiritually-holistic growth in people that wouldn’t otherwise happen if we focused on just one or two aspects of church life (at the expense of neglecting another aspect).

Bonus: for all of these meetings, childcare will be provided.

To find out where the upcoming Thursday fits into this rotating schedule, you can email Pastor Kaler at rm.gigs@gmail.com, or call 607.434.2564, or check the church schedule on the front page of this blog.

Is There Hope for Upstate New York's Dying Communities?

The Carpenters celebrate adding +1 to Otsego County's population in 2014.

Otsego County's most recent population numbers are in. We've experienced a 1.76% population loss since the 2010 census (-1,094 people). This trend is consistent with population changes in the surrounding counties, and upstate NY in general.

• Read more from AllOtsego.com, "Otsego County Loses 1,094 People, 1.76% Since Census."
• Read more from The Daily Star, "Census shows local counties are dwindling."

When Laura and I moved to Oneonta in 2009 to start The Redemption Movement, Otsego County's population change since 2000 was +0.9%, with Oneonta down 0.4%. This statistic is one of a handful that drew us to Oneonta--a move which most modern church planting organizations would have advised against. 

• Read more from The Redemption Movement, "Why Oneonta, New York?"

You see, when it comes to starting a new church, denominations will almost exclusively invest resources into growing communities. Unfortunately, such a focus comes at the cost of overlooking the dying communities. As commonsense as this strategy appears, there's actually one huge aspect of ministry that it neglects: hope, or to be more specific, the lack thereof.

The perspective I bring to this conversation is of someone who grew up in a dying rural community. My experience has taught me that communities struggling with population loss also struggle with hopelessness. And since moving to upstate New York, I can confirm that this attitude of hopelessness is prevalent in the local population. 

• Read more from Prntly, "Study shows Upstate NY is the worst place in US to live."

In fact, I would say that I know WAY more people living here who are only still living here because they can't scrape together enough money to move out of state. Plus, in my almost 7 years here, I've had an unusually high number of New York friends move to states with better economies and job opportunities. By far, these disenfranchised NY citizens far outnumber the people I've encountered who love living here and are committed to making the best of it.

Also in my background is time spent living in cities which possessed a growing population and a growing economy. The dichotomy between these two environments is stark, with the growing communities generally being a more positive place to live. 

Suffice to say, the dynamics of how one would conduct a church ministry in a growing community verses in a dying one are equally drastic. For example, cities that have found economic success are filled with people without want. Sadly, this can turn "going to church" into a consumeristic endeavor where the church with the best (fill in the blank) is sought after by the devout. Whereas people living in a dying community don't much care for the trappings of the mega church model with its light shows, big screens, and programs. Instead, these people are first and foremost, looking for hope.

I know that, statistically speaking, it doesn't make sense to start a new church in upstate NY, much less Otsego County. Although, when it comes to understanding that the church has been given a mission to spread hope to people that are lost, hurting, and hungry for hope, that's when starting The Redemption Movement in such an unlikely place begins to actually make sense.

Now, I'm not advocating that starting a new church in a dying community is a silver bullet that will turn everything around. However, it's my belief that, if a church movement successfully spreads hope to the hopeless, then good things will begin to happen and positive changes will take place in the surrounding community. Consider the following benefits of how a church can positively influence a community lacking hope, by giving it something to hope for.

• When people have hope, drug abuse and addiction loses its grip on lives, and drug epidemics are curtailed (drugs being a well-known problem for Otsego County).
• When people have hope, they believe enough in their future to invest in it.
• When people have hope, they believe enough in their future to fix their past mistakes.
• When people have hope, they have a purpose and a desire to share their hope with others.
• When people have hope, they long to participate in a spiritual community with those who share their hope (instead of believing the church to be irrelevant). 
• When people have hope, instead of looking for the first opportunity to escape the problems in their community by moving away, they become intentional about sticking around and looking for ways to remedy them. 
• When people have hope, instead of looking for the first opportunity to escape a tough family situation by divorcing or leaving, they stick to their wedding vows and do the work it takes to repair a broken marriage.
• When people have hope, people have babies and they stick around to raise families. This in turn ensures that a community will have a future. 

At The Redemption Movement, Jesus is our hope and we're on a mission to proclaim this Good News to all who are lost, hurting, and in need of hope.  

Our Look and Mission Strategy

A new shiny logo for a new church. I unveil to the world the RM brand. It's simple, it's modern, it's sleek, and it is blue. I think it communicates well the church's mission strategy, this is different from our mission statement--the strategy explains how we live out who we are.
So how will we live then? The idea of movement has a certain flow to it, I would like to be intentional about everything the church does having a purpose to it that naturally flows from one life-giving activity into the next. Connect will flow into discovery, will flow into impact, but it does not stop there, the movement then repeats itself, momentum is gained, and the cycle gives new life.

Connecting People to God.

Moving people from wherever they might be on their spiritual journey, to a relationship with God.

Discovering Purpose in God.
Moving people into an adventure of discovery within a community of believers. Where God's purpose is discovered through participation in discipleship, worship, giving, evangelism and prayer.
Impacting the World for God.
Moving people from a self-centered lifestyle and into a new self-sacrificial life in order to impact a broken world with the Gospel.