Building
Although the work has lagged significantly behind schedule, we will have our first worship service in our new building this Sunday, September 2! We are excited about what God has given us, and we are anxious to use it as a base of operations to reach our community.
We are not having a single grand opening service because our worship area is so small, but we would love to have you come visit us at a worship service and see how God has richly blessed us.
Growth
We continue to see God graciously working in many different ways. We see visitors most Sundays; some stay and continue to attend. Summers can be slow times in Ann Arbor with much of the student population gone. However, we have seen an increase of the average attendance of 40 last summer to 50 this summer. With students starting to move in, we have already seen a big increase in attendance. We had 75 this past Sunday.
Outreach
Our Ladies’ Book Study continues to reach out to unbelievers as well as Christians, and we have had ongoing conversations and relationships with several women. We pray for growth and fruitfulness in this important outreach.
This fall some of our students and recent graduates are in the middle of more extensive welcome week activities to engage with new students arriving on campus. Over the past week we have given special focus to the many International students arriving on campus. We had a table in the Diag (the center of UM’s campus) and were able to engage with many students. At our welcome picnic this week, we had students from China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Our small group in Ann Arbor has morphed into the campus study. We continue with the small group north of town in Salem, and we are going to experiment with a new small group south of town this fall.
Our campus study has grown a good bit from last year. Jim has just finished leading the group through a study of the book of Romans. In this coming year, we will expand our campus ministry from our Bible study on Thursday nights to a campus worship night with singing and teaching as well as small groups of students who will meet throughout the week. These small groups will seek to create an enviroment where non-Christians can ask questions on a more personal level. Daniel Miller, one of our members with some experience in campus ministry at UM, will be leading this effort.
Ecuador
We are partnering with La Iglesia Filadelfia in Ambato, Ecuador. After sending a team from Redeemer Ann Arbor over spring break to Ecuador to begin building relationships and to help with various projects, we are now praying for each other and planning to host a joint quarterly prayer meeting via teleconference. Steve Youngren from Ecuador will be preaching for us at the end of September, and Jim is planning to participate in a training session for pastors in Ecuador later this year. Also, work has begun on our next team mission trip to Ecuador during UM’s Spring Break in March of 2019.
Overall, we are very encouraged by God’s work here in Ann Arbor. Please pray for us. Pray that the “Word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored (2 Thessalonians 3:5).” May Jesus Christ be praised!