“I will build my church” says the Lord Jesus, and in His extraordinary kindness that’s exactly what He has been doing through The Bridge Church in Sydney.
It was in August 2004 that a group of 10 people gathered to pray and envision what a new church might look like. We never imagined that 21 years later we’d be a church with 4 different campuses (Kirribilli, Neutral Bay, Macquarie Park and Rozelle), with 13 gatherings every Sunday and around 2000 people worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ.
There were 3 foundational truths that shaped the foundation of The Bridge Church, and these continue to be our ‘distinctives’. They are:
1) Real Relationships: “We are committed to being a church family that really does life together, with relationships marked by openness, authenticity, closeness, accountability, selflessness, genuine care and love (living out all the Biblical ‘one another’ verses)” So church is family, where you are known (by your pastors and by others) and where you know other people. Our desire is that church is a safe place to be real and vulnerable, without any masks; a diverse family with all ages and stages; and a family where your pastors not just know your name but know you as a unique person created in God’s image, and know what is happening in your life. As a family, we notice when people are not present, ensuring good follow up and pastoral care. When you know your people it shapes your preaching, particularly the application of God’s Word. It’s been extraordinary to see the impact this simple truth has had on the growth of our church. The simple act of remembering a name, making a phone call, turning up at the hospital, showing up in the crisis, offering practical & prayer support. This has also shaped our church planting strategy, so once a gathering reaches around 200 adults we’re looking to commission around 50 people to go and start a new congregation or new campus.
2) Engaging Evangelism: “We are committed to reaching the lost with the gospel of Jesus, in Kirribilli, Neutral Bay, Macquarie Park, Rozelle and beyond, through personal evangelism and community engagement. We are committed to equipping every member to share their personal testimony and be bold in personal evangelism. We have a genuine concern for the marginalised and the needy in our neighbourhood, seeking to love them through deed and declaration!”
As someone who had never stepped into a church until I was 21 years old, I’m very conscious of how weird church can be for the unbelievers. So whilst we pray for and expect people who do not yet know Jesus to be in our gatherings (so they can declare ‘surely God is in this place’), we are also realistic that the vast majority of people in our city do not wake up on a Sunday morning and think ‘I might go to church’. The main way those people are going to hear the good news about Jesus is through us, the people of God, not just shovelling a gospel tract down their throat, but living normal lives that shine Jesus and speak Jesus. As we gather Sunday by Sunday we want people to fall more in love with Jesus, get more excited about Jesus, ready to walk into their normal week on fire for Jesus and ready to be give an answer for the hope they have. Of course we run Alpha Courses and Christianity Explored Courses, and of course we hold particularly easy invitation events like Carols under the Bridge (with the backdrop of the Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge!), but the more our people are passionate about their faith, they more they have prayed for friends and shared the gospel with friends. We ask all our members to pray for ‘their 5’ – that is 5 people in their lives whom they love dearly who do not yet know Jesus, and to pray for them daily that they might know Jesus. It’s been extraordinary to see how many people have come to a saving faith through Jesus each year. We mark these incredible stories through full immersion baptisms in the harbour, hearing powerful testimonies and profound promises. Evangelism really is contagious, as we are boldly sharing the love of God shown in our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Our concern for the marginalised and the needy also leads us to practice ‘merciful justice’, where we seek not only to share the gospel but meet the real needs of the people around us. The needs can be overwhelming, so we encourage our members to focus on one area of their passion (prisoners, foster care, homelessness, disabilities, addiction ministries), seeking to love those whom Jesus called ‘the least of these’.
We have committed to formal ministries into the social housing in Kirribilli and Macquarie Park, believing in the long slow work of prayer, relationship and gospel proclamation, and we’ve seen a powerful work of the Spirit in those communities. We are also passionate about those in ‘Aged Care’ (perhaps the most neglected people in todays society), sending teams in to run Communion Services. It’s amazing how even those suffering dementia come alive with the older hymns and prayers. We do believe many have rekindled their faith or come to faith through this ministry.
We also have a deep passion for Global Partners, now supporting 28 missionaries across the globe, but always seeking to have real relationship with them, so allocating 2 partners per gathering.
3) Joyful Gatherings: “We are committed to Spirit-filled gatherings, soaked in prayer, shaped by God’s word, with excellent preaching & worship, which engages both head & heart, with opportunities to teach, admonish & encourage one another, both formally & informally. At the Bridge Church we gather for
- Encountering God, through His word and by His Spirit
- Encouraging one another (Heb 10:25) in our faith
- Edification (Eph 4:12-13; Cor 14), with opportunities to use our gifts for the building up of the body (in an orderly and intelligible way)
- Equipping the saints for works of service (Eph 4:11- 13; 1 Cor 12-14)
- Empowering the saints for gospel proclamation (1 Peter 3) & for holy living (Heb 10:23)
Our Sunday gatherings really are the highlight of our week, with people coming with an expectancy that God will be present by His Holy Spirit in a powerful way, doing the transformative work that only he can do amongst us. The Bridge Church has been on a journey over the years, seeking to define more clearly who we are from a theological cultural perspective, because shapes our gatherings significantly. We are very comfortable to describe ourselves as Evangelical, Reformed, Charismatic, Anglicans – in that order! It has been powerful to see Word and Spirit filled gatherings, with many people from both more conservative and more Pentecostal backgrounds finding a safe place at our church. Our preaching is expository, with a focus on both exegesis and application, with emotional intelligence (but not emotionalism). Our worship is charismatic, with a freedom of expression without manipulation or coercion. The ‘Open Mic’ moment in our gatherings is a place for a word of encouragement, a Scripture, testimony, answered prayer, or a word of prophecy, and the ‘mic’ is genuinely open for anyone to come forward (all weighed against Scripture).
