MISSION, MERCY, AND STEWARDSHIP

The Church has been entrusted with a message that no government agency, civic organization, or charitable program can proclaim in her place. Jesus Christ has died for sinners and risen from the dead. In His name, repentance and the forgiveness of sins are to be proclaimed to all nations. Christ sends His Church to make disciples by baptizing and teaching. He gathers people around His Word and Sacraments, where He delivers the salvation He accomplished upon the cross.

Christian mission therefore requires the proclamation of the Gospel. Acts of kindness alone cannot tell someone that Jesus carried his sins, defeated death, and rose from the grave. The Gospel must be spoken. The congregation must continue preaching, teaching, baptizing, catechizing, inviting, and confessing the Christian faith with clarity and joy.

At the same time, Christian mission produces acts of mercy. The Lord who forgives the soul also teaches His people to care for the body. He calls Christians to feed the hungry, defend the vulnerable, visit the lonely, support families, comfort those who mourn, and assist people whose lives have been disrupted by hardship or tragedy.

Redeemer therefore seeks to confess Christ in both word and deed. We proclaim the Savior whom the world cannot know apart from the Gospel, and we care for the neighbors whom God has placed around us.

Acts of service do not replace the proclamation of the Gospel. Neither should Christian service be used as a hidden marketing strategy. We do not assist someone on the condition that the person attend Redeemer. We do not use a family’s hardship as an opportunity to manipulate, pressure, or advertise ourselves.

Our neighbors are not projects, statistics, or opportunities to improve the congregation’s reputation. They are people created by God, people for whom Jesus died, and people whom God has given us to love.

When an appropriate opportunity arises, we gladly speak about Christ. We offer prayer, pastoral care, and an invitation to hear God’s Word. At the same time, the practical assistance we provide should be genuine assistance offered with dignity, patience, and respect.

The Church serves in word and deed because Christ cares for the whole person. The Gospel remains the unique treasure entrusted to the Church, while works of mercy flow naturally from the faith that receives that Gospel.

Redeemer Lutheran Church has been part of Fairhope and the Eastern Shore for generations. God has placed our congregation within a particular neighborhood, city, and community. We want to be more than a building that people pass on South Section Street. We want Redeemer to be a place from which the Gospel is proclaimed, children and adults are taught the Christian faith, families are strengthened, the suffering are comforted, and neighbors receive practical care.

This service begins within the congregation, but it does not end there. Scripture teaches Christians to do good to everyone, especially to those who belong to the household of faith. We therefore care for members who are sick, grieving, homebound, overwhelmed, or facing an unexpected hardship. We also look beyond ourselves to the needs of the larger community.

Christ has placed us in Fairhope for the good of Fairhope. He has placed us on the Eastern Shore so that we may faithfully confess Him and serve the neighbors who live here.

Christians confess that every human life is created by God and possesses dignity from conception until natural death. Supporting life therefore involves more than speaking about the value of children. It also means standing beside mothers, fathers, grandparents, foster parents, and other caregivers as they welcome and care for children.

Young families often carry significant burdens. A pregnancy may arrive during a time of financial uncertainty. Parents may struggle to provide clothing, diapers, food, and other necessities. A mother may feel isolated or frightened. Grandparents or relatives may suddenly find themselves caring for a young child. Some families simply need the reassurance that they are not alone.

As Lutherans, we want our confession concerning life and family to take visible form in mercy. We honor children by helping care for them. We support parents by listening without humiliation or judgment. We strengthen families by providing practical assistance, friendship, prayer, and the forgiving Word of Christ.

This care does not end after a child is born. Christian concern for life includes walking beside children and families through the ordinary challenges, needs, and joys of family life.

Swaddling Clothes is one of the clearest expressions of Redeemer’s care for children and families in our community. Through this ministry, families with babies and young children may receive clothing and other needed items in a welcoming and respectful setting. Expectant mothers, parents, grandparents, foster parents, and other caregivers may come without embarrassment and ask for help.

This ministry is about more than distributing material goods. It offers friendship, encouragement, and the assurance that children and their caregivers are precious to God.

The name “Swaddling Clothes” directs our attention to Jesus Himself. The eternal Son of God entered our world as an infant. He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. In Christ, God entered the vulnerability of human life and came to redeem people of every age.

We therefore receive families with compassion. We do not measure their worth by their financial circumstances, family history, or ability to repay us. We serve because Christ has first served us.

Families may face needs that extend beyond clothing and infant supplies. The loss of employment, an illness, a family emergency, or the rising cost of housing may leave parents and children without stable housing.

Through our support of Family Promise of Baldwin County, Redeemer joins other members of the community in caring for families experiencing homelessness or housing instability. No single congregation can meet every need. Working with trustworthy community partners allows us to serve wisely, connect families with appropriate resources, and participate in a broader network of care.

Our goal is not to make promises we cannot keep. Our goal is to listen carefully, respond faithfully where we are able, and connect people with organizations equipped to provide the assistance they need.

