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History of Redeemer PCA
Lakeland, Florida
In January 2005, a group of people at Trinity Presbyterian Church
expressed a desire to plant a church on the south side. A group
of 35 was formed under the stewardship of a Trinity elder, and the
group began meeting on Sunday evenings at various locations.
In 2006 the group began attending regular Sunday evening services
in facilities donated by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. When
St. Stephen’s built a new and larger sanctuary, Redeemer began
a full Sunday morning church service, including Christian education.
Worship was led by a wonderful group of pastors who rotated duties
in the pulpit.
The goal of Redeemer Presbyterian Church of Lakeland is to be a
church that presents the Gospel in a relevant way to the families
that the Lord brings to Redeemer. We worship the Triune God in Spirit
and in truth, which compels us to love one another and witness to
all men, women, and children.
Our strengths are:
- fellowship
- mercy
- teaching ministry
We are a group that obviously enjoys our time together. We laugh
a lot. We have been blessed with sustained growth.
Ministering to others in need is an important part of what we are:
- We sponsored four workdays at a local orphanage with approximately
fifteen people helping to build a small storage shed.
- On another Saturday fourteen men went to Winter Haven to help
Bill Rodan's Hispanic PCA church with a carpentry project.
- A young family in the congregation moved into a new home and thirty
people showed up to help "pound" the pantry.
- Another couple was behind in yard and house work due to illness
and more than twenty people came on a Saturday to clean the house and
take care of the yard.
- We host the congregation of St. Stevens for a cookout in April
each year at the Sun 'n Fun air show.
- Each November we hold our annual fishing tournament for children.
This past year we had twenty-three children register for the tournament.
Each child left with a framed certificate that included their picture,
and everyone had an enjoyable time.
In 2008 we called David Martin to be our pastor and moved our meeting
place to R.Bruce Wagner Elementary School to accommodate both present
and anticipated growth. The school site is located in the center
of our target area. Children have their own classes and they often
bring friends. Recently a ten year old led her friend to Christ
during their class time.
We believe that God would have each Christian live as salt and
light in society (Matt. 5: 13-16). We are called to live consciously
for Christ in our homes and work places (Eph. 5:21-6:9) and in our
culture as Christian citizens (Rom. 13:1ff.).
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