What Is A Church For?

Years ago, the city of Pittsburgh constructed a large, new post office that cost millions of dollars. On the day of its opening, the governor made a speech, the bands played, and the people cheered. It was quite a celebration. But when the first man entered to mail a letter, to the embarrassment of the engineers, it was discovered that they had omitted the letter drop in their rush to meet the deadline. Here was a costly new post office, with no place to mail a letter! This slight omission negated the very reason for its existence.

That reminds me of many churches. Great energy is put into events, ministry activities, the construction of buildings, important board meetings, musical productions, and more…but the main thing is neglected.

I think we often fail to focus our energy on what a church is actually for.

So, why did Jesus found the church? He told His earliest followers the reason He called them in the first place. Besides telling them, “I will make you fishers of men,” when they were first called, He also gave them marching orders on His way out, “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).

That is what every church is for: Jesus’ Great Commission. Helping people become followers of Jesus. Connecting people to God. That’s why The Bridge is in existence. Everything we do is about that one mission: The Gospel.

I’m often asked by other pastors, church leaders, and members, “What is different about The Bridge? Why does it keep growing?”

We are now in our seventeenth straight year of steady growth (with the exception of 2020). We’ve been baptizing over 150 people per year in recent years. In a time when 80%+ of churches are in decline, and those that do grow rarely keep their growth rate up for more than a few years, how is this happening?

I think you all know it’s not the magnetic leadership of the lead guy. I don’t possess the natural abilities that many large church pastors do. We do have a great staff of gifted people and a good team of elders, but that’s not why we’ve been growing all these years.

We fail in a lot of ways and still have a long way to grow in many areas. I personally make many mistakes and often wish for “do-overs.” But if there’s one thing we’ve been faithful in maintaining, that’s keeping the main thing the main thing. The culture of our church and the DNA of our leaders encompasses The Great Commission. We really do exist to connect people to God. The day The Bridge forgets that will be the day our church goes into decline.

Winning people to Jesus. That’s what the church is for!