STORIES

Everyone has a redemption story

At Redemption we believe everyone connected to our community brings something incredibly valuable to the church: their story. Whether it’s their first contact with us or they’ve been here from the start, each and every person has a redemption story in their past, present or future. Here are a few:

 

JOSH

  • I had faith when I was younger but I struggled with parts of Christianity and drifted away. By the time I had stopped going to church there was a lot that I didn’t like. The bible felt outdated and backwards to me. 

    I heard about a new church opening in London Bridge and gradually started to explore faith again. I became friends with someone there and started talking to them about my addictions, my emptiness and my objections to Christianity. 

    I read a book called Confronting Christianity and realised I’d made so many assumptions about Jesus and what he taught. I’d skimmed the surface of the bible then come to hasty conclusions. I went back to church, reading books, studying the bible and praying. I began to reconnect with God again and he slowly transformed me. 

    Even after going back to church regularly I had doubts and questions. I think that’s normal. I felt the messy, complicated stuff in my past meant I wasn’t good enough, and wasn’t as good as other people around. I was struggling to know that my past had been forgiven. But I found a church community that surprised me - different people and personalities - everyone committed to encouraging and loving each other. I was used to people outside of church pulling people around them down to get ahead. Church was so different. 

    I had struggled with addiction, loneliness, and depressive thoughts for so long. Today that emptiness has been replaced with the joy of knowing I have a Father in heaven who loves me. I still have questions. I still have struggles. I think it’s normal to still have doubts and topics that you’re thinking through when you’re in a church. But I also have a purpose: to become more like God and share his love. I’m learning to understand his grace and how he’s got my back.

SHARON

  • I’d allowed my academic achievements to have a real hold on me to the point where a piece of paper or grade would directly correlate to my happiness and sense of satisfaction. However hard I tried, I could never live up to the standards I had set myself. I felt inadequate.

    During my move to London for uni I also felt consumed with choices and responsibilities which I wasn’t ready for. I had made some bad decisions. I threw myself into trying to find satisfaction through validation of friends, through relationships and education, anything that would give me a sense of worth. 

    I arrived at a church one day and heard a message about what fulfilment really is. I was feeling exhausted with the “perfect” image of life that I had set for myself. I was there in church, feeling nowhere near as happy as I thought I would be at this point in my life, without real peace. I didn’t know what a true relationship with God actually meant. That day I decided to make a fresh commitment to fully rely upon God. I put my faith firmly at the centre of my life and choices. 

    That changed my life completely. I no longer had to suffocate under the pressures that I had put on myself. My worth was no longer tied to performance or external validation, but to the truth that I am a child of God. He’s chosen and accepted me. Nothing can take that away. That understanding led to a deep peace and fulfilment which I couldn’t find on my own. 

    I now live and work in London, and life is far from simple. Navigating its mess and complexity isn’t easy. But I now feel I have a deeper foundation and sense of identity. A worth that comes only from God.

Rich

  • When my son was born he wasn’t moving or breathing. There were doctors in the room waiting for him, ready to start with resuscitation. He was swiftly taken away and my wife and I were told we would be updated soon. We got word that he had started breathing but that he wasn’t moving at all. Then further news that he’d been put into a deep sleep inside a cooling suit. The cooling was to prevent his brain injuries from becoming any more severe and reduce the negative impact of his sudden seizures.

    We started to pray. Our friends and family started to do the same. People close to us prayed for days and days. Some on their own, others together in hurriedly organised prayer times at their churches. We felt spiritually held up and comforted by the weight of prayers around us and for our son, a really powerful feeling of being surrounded by peace in the middle of being distraught.

    We were told he was very likely to have life altering neurological issues, probably severe based on the length of time his brain had been cut off from any supply of oxygen during the birth. We held him in Intensive Care, and cried and prayed. We whispered in his ear that we loved him, and cried and prayed some more.

    A year later our son’s neurologist said to us that there was something entirely miraculous about the full recovery that he made. We talked with the neurology consultant about prayer and about God, and we all marvelled at the 180 degree transformation that had taken place before our eyes. Whilst scans shortly after his birth evidenced neurological damage, those taken at later dates in that first year showed absolutely no irregularities, and his overall development was, if anything, faster than average. 

    We’ve never forgotten how God answered those prayers. Nor have we forgotten how dark valleys can feel completely different when a community starts to pray all around you.

JOSH

  • I want to know how someone can relate to God in a way that’s true to life: that isn’t a performance but isn’t closed off either. 

    As I’ve explored my doubts about church and emotion I’ve been brought on a journey I didn’t expect. It’s been powerful. 

    Asking robust questions has helped me to see I’m living in God's world and he created me with a combination of intellect and emotion. It makes sense for both to be integral to how I relate to God. 

    God has been changing me as time has gone on. When I’m aware people are excited about God around me and I’m not, I’ve come to see that as an opportunity to examine my motives toward God and my motives towards other people. I have found that when I’m honest with God about my life, and repent of my judgement of others, I feel more excited for the truths we’re singing, and grateful. 

    In recent years I’ve even faced more emotional times. Often songs in church have made me aware of God’s wisdom for my situation.  

    I still have lots of questions about church. I think that’s normal. But I’m learning that when I participate I feel less judgemental and find it easier to love God and other people.

Bethany

  • Covid meant my uni experience wasn’t typical. There were so many great times but lockdowns meant I was anxious to make sure my degree was the best it could be in every other way. I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve. 

    When I saw that automatic zero I asked God for a miracle but nothing happened. I contacted my supervisors who said, “There's nothing we can do. You just have to retake the year.” It was so disappointing.

    Then, as I was praying there was a moment where I started to feel God was doing something - giving me peace. Reminding me that exam results don’t define me. The next day, I got an email from my heads of department saying that they decided to mark it anyway. I passed my degree!

    Uni was the first time where I really learned the importance of God's timing. I understood that who I really am isn’t dependent on achievements. On some level I’ve always known my identity is in who God says I am, but I don’t think I believed that deep down. I liked being in control of my life and everything around me told me to find my identity in other things.

    In my final year God had answered my prayers and done a miracle that I didn't deserve. It was me that had made that mistake. It was me that didn't submit the exam on time. He found a way to show me his grace. 

    Things that challenge my faith - and force me to really rely on God - are reminders about who I am. Reminders that God’s goodness to me is consistent: not dependent on what happens to me or what I do.