Community
of Christ the
Redeemer
is Celebrating
its 40th Anniversary
The
Community of Christ the Redeemer in
St. Paul Minnesota, USA is celebrating its
40th anniversary this autumn – although its
beginnings go back to a prayer group that
started in 1972. That earlier version was
called the Community of the Promise and it
was reconstituted as the Community of Christ
the Redeemer in 1978. The setting for the
community was a youth center – and that
setting provided not only a point of origin
for the community, but an orientation toward
mission: a mission of evangelization,
discipleship formation and community life,
particularly with youth and young adults.
From the very beginnings the community and
what has become the National Evangelization
Teams (NET ministries) have shared a common
origin, a common focus and a common sense of
call and mission. NET recruits and trains
over 178 young adults each year and sends
them out to parishes and schools throughout
the USA to do evangelistic work with
teenagers. NET also has teams in Canada,
Ireland, Australia and Scotland.
This sense of mission also exists among the
more “established” members of the community.
In the past few years we have had a number
of married couples move from St. Paul to
help work with new and emerging communities.
Brad and Betsy Schleeter with their six
children, Steve and Kara Litzau with their
three children moved to Kansas City to help
with the Heart of the Redeemer Community.
Sam and Patricia
Schoenfelder with their five children moved
to Kansas City for four years to help with
the work there. Brian Fischer moved to help
with the work of outreach and community
formation for three years in Columbus Ohio.
More recently Jon and Teresa Sergot and
their three children moved to Tallahassee,
Florida to help with the Fountain of Life
community. Joining them within the past few
months has been Robert and Maasa Fischer
with their six children. There are more
folks from the “established ranks” that are
considering going on
mission in this way.
Internally in the community in St. Paul
there are two areas of mission that are very
important to our life
together. One is the formation district for
post university students and young
adults. The name of the district
is Emmaus. There are over 100
young adults in the district and they
meet regularly for prayer, teaching
and fellowship. They all are in pastoral
groups that are led by members
of the community. There are over 40
community members participating in
this mission together. A second is the
young married program. This is a two
-year program for newly married
couples: some of whom are in the
community and some are looking
into the community. There are currently
18 couples in the program.
They meet monthly for teaching and
fellowship, and they are pastorally
cared for in small groups led by
members of the community. The
young married program helps couples
get basic teaching on marriage
and family life, form relationships
with other couples that are at the
same place in life, and helps introduce
them into the lived reality of
life in the Community of Christ the
Redeemer.
The community is in a significant
time of growth and development,
which is a great blessing. It also
brings a set of challenges. We are
seeking the Lord’s direction, wisdom
and grace. And most of all as we enter
into the celebrations of the 40th
anniversary, we are profoundly
grateful for the many, many ways
that the Lord has manifested his
faithful and enduring love.
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