The Bridge
The Bridge
before God . in community . on mission
At the Bridge our desire and calling is to build a church community modeled after the one we encounter in the pages of the New Testament. House churches are an essential part of our strategy to nurture a Christian community that is rich in evangelism, community, Christian maturity, and growth.
Rather than seeing church as a series of program driven weekly meetings…house churches see their essences as sharing lives, and they could meet every day as in New Testament days, or any other number of times that suited them. Here, the people are the resources, Jesus is the program, fellowship is the reason, multiplication is the outcome, and discipling others the goal.
Wolfgang Simpson, Houses that Change the World. p. 142
Our Calling as Individuals:
To live all of life Before God, In Community and On Mission
Before God
Living life before God is what we were created to do. It means living life to the fullest extent that God has planned for us. It means spending time with Him. It means a desire to incorporate into our lives the spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship and reading the Bible on a regular basis. Living life before God is how God shapes us and transforms us to be like Christ.
In Community
It is essential to be a part of a community of Christians who together strive to live out the 30+ “one anothers” recorded in the Bible. (Love one another – John 13:34, Be devoted to one another- Romans 12:10, Don’t pass judgment on one another- Romans 14:13, Have equal concern for one another- 1 Corinthians 12:25, Serve one another in love- Galatians 5:13, Encourage one another- 1 Thessalonians 5:11…) It is impossible to live out the “one anothers” in isolation. We all were made to live in community.
On Mission
We believe it’s vital for Christians to be “on mission” - actively involved in doing ministry together. Our mission is to build community, make disciples and establish new churches. Individually and corporately we desire to pray for, provide for, and proclaim the Good News of Jesus to our sphere of influence. (The Bible refers to this group of people as our oikos) At the Bridge we define our oikos as the 8 to 15 people that God has supernaturally and strategically placed in our lives.
Our Mission as a Church
Make disciples of Jesus Christ and establish new house churches
Make Disciples
We define a disciple as someone who strives to embody the REACH acronym.
Receive His Salvation
Enlist in His Body
Abide in His Presence
Contribute to His Cause
Heed His Commands
We encourage every person in our house church community to go through the workbook “Are You a Disciple”. This workbook explains in greater detail of what we believe in means to be a disciple.
Establish New House Churches
We don’t believe that we should multiply based on getting to a certain number of people. Relationships and spiritual trust take a long time to form – usually at least a year or more. Therefore, to multiply based solely on numbers fails to take the relational connections into account. Therefore, our desire to expand and multiply is based on a new “mission” or new “calling” by the Holy Spirit.
House Church Gatherings
The weekly house church is a mid-sized environment that seeks to fulfill the following functions:
• Relevant Biblical teaching through participatory discussion
• Relational connections with people over a period of time which lays the foundation to more personally work out the Gospel and pursue the “one anothers” of the New Testament.
• Chance to release the varied gifts of the body of believers in multi-faceted relational ways.
The Bridge at Woodland Creek meets each Sunday morning at 10am at the home of Dave & Amy Schirmer. (12314 N. Wayne Ave. KCMO 64165) we share breakfast together (continental or otherwise) we read, discuss and apply the Bible to our lives, we pray with and for one another and we share in the Lord’s Supper.
The Bridge at Waukomis meets each Thursday evening at 6:30pm at the home of Bruce and Teresa Brinkmeyer (367 NW North Shore Drive, Lake Waukomis MO 64151). The format is the same at both House Church gatherings.