"Our Story"

The first seed for Redeemer Lutheran Church was sown in a Damascus real estate office in June 1957 with one person’s simple statement and conversation about the desire to form a Lutheran church in the Damascus Community. The conversation grew to include several people and on September 8, 1957, a pastor from a Lutheran church in Wheaton accepted the invitation to conduct a worship service in a local Damascus home; for all persons interested in establishing a church in the Damascus area.

After the first service, 3 families agreed to meet on Sundays for worship services. In November 1957, the original family who had the first service in their living room granted the small group the use of their tenant house for worship. Appointing the house with homemade church furnishing, they worshipped for 2 years. An ad in the local newspaper for a piano helped recruit another family to the group. Growth was slow, but the Maryland Synod, Pastor Forcey along with his Resurrection Church congregation located in Wheaton, Maryland provided constant encouragement and support. On February 20, 1959, the church held its first Sunday school classes with 5 children and 8 adults.

In 1959, the synod officially accepted the tiny congregation, and encouraged the church to move closer to Damascus. On May 2, 1959, the group relocated to the Damascus Elementary School. In August, the members held their first vacation Bible school n a parishioner’s home. The group welcomed Pastor Thomas Sinn who accepted the call to become the mission developer. The mission church grew, and within weeks he encouraged the congregation to adopt a name. The believers decided to call themselves “The Lutheran Church of Redeemer.” Redeemer Lutheran Church set Organization Day for February 5, 1961, but a blizzard forced a delay until March 5. Once organized, the mission called Sinn to be its first pastor. Under his tenure, the church bought property on which to build. Pastor Sinn resigned in June 1963.

In October 1963, Richard F. Batman accepted a call to become Redeemer’s second pastor. Continued growth stimulated the congregation to build. Pastor Batman conducted ground-breaking services on November 7, 1965. In July 1966 after services at the school, the members moved into the new building. That afternoon, Pastor Batman led dedication services in the sanctuary. By 1965, the congregation had decided to sell the parsonage so that proceeds could be used to finish the church basement and help retire the church’s debt. The year 1965 brought independence from the Board of Missions.

After Pastor Batman resigned in June 1970 to accept another call, in June 1971, Pastor Irvin Stapf accepted Redeemer’s call. Pastor Stapf departed in 1975 during a struggling time for the Redeemer Lutheran congregation.

In February 1977, Raymond Scheck accepted Redeemer’s call to be its fourth pastor. During the years, under the leadership of “Pastor Ray”, the Redeemer congregation has been blessed with increased parish membership and a congregation life that has been characterized by its outreach for those unchurched and those experiencing hurts in life.

On Palm Sunday, 1990, the Redeemer congregation completed another milestone in its life as a Christian Community: Redeemer’s congregation worshipped for the first time in its new sanctuary, after many long years of planning and working on a new building. Another milestone began with Redeemer’s outreach ministry to a Sister Parish Relationship with Fe Y Esperanza in Nicaragua. Over the years, Redeemer’s congregation has sent many delegations of its members to Nicaragua for 10 day mission trips to live with the Christian Community of Fe Y Esperanza in Nicaragua. This sister relationship with Christians in Nicaragua awakened a renewed interest in sharing Christ’s work throughout the world and in our local community.

During the years the staff and congregation at Redeemer grew and in September 2000, Redeemer Lutheran Church completed another milestone and completed its second addition to the original church building. This facility is known as the “Family Life Center”.

At one entrance to our building the letters A.M.D.G. are inscribed in the cornerstone. These letters come from the Latin Words “ad majorem Del gloriam”, meaning “For the greater glory of God”. As we look back in our church history, we stand in gratitude to God for all the faithful Christians whose lives make up the true history of Redeemer. For them we are grateful in Christ’s name. And for generations yet to come, we pray that Christ will make us faithful servants of His at this present moment.

To God alone be the Glory!