Redeemer Celebrates 50 years of Word and Sacrament Ministry
Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lawrence, Kansas has just enjoyed a truly wonderful anniversary celebration, and it was the kind of weekend that leaves a congregation quietly grateful, not only for what has been, but for what the Lord continues to give.
The gathering was warm, reverent, and genuinely joyful. Friends and members had time simply to be together, to greet one another, to share stories, and to welcome guests. The open house provided an easy and friendly way for people to step inside, see the church up close, and reconnect. The hymn sing and recital did what good church music always does, it carried the faith on the lips of the people, and it placed thanksgiving into a form you can actually sing. The theme, God’s Word, our heritage, foundation, and light, was not a slogan for the weekend, it was a confession. The next day continued with Bible study and Sunday school, then the Divine Service, then a banquet meal shared in gladness.
Anniversaries are not only about looking back. They are about recognizing the Lord’s steady faithfulness through ordinary means, preaching, baptismal mercy, absolution, and the Supper of Christ’s body and blood. Redeemer’s own history makes this especially clear. In February 1976, thirty nine people gathered for the first worship service at the Carol Lee Products plant, a beginning so memorable that some affectionately called it the donut church. Not long after, the congregation was received into the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (LCMS) in July 1977. Later that year a site at 27th and Lawrence Avenue was selected and approved. And on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1995, Redeemer held its first service in the completed sanctuary, an unmistakably fitting day to enter a new home for worship.
What stands out over these decades is a consistent theological center. Redeemer confesses Holy Scripture as the Word of God and the only norm for doctrine and life. Redeemer confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Redeemer confesses Jesus Christ as true God and true man, crucified and risen for our reconciliation with the Father. In other words, this is a congregation built, not on novelty, but on the Gospel, and that is why a fiftieth anniversary is never merely a milestone. It is a doxology.
May the Lord who has sustained Redeemer these fifty years continue to gather His people, forgive their sins, strengthen their faith, and keep them in Christ, for the life of the world to come.
