A Fourth Location?

“Are you crazy?” None of you reading this are surprised that I’ve been asked that.

The Bridge really is one church, though we currently operate four campuses in three locations (Spanish service is organized as a campus).

Aren’t three locations enough? Why another one? “You’re just trying to make The Bridge famous!” Yes, I’ve been accused of that, too.

And that one makes me chuckle. No one in leadership at The Bridge has aspirations of becoming famous and we can’t even imagine how that could or would happen.

So then, why are we doing this?

Because there are neighborhoods and communities all across Chicagoland that need high-level Bible teaching, energetic and engaging worship, and ministry that strives for both sincerity and excellence. We’re doing this because people desperately need The Gospel. I can’t imagine ever getting to the place where we say, “Ok, we’ve reached enough people. We’ve influenced enough communities. We’ve done all we need.”

And I know there’s pushback. Friends will leave our other three locations to plant this one, and it’s hard to see them go. The more locations we have, the harder it is to keep our arms around ministry and maintain the same standard of excellence in all matters: preaching, worship, kids, students, groups, etc. With more locations, some places will see less of me (not really a negative) and less of Junior.

But while church is about relationships, from the beginning of the church in the Book of Acts, it was about sending people to new communities to plant more churches. We embrace personal discomfort for a greater cause, connecting more people with God. And yes, organizationally, growth creates more challenges. But those are not insurmountable challenges. As we’ve grown and added locations, we’ve actually demonstrated more efficiency and effectiveness in all of our ministries. And seeing less of me or Junior, I’m not kidding, that is a good thing. We really believe that our church should not be dependent on one, or even two personalities. Our only dependence is on God. Sharing the platform is good for us, and good for you.

The essence of our message will not change. The principles that we teach and operate ministry by, will not change. The real change will be in the number of baptisms and worshipers. We pray those grow exponentially!

So…the answer to the opening question—yes, I’m crazy. But why a fourth location? We really believe God would have us bring back the neighborhood church by multiplying our ministry. And in doing so, reach many more people. And we want you to be a part!