History of Redeemer Ann Arbor
Redeemer Ann Arbor is a very young church! Here are a few milestones marking our journey up to this point.
August 2015 – Jim Mong resigned his position as a pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Ada, Michigan in order to move to Ann Arbor to plant Redeemer Ann Arbor. Bart resigned his role as an elder at Grace Baptist Church in Canton, Michigan to join Jim in this church planting work. Together, with our wives, we began meeting in our living room to pray and to study the Scriptures. Jim began a Bible study on the UM campus shortly after that. Step by step, God gathered a few of us together to form Redeemer Ann Arbor.
April 2016 – God was so kind to us! He provided a perfect place for us to meet and on April 10, 2016 we began evening worship services at the Lord of Light Lutheran Church on the edge of the UM campus. We had an average of 20-30 people in attendance at those services. That summer on Thursday mornings we began to host “Summer Mornings Together – Women with Women Around the Bible,” and God provided many opportunities to interact with women who had an interest in the gospel.
Suzanna Mathews moved to UM in the late summer to begin her Masters in Music in choral conducting and began serving as Worship Director for us. At the same time, God graciously brought several other very skillful musicians to form the core of our worship team.
March 2017 – God provided a building! We purchased 611 ½ East William Street, a small historic structure built in 1878 for DKE, a fraternity on campus. The building is located where campus meets downtown, an intersection marked by activity and foot traffic. Extensive renovations began.
July 2017 – We launched morning Worship services at the Michigan League. We also began Equip services at 5 pm at Angelo’s Restaurant near the medical campus.
October 2017 – Redeemer Ann Arbor formed as a church. Pastor Aaron Carr from First Presbyterian Church in Trenton, our primary sending church, preached for us. We began with 30 members.
March 2018 – Jim led a team of 8 on a trip to Ecuador. The team focused on working with La Iglesia Filadelfia, a church of similar size and age in Ambato, Ecuador. This trip began an ongoing relationship with Compassion Connection, a church planting effort in Ecuador. Jim has ministered at training endeavors in Ecuador, and we take missions trips to Ecuador during spring break each year.
September 2018 – We met for the first time in our new building, rejoicing in the opportunity God has given for a more permanent location as well as increased visibility and accessibility. Our campus ministry and our international student outreach expanded. We host a meal after the morning Worship service each week so we can meet visitors and spend time more personally with each other.
March 2020 – As COVID restrictions descended, we met online only. Then in June, we began to meet in tents outdoors for the summer. In the fall and winter, we met in person in the church worship space with video feeds both to our overflow space and to rented space in a restaurant next door.
May 2021 – We met outside in tents for the summer again and reinstituted our lunch after the morning service. God provided a new building for us a few blocks away at 529 Detroit Street; we purchased the building in July and began a long process of approvals from the city. This is a historical building as well, and it allows us to more than double our capacity.
September 2021 – We began meeting in university facilities and we continued to have lunches together in our building after the morning service.
December 2021 – Josh Welch visited and suggested the idea of beginning a Christian Study Center at the University of Michigan. After researching the concept, God directed us to Rick Ostrander at Westmont College in California who had received funding to do a feasibility study on launching a study center at Michigan. We began discussions and firmed up plans, opening the Michigan Christian Study Center in the fall of 2022. Rick assembled a steering committee which began planning, formed an independent non-profit corporation and assumed leadership of the endeavor in spring 2023. Redeemer launched, funded and led the study center for its first year of existence (2022-2023 academic year).
February 2022 – Scott Simpson and others opened discussions on The Faith and Work Initiative in Ann Arbor, which began in the fall of 2022 with monthly talks aimed at serving the Ann Arbor community.
May 2023 – Eric and Lauren Westog moved to Ann Arbor to take leadership of Redeemer’s campus ministry.