Over 300 people gather in Hanover High School’s auditorium each Sunday as Christ Redeemer Church. Launched in 2000 with NETS pilot resident Don Willeman at the helm, Christ Redeemer has grown through gospel proclamation, with many being saved and sanctified through the pressing home of the gospel’s relevance to every part of life.

But their influence expands well beyond their doors. In 2007, a Dartmouth freshman attending Christ Redeemer launched Apologia, a journal of Christian thought, which has since been replicated on over 20 campuses. Christ Redeemer was also seminal in the development of The Waterman Institute, providing the Dartmouth College community with “opportunities to explore Christian thought and its relevance to all of life and learning.”

Christ Redeemer also has a significant and positive presence in the Hanover area, including an annual Community Work Day, where over 120 youth and adults from three NETS Network churches have served neighborhoods, schools, businesses and recreation areas.

Since the spring of 2014,  Christ Redeemer has been actively preparing to launch its first daughter church in the Sunapee region. They'll hold their first services starting in July, with an official launch slated for the fall.

The NETS Effect

In 1998, Don & Dori Willeman moved their young family from Dallas to Vermont to begin a church planting mentorship at Christ Memorial Church. Two years later, Don launched Christ Redeemer, with 30 in attendance. “It is safe to say that, without NETS, Christ Redeemer would not be where we are today as a church. NETS is committed to partnering with new churches like ours, helping to guarantee success. They’ve been a resource in what they do best – coaching church planters in the actual work of church planting. Since we launched, at least seven evangelical church plants, many well supported by their denomination, have come and gone. Christ Redeemer Church is living proof that churches can flourish even in a liberal New England college town.”

Today, Don and Christ Redeemer are investing in other NETS plants personally and financially. Don is a valued consultant. And in 2012, Christ Redeemer, as yet unable to secure a permanent location, loaned NETS $255,000 from their building fund to help Christ Fellowship Church in Portland, Maine, secure a building. This is the NETS Network in action – church plants supporting one another for the advancement of the gospel.