2012 Emphasis #1: unify on a course for relocation

Posted by on Jan 11, 2012 | Comments Off

We’re taking this blog week to talk about some of the things (some of which are MAJOR) that The Bridge will likely see in 2012.  Here’s priority #1 for our church body in 2012:

Unify on a course for relocation

From a pure attendance standpoint, the past few years have been a tidal wave of grace upon our church body…

  • WG attendance has grown from around 80 to 425 (this week’s attendance)
  • We’ve moved to two WG’s with the possibility of launching a third later this year
  • The Kids Ministry, our primary space “problem”, has grown from around 30 to well over 100 kids weekly
  • 580 people – an all time high – attended our Christmas Eve Eve services a few weeks ago

As a result, this is what WG’s have looked like this year, including three weeks we can think of off the top of our heads that visitors have left unable to find seats in a WG…

While our elders and staff firmly believe (and have seen in our body for the last few years) that God builds his church through the power of the gospel being preached, people’s lives being changed, and the activity of his Spirit apart from ANYTHING we do or build, our elders believe that establishing a long-term launchpad for mission and ministry is an urgent and necessary course for accomplishing the mission God has given us to lift Christ high.  The following things are making this such an important emphasis for our church body’s continued mission…
  • At first, we hoped to delay a need to relocate by simply trying to expand around our current location. However, in recent talks with our landlords (who have been INCREDIBLY gracious and kind to us) we’ve discovered that they aren’t interested in selling the property to The Bridge.  Aside from the fact that there is little or no space around us in which to expand, this would put us in an unstable situation moving forward, making expansion financially risky and unwise.
  • The clear calling of Scripture and God’s Holy Spirit on us specifically is for The Bridge to be a church that plants other churches.  In order for us to position ourselves to be able to train leaders and continue to grow so that we can send, we need to establish a long-term launchpad for our efforts.
  • Space issues, specifically in our Kids’ Ministry (although often in WG’s as well), very obviously necessitate expansion.
  • Although this is a much smaller issue, our growing staff needs office space for undistracted work, counseling, and unity.  While we will NEVER devolve into a structure where church leadership retreats from the community into the confines of a church building, offices are necessary as the staff grows.

WHAT THIS WILL LOOK LIKE IN 2012

We’re still a fair distance away from relocation and definitely won’t be relocating this year.  Our emphasis this year is to unify on a course for relocation.  Here’s what’s going on…

  • The elders launched a relocation team comprised of Pastor Josh, Scott Shoopman, Dave Hall, and Dave Malin to figure out how to figure this out!  These men have been working for about four months on this.
  • By God’s grace and after this years’ Gift for Christ offering, we’ve almost completely eliminated our debt. We’ll be begin saving money this year in wisdom to prepare.
  • As we work with guys outside our walls with specific wisdom in this area and identify a course forward, we’ll be communicating that to the church body and begging for prayer. We do not – DO NOT – want to get distracted from the heart of our mission by becoming consumed with a building or property.

 

HOW YOU CAN HELP

  • Pray without ceasing.  If you have a prayer list, put our location on it.  Pray that God will “open a wide door for effective service”, that he might open hearts to be generous toward The Bridge and possibly give us a location through a miracle, and pray that God will unify us and make us holy through the process.
  • Give generously.  While The Bridge already runs on a skeletal budget so that we can give generously toward mission, it’s still our goal to financially prepare for the future of the mission this year.  Give generously, knowing that your giving advances Jesus’ fame and mission.
  • Exercise “communicative grace” with us.  The sad fact is that many people have had bad experiences with churches and buildings and therefore have much baggage and many concerns.  Rather than giving Satan a foothold in our church body by harboring those feelings, please ask graceful questions of our church leadership as we communicate the course forward.

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