A group of people called by God to outreach in West Ulverstone to the wider community with their God-given talents.
God gave the vision to plant a ministry in West Ulverstone. There are more than 15 000 people who live in Ulverstone of which probably less than 10% attend church and have a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Some people haven’t even heard the name of Jesus in their lives before. God made us aware of this need and laid on our hearts to do something about it. This is what Bridge of Life is all about:
• God has birthed the vision for Bridge of Life Christian Fellowship in the hearts of a core group of people, towards the middle of 2013. We do not call ourselves a leadership team, because Jesus leads this church. This core group of people are there to be servants to all who attend Bridge of Life and also to the wider community of Ulverstone, but they are not to be mastered by anyone but Christ. He is our only master.
• The Worship service on a Sunday focuses on people who do not know Christ and who are strangers to attending church services. For this reason, the messages will be short, easy to understand and explaining how to practically apply God’s Word to our lives. We believe that the Gospel is simple, yet can change lives dramatically.
• Part of our worship is singing our praises to God. It is not about what we get out of the worship, but what God gets out of it. God doesn’t care about whether you raise your hands, stand quietly, dance, sit or kneel, He looks at your heart. When your heart is focussing on God and forgets about everyone and everything around you, then the Holy Spirit will prompt you how to worship. There is freedom at Bridge of Life to allow us to express our love and adoration to God from our hearts.
• We do believe that all the gifts of the Holy Spirit are still present today and that all believers, when they accept Christ, receive the Holy Spirit as well as the gift or gifts that He has for them. It is however important that we do not make more of the gifts than of the Giver. The main focus always needs to be on God. We must never use our gifts in such a way that the focus is on us. Because BoL focuses on evangelizing, we need to be sensitive to the fact that there are many people who are new to church and that we don’t want to overwhelm them and frighten them. There will be a place for gifts such as speaking in tongues and prophesying in small groups where mature Christians will get together regularly. When Jesus spoke to tax collectors and prostitutes, He didn’t overwhelm them with heavy stuff and theology. He simply loved them and shared the good news.
• There will be no hanging on to finances and building up a “healthy” bank balance at Bridge of Life. The money that comes in, needs to go out. In fact, any church with a “healthy” bank balance isn’t really healthy at all. Money needs to go back into the community and into sharing the Gospel with everyone. We freely receive so much from God all the time that we want to freely give all the time. The books and finances are open for anyone to look at any time and we have nothing to hide. Please also feel free to inform us of any dire needs that you know about in our community so that we may assist. We will continually keep all at Bridge of Life informed about projects we are financially involved in as a fellowship.
• There will be no “official” membership at Bridge of Life. When you accept Christ as your Personal Saviour, you become part of the Body of Christ. If you haven’t yet accepted Christ, you are still part of our family at Bridge of Life and we love you the same.
• There will be opportunity for people who have been hurt and disillusioned by church, to recover and to refocus on what God has called them to do. But we don’t want Bridge of Life to just become a place where Christians can merely sit back and become comfortable and complacent. All Christians at Bridge of Life are expected to become involved in the life of the fellowship and in the community.
• We do not want to start up any ministry without knowing that it is God asking us to do it. Nobody will be asked to head up a ministry. God must clearly call a person to start up and coordinate a ministry before it will even be considered.
• At Bridge of Life we have a Kingdom perspective. It is not about moving people from one church to another, but rather about bringing new people into the Kingdom. While we are waiting for God to prompt people to start up ministries, we are happy to refer them to existing ministries at other churches. It doesn’t really matter where you go to worship God, as long as you are worshiping Him and you are where He is wanting you to be, that is great.
• We believe that it is every Christian’s own responsibility to grow in their relationship with Christ by spending individual time with Him in His Word, in prayer and just soaking up His presence. We cannot rely on the pastor, the church and other Christians to be our crutch. Having said that, we know that it is important to meet together as Christians and to encourage one another. While the Sunday service is about focussing on new people and on those who do not yet know Christ (we all need to love them and give them a sense of belonging) there will be various opportunities in small groups for mature Christians to meet where they can grow and encourage one another.
• Our main focus is, and will always be God. The busyness of structures and programs will never get in the way of our relationship with God and what He is calling us to do. With God being the central focus, People Prayer and Praise come around that. We are here to be God’s instruments in building bridges between people and Christ by telling them about How Christ built a bridge between us and God. Prayer forms an integral part of our relationship with God. If we don’t speak to God and hear when He speaks to us, then we cannot have a living relationship with Him. Our lives need to be a continual praise session. Praise is not only reflected during our formal gatherings, but in everything we do. God is awesome and He is worthy of all our praise.
• We see God doing amazing things in West Ulverstone because we are being obedient to His call. Our vision is for a REAL environment where the Holy Spirit is at work. God is showing us a church with 1000’s of people who are loved and in turn love others. We see a revival in West Ulverstone where an entire community falls in love with God and changes the face of this town.
- Category:
- Church/religious organization