Every church exists to expand the kingdom of God. Redeemer is no exception. The question is how best does Redeemer Lutheran Church expand the kingdom of God? Which is better: to concentrate only on a bigger Redeemer in Fridley or grow more Redeemers across the region? The leadership of this church believes that Redeemer is a healthy congregation ready to expand the kingdom of God by going out from Fridley to meet the people where they are and plant the first of what we hope will be many new churches in the coming years. Redeemer itself is a church plant. We were planted by Emanuel Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis back in 1916!

Planting new churches along missionary journeys was the way the apostles extended the Gospel in the New Testament. Along the way, God continually endorsed this movement of church growth, never stopping it. We believe the Holy Spirit has clearly spoken to our leadership to actively participate in this great heritage of church planting.

Where will the church plant be?

We have much to learn about how to church plant. Because of this learning curve, we believe that for our first church plant we are better equipped to plant a suburban (vs. urban) church since we have experience leading a suburban church. Specifically, this church plant will be located in an area north of us.

Who will lead the church plant?

For a pastor, it is a unique ministry calling to plant a new church. We will begin searching for such a pastor following the completion of our campaign, with a goal of having a pastor identified by Spring of 2007.

What kind of church will it be?

There are many diverse models for planting churches. Part of our learning curve is to learn about these models and discern the best approach for Redeemer. We will be talking with other churches who have planted churches. We also want to allow the approach to be formed based upon the giftings and calling of the church planting pastor.