Faith & Work
in a Collegiate
Redeemer

By: Katherine Leary Alsdorf

Redeemer’s Center for Faith & Work (CFW) trains and equips Redeemer to be people of gospel influence in public life and vocation. We want to see the work of educators, business people, scientists, economists, artists, health care professionals, government workers, etc. illuminated by insights derived from rigorous theological thinking as well as practices of spiritual formation. After nine years, CFW is thriving with 150+ leaders, who serve in 25 ministry programs, which serve more than 1500 Redeemerites a year. Our monthly newsletters go out to 7100 subscribers.

But many of you have been asking, “How will these faith & work ministries fit in the context of three collegiate Redeemers?” Beginning this year, Redeemer Presbyterian Church will re-forge itself into three collegiate congregations. The people who worship at the two east side services will be the Redeemer East Side, the people worshipping as part of the three west side services will form into Redeemer West Side, and beginning this fall a large core group of people who live or affiliate downtown will form a new Redeemer Downtown. Each of these congregations, under the leadership of its own Lead Pastor will 1) grow in fellowship that reflects a deep understanding of the gospel in all of life, and 2) serve the city in ways that engage people with the truth of the gospel, serve the poor and marginalized, and engage with culture in our work places, industries, and institutions. Some of the ministries of Redeemer, especially those related to Sunday services, will de-centralize and grow with the distinct needs of each congregation. Others, like CFW, HFNY, Counseling and Youth Ministry will remain centralized to support all three Redeemers.

The collegiate model has many benefits, from enabling more geographicallybased fellowship to retaining the unique ministries that only a larger church can support. CFW, one of the fastest growing ministries at Redeemer, offers training and equipping through programs, like the Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Arts Ministry, that only improve with size. The larger the gospelcentered arts and entrepreneurs communities, the better understanding we gain of God at work. Our 17 Vocation Groups also seem to flourish as they grow. Furthermore, we’re still very much a laboratory that is forging new ground in how to think theologically about: Redeemer’s Center for Faith & Work (CFW) is the cultural renewal arm of the Redeemer movement, founded to equip, connect, and mobilize our church community in their professional and industry spheres toward gospelcentered transformation for the common good. Through our work, we respond to God’s mandate to continue in his creation. Through our work we serve God as we serve those he places in our lives. Our work provides a crucible where we more fully recognize our own limitations while at the same time experiencing God’s majesty and grace.which cultural practices, whether done by Christians or not, reflect God’s common grace and can be embraced, which practices are antithetical to the gospel and should be rejected, and which practices can be adapted, revised, or redeemed?

The challenge, then, is of leading a collegiate church that has both (1) distinct congregations “in mission” and (2) centralized communities “in mission.” This is not your traditional, hierarchical structure where all ministries flow down from one leader. By definition, a collegiate church is a collaborative, matrixed organization. The Lead Pastors will work closely with each other and the leaders of the centralized ministries to ensure a vital scope of ministry that serves not only ourselves and our neighborhoods, but is missional in the ways we serve the entire city and the broader culture around us. Some in our congregation maintain their deepest relationships in the context of their neighborhoods, some in their workplace and industry, and some through the civic institutions and places of culture in the city. Many churches in the world are neighborhood-based, but Redeemer has been unique–because of its NYC location and because of its aim to better understand Christian engagement in culture–in its influence on vocations, companies, and the public square.

Practically, our three collegiate congregations need to embody a missional vision for a gospel-transformed culture and our gospel-transformed work lives. To that end, our CFW leaders (Vocation Group leaders, Entrepreneurship leaders, Arts leaders, and Gotham alumni) have mobilized many of their people to serve in Catalyst this fall — to help the new congregations “launch” with a fully embodied faith and work theology and engagement. We have postponed most of our Vocation Groups until January to participate in Catalyst. Also, we scheduled our first major conference, the Gospel & Culture conference, for November 4th and 5th to coincide with the Catalyst teaching on gospel-centered work. (So even as we meet as congregations for Catalyst, Redeemer will come together as one collegiate church for this conference.)

The Gotham Fellowship will continue to be Redeemer’s most intensive training program for lay ministry in public life. This fall we increased our participation from 24 to 36 fellows, in response to the high number of applicants and the congregations’ need for this level of theological training and spiritual formation. Rev. John Lin, Lead Pastor of the new Downtown congregation, was a Gotham Fellow last year. The year of intense interaction with practitioners in all vocations has shaped his vision for a downtown congregation mobilized to influence the public spheres operating from places like Wall Street to the Fashion District.

Nonetheless, the move to three congregations will change CFW. Right now we have 18-20 groups meeting each month on different nights and at different venues. Starting in January all groups will move their monthly meetings to Monday nights, typically the third Monday of the month. This is possible because of the space available in our new W83 building – enough for each vocation group to meet separately in their own space, but also to come together for common teaching. We hope that this will grow our monthly participation to include 15% of our collective congregation – or 800 people!