At the end of November 2018, Summit Chapel, a church located less than half a mile away from the Ziegfeld Theater where Redemption Church has met for the last 5 years, approached our leadership about joining together to form one congregation. Summit Chapel’s building, a converted elementary school, is directly adjacent to 40th Street Park (where much of our summer outreach takes place) and is situated within shouting distance from South Ogden City Hall, the South Ogden Police Department, and the South Ogden Fire Department. The building is also leased to Wasatch Christian Early Learning Center, a daycare and elementary grade school.
While the potential of acquiring a church facility seemed like a HUGE answered prayer, as our leadership began to pray and seek the Lord’s will, we realized that the opportunity for Kingdom Growth and doing more together as one congregation far exceeded the prospect of having our own building.
On December 30th, the two churches officially announced to their respective congregations that the possibility of a merger was on the table. We asked our people to pray. We asked our people to share concerns and fears about what a merger would look like. We hosted several gatherings where we invited everyone from both congregations to fellowship together, get to know one another, and ask questions.
On February 3rd, both churches voted in the affirmative that a merger was what the Lord was leading us to do. We are very excited about the days ahead, but also very anxious about what the future holds.
Our first combined worship gathering will take place THIS SUNDAY, MARCH 3RD at 585 39th Street in South Ogden, and we are so excited! We have baptisms scheduled for that day as we celebrate what God has done in the lives of these individuals. It will be a joyous occasion as we start this new journey together!
As we move forward as one faith family, we would love for us to pray together in three areas:
- That the Lord would bind our hearts together and we would very quickly feel a sense of unity.
- That our people would be intentional about getting to know each other, inviting one another to their homes for meals, coffee, and other forms of fellowship.
- That our people would encourage one another in the areas of outreach, evangelism, discipleship, and worship.
- That God would provide for the needs of our newly combined congregation.
- That people would find their place of ministry, and realize that if the merger is done correctly, we should be able to accomplish more together than we ever could have separately.
- Most of all, that God would receive all the honor, glory, and praise and that he would direct our path. In that, that we would have wisdom in decision making, grace and mercy in leadership, and charity in our disagreements.
If you’re in the area and don’t have a church home, please join us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 585 39th Street in South Ogden!
