Blog Archives - REDEEMER LUTHERAN CHURCH | 612-886-1468

REDEEMER LUTHERAN CHURCH | 612-886-1468

December 12th, 2017

12/12/2017

Last night, the Redeemer and Westwood young adults gathered in the Living Room for chili and Christmas desserts followed by some games and a brief worship service with music lead by Paul Koopman. It was a great time to come together with other congregation members and share in some delicious food and company. Redeemer hopes to continue to have more young adult nights like this one, so stay tuned for those dates!

Annual Christmas Store

12/12/2017

The Redeemer Christmas Store has become such a staple in the community that we hardly have to advertise it. In fact, it's been around longer that Pastor Kelly (who has been here 17 years!) Everyone just seems to know the second Saturday in December is a day of truly beautiful generosity. This year's Christmas Store featured 163 individual child shoppers (ages 5-12), over 85 volunteers, and more than 1,000 presents! Beyond some particularly abundant donations from our partner congregations, this year's event featured a special bonus for the parents and guardians – free massages and refreshments at Health Commons in the Living Room! Numerous adults took part in this treat while their children shopped.
Each child was able to "buy" presents for for different family members or friends. Present only cost a quarter, though in reality they were worth much more than that. A volunteer "elf" took the child shopping through the store which was laid out amongst the top floor of the church. They then took the child to the wrapping station where volunteers helped them wrap and label each present. Afterwards, the child got to bundle all their presents up into a bag, and enjoy cookie decorating and a hotdog lunch with their families. All in all, it's amazing to watch the hundreds of people come together to give so much to this event. It's a wonder that the church doesn't literally burst open with generosity! At a time when folks can feel pressured materially and socially by the season, what a beautiful way to honor true Christmas spirit.

Redeemer Chosen for ArtPlace Grant

12/5/2017

Exciting news! RedeemerCenter for Life has been selected from nearly one thousand applicants to receive funding through ArtPlace America’s 2017 National Creative PlacemakingFund – one of only 23 projects that will receive funding this year. A highly-competitive nationwide program, ArtPlace’s National Creative Placemaking Fund invests money in community development projects where artists, arts organizations and arts and culture activity work to strengthen communities across 10 sectors of community planning and development. “This year’s investments highlight critical dimensions of creative placemaking strategy that can provide great inspiration to communities across the country.” said F. Javier Torres, Director of National Grantmaking at ArtPlace. “We are deeply excited to announce these 23 new investments as our seventh cohort of funded projects through the National Creative Placemaking Fund.” Redeemer Center for Life, founded by Redeemer Lutheran Church in 1999, will leverage its ArtPlace award to set up a housing security pipeline to support Harrison neighborhood residents interested in transitioning to home ownership or a more secure lease in North Minneapolis. In collaboration with local artist organizers and neighbors, Redeemer will deploy theatre arts interventions to erode neighborhood stratification and establish new relationships. We look forward to partnering with the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, City of Lakes Community Land Trust, Harrison Neighborhood Association, Urban Homeworks and artist organizer Denetrick Powers, and hope this work over the next 2.5 years will translate into – 1. Retention of long-term Northside residents. Interested Northside residents will transition to a lease for a next stage of life (e.g., a 2-bedroom instead of a studio) or homeownership to maintain their tenures in North Minneapolis – possibly through a City of Lakes Community Land Trust program to maintain perpetual affordability.
2. Recycled affordable rental opportunities. Tenants exiting Redeemer housing to secure a next lease or homeownership will leave vacancies on Redeemer’s campus for renters seeking highly-affordable and -accessible leases.
3. Resilient social networks. Cohorts – 2 over 2 years – will illuminate neighborhood histories & resident stories, introduce neighbors to each other via serial, non-superficial encounters, inspire investment in Harrison’s social fabric & invite residents to imagine living in a neighborhood known nationally as a model for other communities aspiring to both diversity & cohesion. -Check out a 3-minute video introducing Redeemer Center for Life’s ArtPlace project. -Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.