Prayer has been the engine room of our church since our very first gathering. We soak all our church in prayer, with many meeting for pre-service prayer, as well as a team of Spirit-filled pray-ers offering prayer ministry every Sunday after every gathering. The Central Prayer gathering once a month has been the highlight, as literally 100s gather to worship, intercede, petition and thank our good heavenly Father who gives good gifts to his children and really can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. Hearing answered prayers each month, and offering individual prayer ministry and healing ministry has been so profoundly culture shaping for our church. We also desire a posture of gratitude and thankfulness, so it’s important to have regular opportunities to share stories of God’s grace and thank God for his goodness to us.
Over the years we’ve added our final two distinctives, namely:
4) Deep Discipleship and Training:
“We are committed to equipping every member of the Bridge Church to grow actively in their discipleship to Jesus:
Individually: each member grows from abiding in a deep relationship with God.
Communally: each member grows relationally within a Discipleship Community
Deliberately: each member grows deliberately at their stage and season.
Our marriage courses, pre-marriage course, divorce care, and parenting courses have seen not only church members but local community members be equipped for that season of life.
One of the more recent developments in the Bridge Church is the establishment of The School of Ministry. Our vision is to see the next generation of holy and humble pastors raised up for the Kingdom of God. So we’ve gathered Gap Year Students, Interns and Pastors-in- Training to receive formal and informal training and mentoring, as they discern God’s calling to ministry and are equipped for all the complexities of ministry. Identifying and recruiting the pastors for The Bridge Church has been one of the most tricky things over the past few years, since we not only seek Spirit-filled pastors who are aligned with our theological culture, but also emotionally intelligent pastors and preachers who love people! This limiter is beginning to be addressed as we develop this training pipeline through the School of Ministry. It’s been so exciting to see so many of our current pastors having come through the School of Ministry.
5) Radical God-centred Generosity:
“We are committed to developing a culture of people using their time, talents and money to serve eagerly and sacrificially - enabling the saints to discern their gifts, equipping the saints to improve their gifts and empowering the saints to use their gifts, striving for excellence for God’s glory. Our faith in Jesus overflows in generous acts of service, so we are known in our community as a church that is eager to do good.”
The Bridge Church has often been described as a hospital for hurting Christians, and that continues to be the case. It is deeply sad to hear stories of hurt and pain at the hands of pastors, church members, and other Christians, and for some reason many of those hurting find themselves ‘dipping their toe back into church’ with us, sitting quietly wanting to be anonymous, and gradually healing and trusting a church again. It’s been incredible to witness God’s healing hand on so many people – some of whom remain at Bridge Church, but many others move to other churches as restored children of God eager and ready to trust & serve again.
The story of the Bridge Church has been so humbling, as God has continued to open new doors for the gospel in Sydney and beyond. As other local churches invited us to partner the gospel work, the power of churches working together (rather than competing), sharing resources and combining ministries has been so good for the gospel growth. We have journeyed through 2 amalgamations and 1 partnership with a university college. There has been, of course, pain points and moments of significant hurts, because we are people who love God’s church and change is sometimes very difficult. But it’s been so powerful to see how God brings unity where there was disunity, healing where there was hurt, and a togetherness in the gospel that the local communities can’t ignore. I do believe that the humble servant-hearted convictions of godly believers who were persuaded of the power of partnership has been a significant factor in the growth of this church. This has meant that we have been able to replicate and multiply many ministries in many different locations, without having to reinvent the wheel. Whilst all our campuses have the same Bridge Church culture and content, we work hard to contextualise for the unique demographic and ethnic context of each campus. For example, we now offer Alpha in multiple languages, such as Mandarin, Japanese, Farsi, and Thai. As we launch new youth or young adult ministries, new Playtimes or Everyday English, to have that wealth of resources from the ‘central’ team cannot be underplayed.
As church has grown we have fought hard to retain our small church feel, so our members feel part of a family with their own designated pastoral team. We often say we have ‘all the benefits of small church, with all the opportunities of large church’. This has been such a significant part of our culture and I do believe God has used that to grow his church.
So what is next? The honest answer is ‘we do not know, but the Lord knows’.
I didn’t expect to still be at The Bridge Church after 21 years, but I’m so thankful the Lord has kept me here. We are looking forward to seeing more lost people being found, more saved sinners being transformed by Word and Spirit, and God’s church being a light in the darkness here in Sydney.
Our next strategic vision is to launch ‘The Bridge Network’, an initiative to resource, train, equip & support churches in need, independent of The Bridge Church, across parts of Sydney & beyond - potentially impacting dozens of churches. We aim to do these providing funding for pastors in other churches (or new churches), sharing all our resources (kids, youth, worship, mission, discipleship etc.), sending people, and offering mentoring or just friendship to other pastors and churches to encourage them in their ministries (with no expectation or obligation of anything in return). We have been blessed with so much at The Bridge Church and so we just desire to be a blessing to others, to share what God has done and given us as a church to enrich others in Sydney and throughout the world.
As I often say at church ‘Not to us O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory’ (Psalm 115:1)
Paul Dale is Senior Pastor at The Bridge Church, Sydney.