Living along the Gulf Coast means living with the possibility of hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, severe storms, and other emergencies. Disasters interrupt ordinary life without warning. Homes may be damaged, trees may fall, power may be lost, families may be displaced, and familiar neighborhoods may suddenly look unrecognizable. People may lose possessions, employment, security, or loved ones.

In these moments, the Church has an important vocation. The Church does not replace emergency management, law enforcement, fire departments, medical personnel, insurance companies, or professional contractors. We are a community gathered by Christ that can bring trained volunteers, practical assistance, pastoral care, prayer, and the hope of the Gospel into places of suffering.

Lutheran disaster response seeks to provide both physical assistance and spiritual care. Depending upon the circumstances and available resources, volunteers may clear debris, remove downed trees when properly trained, distribute supplies, prepare meals, check on vulnerable residents, house response teams, or connect survivors with needed resources. Pastors listen, pray, visit, and bring the promises of Christ to people whose lives have been shaken.

We cannot answer every question about why a particular tragedy occurred. We can point people to what God has revealed in Jesus Christ. The crucified Lord entered human suffering, bore our sin and death, and rose again. Even when circumstances remain painful and confusing, His promise remains certain.

Disaster response is not foreign to Redeemer. Following Hurricane Sally in 2020, Redeemer served as a base for Lutheran Early Response Team volunteers who came to assist families throughout the affected area. Volunteers helped remove fallen trees and debris, supported residents, and worked through the local congregation so that physical assistance remained connected with continuing pastoral and congregational care.

That experience demonstrated what a local congregation can provide during a crisis. A church building can become a place of coordination. A fellowship hall can become a place where volunteers are fed. Church property can provide a base from which teams are deployed. Members can check on one another and identify neighbors who might otherwise be overlooked. Pastors can bring prayer, presence, and the promises of Christ into moments of fear and loss.

Redeemer wants to remain prepared to serve when future disasters affect Fairhope, Baldwin County, or neighboring communities. Preparedness allows the congregation to respond more safely, quickly, and effectively when its neighbors need help.

Lutheran Early Response Team volunteers are trained to serve safely and responsibly following disasters. Training matters because good intentions alone are not sufficient when volunteers may encounter unstable trees, damaged buildings, electrical hazards, traumatized survivors, or active emergency operations.

Lutheran disaster response works through appropriate leadership, local congregations, districts, and community authorities. Volunteers do not simply arrive and begin acting independently. They respond where they have been requested, work within their training, respect local leadership, and remember that the people they serve may be experiencing one of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Some volunteers serve with chainsaws, equipment, or construction skills. Others prepare food, organize supplies, answer telephones, complete paperwork, provide transportation, house volunteers, pray, or offer a listening ear. Every role matters because an effective response requires many different abilities.

This is service beneath the cross. Disaster response is not an adventure, an opportunity for recognition, or a chance to prove our usefulness. It is the quiet and sometimes exhausting work of entering another person’s hardship and helping carry a burden that has become too heavy to carry alone.

Not every crisis is a regional disaster. Sometimes a member recovering from surgery needs a meal. An elderly neighbor may need assistance after a storm. A grieving person may need someone to sit quietly and listen. A homebound member may need a visit, transportation, or help with an ordinary task. A family may need assistance identifying an appropriate community resource.

Redeemer’s helping hands begin with paying attention. Depending upon the need, available volunteers, and the skills required, practical care may include providing meals during illness or grief, visiting the homebound, offering transportation, assisting with simple household or yard needs, preparing for a storm, helping with cleanup, or connecting someone with professional assistance.

We will not always possess the resources or expertise to meet every request. Certain situations require licensed professionals, emergency personnel, government agencies, or specialized social-service organizations. Even when Redeemer cannot provide the requested assistance directly, we can listen, pray, and help identify an appropriate next step.

Mercy begins by seeing the person whom God has placed before us.

Christ alone is the Savior of the world. Our good works do not add anything to His completed redemption. Nevertheless, Christ chooses to care for people through His people.

As members of His body, Christians become instruments through which God provides for the needs of others. Our neighbors may receive food through our hands, encouragement through our voices, companionship through our presence, and practical help through the abilities God has entrusted to us.

When we speak about Christians as the hands and feet of Christ, we do not mean that we are replacing Jesus or completing something that He failed to accomplish. We mean that we have received His mercy and have been sent to serve in His name.

Christ’s hands were extended upon the cross for our salvation. Our hands are now freed to serve the neighbor. Christ walked the road to Calvary for us. Our feet are now freed to move toward people in need rather than away from them.

Stewardship is often reduced to money, budgets, or annual giving campaigns. Christian stewardship is much larger. Everything we possess is a gift from God. Our time, abilities, occupations, relationships, property, income, experience, and opportunities have been entrusted to us for faithful use.

Stewardship begins with receiving. God gives us creation, daily bread, family, community, and every ordinary blessing of life. More importantly, He gives His Son for our salvation. He gives forgiveness, faith, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the promise of the resurrection.

We do not give to God in order to make Him generous toward us. He has already been infinitely generous in Christ. Christian giving is therefore not a payment for spiritual services, a method of earning divine favor, or a way of purchasing influence within the congregation. It is a response of faith to the God who has first given everything to us.

