Old-time religion

Michele Marr

Redeemer Presbyterian Church is going back to the future.

Pastor Jim Belcher is passionate about restoring the church’s moral

authority and adding a sense of awe to Christian worship.

It’s a big vision for a church fewer than two months old.

Belcher, a pastor who served three other Southern California

congregations before his denomination, the Presbyterian Church in

America, sent him to Costa Mesa to start Redeemer, holds a doctorate in

political theory from Georgetown University and has studied at

Westminster Theological Seminary and Fuller Seminary in California.

“‘When you look at studies on morality,” he said, “they don’t show

much difference between Christians and non-Christians. I ask why. What is

the root problem?”

He sees it as a lack of commitment to developing Christian minds, a

Christian world and life view.

“That development happens primarily from the beginning to the end of

the worship service,” Belcher said.

But, he qualifies, the worship must be balanced, both challenging the

mind and engaging the heart.

To this end, his goal is to restore much of the ancient aspects of the

church that were discarded in, and since, the Reformation, aspects to

balance the joy of amazing grace with a sense of the holiness of God.

“I was a Generation-X minister, a young adults minister,” Belcher

said. “The big thing was to be a postmodern church.”

The idea was that to reach a skeptic, a nonbeliever, meant to throw

out anything from tradition that might be offensive. Out went the

sacraments. Out went written prayers. Out went the old hymns full of

Christian theology.

“So,” said Belcher, “you had a church that mirrored the culture in

order to reach the culture.”

It was good for gathering big crowds, but it didn’t reach people in a

way that transformed them and enabled them to make a difference, for the

better, in the world.

“I want to get back to early Christianity.” Belcher said, “I want to

get back to what the Bible says about worshiping in spirit and in truth.

But I want to do it in a way that connects with a modern skeptic today.”

The worship service at Redeemer combines the old hymns with the sounds

of instruments -- stand-up bass, saxophone and keyboard -- that Belcher

describes as modern, although classical, with a sound that really brings

the hymns alive.

“We pick up the pace, the tempo, at little,” he said.

Some of the hymns are 1,500 years old, some 1,000, some 500, some are

fairly modern. Written prayers, some by men such as Thomas Cramner, a

16th century bishop of Canterbury and martyr for his faith, are part of

the order of service.

“We really want to make sure we know we are connected to the

Christians who came before us.” Belcher emphasized. “How responsible are

we as pastors if this newest generation grows up and doesn’t know any of

the great hymns, any of the great prayers of the church, or doesn’t even

know what it means to take Communion?”

Belcher has committed himself to preaching verse by verse through

Scripture. He finds this kind of book-by-book, verse-by-verse teaching

prevents a pastor from shying away from hard doctrines. He believes that

Reformation leaders Martin Luther and John Calvin would likely have

started with Genesis and just preached right on through the Bible. He has

started with 1 John and will tackle an Old Testament book next.

The church’s commitment to educating its children is as strong as

Belcher’s commitment to educating its adults. The Sunday school

curriculum begins at age 3 and continues through high school. It

incorporates Scripture memorization, Bible study, hymn memorization and

the catechism. Belcher describes it as “rigorous, but fun.”

He wants the children raised so that “even if one falls anyway and

rebels during the dark days of adolescence” he will have such a strong

deposit of the Christian faith in him that he won’t be able to run away

from it, but will in time come back to it.

He believes parents who take their children’s education, spiritual and

moral development seriously want them in a church and Sunday school that

respects them and values them from the very beginning.

The Sunday school curriculum at Redeemer begins to prepare children at

the age of 3 to sit in worship with their parents by the age of 6 or 7

and not be lost, but know they are full members of the church who

appreciate and love the worship of their parents.

Belcher sees parents as primarily responsible for the nurturing and

spiritual growth of their children. Sunday school is a help to them, but

not a substitute. He stresses the importance of family devotions.

“Even 15 to 20 minutes after dinner can have a revolutionary effect on

a family,” he said, backing this idea with his own experience.

Belcher and his wife, Michelle, are parents to two sons, a new infant

and a 2-year-old.

He believes the church will attract a lot of young families with

children. Already, the church has 15 to 20 young children attending on

any given Sunday.

Whether for families with children, single adults or couples with

grown children, Redeemer Presbyterian Church values community and a sense

of belonging.

At a recent cookout, Belcher recounts, he heard a young woman say, “I

finally have a church that I can invite my non-Christian friends to and

not be embarrassed.”

That woman, he explained, feels like what the church does, it does

with excellence, that its members take her friends seriously and respects

them. It doesn’t insult their intelligence.

“And that is our goal,” he sums up. “It’s why we spend hours and

hours, even on something like the service bulletin. If things are done in

a shoddy way, how is that glorifying God through us?”

FYI

* Redeemer Presbyterian Church meets at the Westin Hotel, South Coast

Plaza, 686 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa. Sunday worship is at 10 a.m. in the

Monarch Room. Information: Pastor Jim Belcher, (714) 875-0869.