St Aidan Institute
St Aidans is an equipping ministry of Redeemer. Like St. Aidan of Lindisfarne, we want to prepare the church for mission, by studying Scripture and culture, in order to share the good news of Jesus to our neighbors. These classes have a specific focus on mission—learning more about the significance of place, culture, and hospitality.
Coming Soon—A Theology of Place
Taught by Fr. Alex
Youth Session—The Big Questions
In this season of St. Aidan's, Redeemer's Youth will go through the Fuller Youth Institute curriculum The Big Questions, which encourages students to think about their answers to the big questions they’re asking about identity, purpose, and belonging. Questions like: “Who am I?”, “Where do I fit in”, and “Do I matter?” We will explore both how our culture answers these questions, and how Jesus offers better answers.
Taught by Fr. Colby
Children’s Sessions
3-5 year olds will be focusing on HOW the gospel transforms us. Think sanctification!
6-8 year olds will be focusing on the second part of the Apostles Creed
9-11 year olds will be focusing on the first half of the Ten Commandments
Nursery for children under 3.
Why St. Aidan?
Aidan was a monk sent to evangelize Northumbria. He set up his home on the island of Lindisfarne. On this island Aidan would train missionaries–teaching them the language of the people they were to serve and educating them about the story they were to embody as Christians. The previous attempts to evangelize had fallen short, causing ill will among the inhabitants. After being told the people were too difficult, Aidan soon discovered that the problem rested with the harsh and demanding efforts previous Christian missionaries! So the new missionaries sought to renew the relationship, walking the villages, living and serving the people. It is our hope that this institute, named after Aidan, could bring a bit of Lindisfarne to Asheville.
Image Credit: By Randy OHC - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4958775
Previous Sessions
Redeemer Values: Tradition, Hospitality, Formation, Beauty
Why do we bother with art in the sanctuary? Why do we model our service after the historic church? Why is sharing a meal together so important? Throughout the fall semester, we’ll spend time dwelling on four core values of Redeemer and examine them from Biblical, theological and practical perspectives.
The Psalms—Joining Our Voices
The Psalms are among the oldest poems in existence. They are beautiful, rhythmic and oftentimes express raw emotions. We have been singing these ancient hymns for generations--putting worship into words, all the while teaching us about the nature of God and humanity. Many people have come to love the Psalms because they put words to how we feel; they are relatable and teach us how to talk to God. The psalmists rarely mince words--giving us permission to lament and even question God. They ask questions such as: "Are you listening?" and "How long?" One Psalm even asks God to dash the heads of babies off of rocks! What are we to do with such passages—how do we pray with these words? Join us for the next five-week session of St. Aidans as we dive into the Book of Psalms.
Delro Rosco, Lift Up The Broken Pieces, Mixed media on wood panel, 30 x 40 in, 2017.
Imitators: The Spiritual Practices that Shaped our Spiritual Heroes
This segment of the St. Aidans rotation is devoted to "Spiritual Practices." For the next five weeks we will look at the lives of five Saints and consider the faithful manner in which they lived for Christ in their particular context. We will draw from the spiritual practices that formed them and seek to apply these practices to our lives today. The goal is that participants will be encouraged in their faith and equipped with practical tools for growth.
A Sacramental Vision
Boundary, Joel Sheesley
How can we walk through the world aware of God’s presence among us? Can we grow to see the world as enchanted—to experience creation as permeated with God’s glory? The imprint of God is upon all of creation and serves as a visible representation of his presence with us. Discerning the heavenly realities that surround us requires a particular kind of perception. Throughout this five-week session, our prayer is that God will help us become more aware of the various ways that he makes himself known, and that we would experience a renewed intimacy with God as he gives us eyes to see him everywhere!
A greater perception of God's presence will:
Instill a sense of awe and wonder of God’s glory.
Lead us to see our lives as visible expressions of God’s presence.
Shape our view of holiness as a pursuit to see God more clearly.
Provide us with perseverance by understanding our circumstances as revealing a deeper spiritual meaning.
The Gospel of John
In this study, we’ll work through the Gospel of John, studying the words and actions of Jesus and looking at what it means to be a disciple of His. Recordings of the adult study will be available next day for remote participation.
You Are What You Love Study
In our second session of the academic year, we are having a guided discussion based on You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith. This past year, several parishioners have commented on how meaningful this book was for them, and we believe it could be just as helpful for the rest of us. We often see discipleship as what we know or believe, while underestimating the significance of our 'loves.' Smith says, "Becoming a follower of Jesus is more than knowing what Jesus wants you to believe, it is loving what he loves." This book will challenge us to consider how our desires are shaped, consciously or unconsciously.
We urge everyone involved to buy and read the book, whether in printed, digital or audio format. If purchasing the book is a barrier to your participation, we’re happy to get a copy for you!
You Are What You Love is designed to be an accessible read, but we’ve also created a glossary of terms to help keep things straight.
A Kingdom Politic
It is an election year and the political temperature is rising. As political parties take aim at one another, the Church can often find itself on the outside—feeling as if we are misfit for the boxes we are being stuffed into. As citizens of the Kingdom of God, who live under the lordship of Christ, the Church can find itself at odds with the structures of this world. The Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed is political in nature, not in the partisan manner that we are familiar with today, but in that we live under the rule and reign of a king—a people marked by a set of beliefs that are put into practice. In this series, we will take a look at the Kingdom of God, and specifically answer: What does it mean to live under the lordship of Christ? We will consider the characteristics of the Kingdom in an attempt to root ourselves in a common politic that finds its grounding in the Gospel.
This Bible Study will likely challenge the way we think about politics by posing the Church as having its own politic. Politics, in its most simple form refers to a group that is set apart by a common set of beliefs that are practiced in community. The intention of this 6-week session is not to discuss who we should vote for, etc. Instead, the goal is to discuss who we are as the Church and how we act together as the basis for all of our interactions in life, and to consider the way our collective, Kingdom politic is used by God to confront the ways of the world.