Members of the congregation possess many different abilities. Some can teach, organize, cook, repair, build, listen, lead, visit, encourage, sew, clean, drive, manage equipment, or care for children. Others have experience in emergency response, medicine, education, finance, construction, administration, or technology.

Not every Christian will serve in the same way, and not every season of life permits the same level of activity. A person caring for a newborn, recovering from illness, grieving a loss, or carrying substantial family responsibilities should not be made to feel guilty for being unable to join every project.

Service is not measured by visibility. A meal quietly delivered, a child patiently taught, a lonely person visited, or a prayer spoken at home may never appear in a report. God nevertheless uses these ordinary acts of love for the good of the neighbor.

Financial offerings support the congregation’s proclamation of the Gospel, administration of the Sacraments, Christian education, pastoral care, maintenance of the property, and works of mercy. They also allow Redeemer to respond when unexpected needs arise.

A congregation prepared for mercy can purchase necessary supplies, support trusted ministries, assist families, train volunteers, maintain response equipment, and act quickly during emergencies. Redeemer also uses part of its financial stewardship to support community partners, including Ecumenical Ministries of Baldwin County, whose trained staff can provide assessment, case management, emergency assistance, and referrals for people facing difficult circumstances.

Christians give voluntarily and cheerfully according to the blessings God has provided. The Church should teach generosity without manipulating consciences or promising earthly prosperity in exchange for donations. God does not love a person more because that person gives a larger gift. Our confidence before God rests entirely in Jesus Christ.

Giving is an act of trust and gratitude. Through the combined offerings of many Christians, work can be accomplished that few individuals could accomplish alone.

Service often begins with a simple question: “Who has God placed before me, and what does this person need?”

Some people will serve regularly through an organized ministry. Others will respond to a particular need. Some will receive disaster-response training. Some will donate clothing or supplies. Some will prepare food, provide transportation, assist with communication, visit the lonely, or make a financial contribution. Others will notice a neighbor whose need has not yet reached the church office.

Members and community volunteers may contact Redeemer to learn about current opportunities.

Members of Redeemer and people from the larger community may contact the church office when facing a need. A person does not need to prove that he or she deserves compassion or explain every private detail in an email, text message, voicemail, or online form. It is enough to provide a name, a safe means of contact, and a brief description of the assistance being requested.

Redeemer will listen and determine whether the congregation, one of its ministries, or a trusted community partner may be able to help. The congregation cannot promise to meet every financial, housing, medical, legal, transportation, or property need. Assistance depends upon available resources, volunteers, safety considerations, and the nature of the request.

Redeemer financially supports and partners with Ecumenical Ministries of Baldwin County, an independent social-service organization that has served the greater Fairhope and Baldwin County community for many years. Ecumenical Ministries has trained social-service staff and caseworkers who can assess a person’s circumstances, provide case management, connect individuals and families with appropriate resources, and consider requests for available assistance.

Depending upon eligibility and available resources, Ecumenical Ministries may be able to assist with food, utilities, rent, medical expenses, transportation, prescription needs, necessary home repairs, and other urgent concerns. This partnership allows Redeemer to help support professional and coordinated assistance rather than attempting to duplicate services for which the congregation is not equipped.

The Eastern Shore office of Ecumenical Ministries is located at 564 Fairhope Avenue in Fairhope and may be reached at 251-928-3430.

Immediate emergencies should always be directed to 911 or the appropriate emergency service. Whether or not Redeemer can provide a particular form of material assistance, our pastor is available to listen, pray, and bring the comfort of God’s Word.

We want Redeemer to make a meaningful difference in Fairhope and throughout the Eastern Shore. Christian mercy, however, is not finally measured by publicity, recognition, photographs, or statistics. The theology of the cross teaches us to value quiet faithfulness.

Much of the most important work will remain unseen. A volunteer may never know how deeply a visit encouraged someone. A donated box of children’s clothing may relieve a burden that a family was afraid to describe. A few hours spent clearing storm debris may remind a discouraged homeowner that he has not been forgotten. A financial gift to a community partner may help a trained caseworker guide a struggling family toward stability.

We rejoice when service creates opportunities to speak about Jesus. We also recognize that the Holy Spirit works through the Word according to His wisdom and timing. Our responsibility is to confess Christ faithfully, administer His gifts, and love the neighbors He has placed before us.

God gives the growth.

If you need help, you are not a burden. If you want to serve, your abilities do not need to be impressive. If you are grieving, frightened, overwhelmed, or trying to rebuild after a tragedy, you do not have to carry everything alone.

Redeemer Lutheran Church is a congregation of sinners who live entirely by the mercy of Jesus Christ. We will not always have the resources to solve every problem, but we will listen, pray, serve where we are able, and help connect people with appropriate community resources.

Jesus Christ entered our suffering. He carried our sin, died our death, and rose from the grave. Because His mercy has been given freely to us, we are free to share mercy with others.

Receive Christ’s gifts. Confess His truth. Teach the faith. Serve the neighbor.

Christ crucified and risen, for you.