Things We Say – The Heartbeat

Last post I talked about “the pulse” – our Connection Cards.  But what gives the pulse life?  The heartbeat.  And the heartbeat of the Bridge is the Connection Group.  Connection Groups are otherwise known as small groups or Bible studies.  These groups come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – men’s, women’s, co-ed, youth, on Sundays, or midweek, with childcare, without childcare, etc.  Some of our Groups are ongoing, and some are close-ended. But why are they the heartbeat?

Connection Groups are the heartbeat of The Bridge b/c we believe they are the place where real life is encountered.  Sunday mornings are great, and hopefuly life-changing at times.  But Sunday mornings are a larger mass of people where we can easily blend in and get lost in a crowd.  Growth happens on Sundays, but it is only a part of the equation of how we grow and develop spiritually.  At The Bridge, we really believe that being a part of a Connection Group is essential to a healthy spiritual life.  Connect groups are a place where we are known, cared for and encouraged in our walk with God.   Connect Groups are a chance to go deeper, learn more, and put into practice what we learning.

Making the step to be a part of a Connection Group is not always an easy one.  Some people jump right in, but others aren’t as inclined.  Many of us are a little more introverted and prefer to keep it that way!  Even so, I really believe that being a part of one our groups is vital to spiritual growth.  Introverted or extroverted, we need others to help us grow.  The Bible speaks repeatedly of how followers of Christ are to “love one another” or “serve one another” or “forgive one another.”  There are TONS of these “one another’ statements!  And we can’t “one another” one another unless we are in relationships.  Connection Groups are where these “one anothers” are able to happen.

Anyway…join a Connection Group!  They are AWESOME!  If you want to make that plunge, check the box on your Connection Card Sunday or fill out a request on our website to join a group @ http://bit.ly/3VACluand write “Connection Group” in the “Comment” section!

The Pulse

Every Sunday @ The Bridge we ask people to fill out a “Connection Card” and we often say, “this is the pulse of our church.”   The Connection Card  is the little tear off sheet attached to the bulletin where you can fill-in your name, address, SS #, CC #, etc.  Just Kidding.  We do ask everyone to fill out the card which does include info like name, address, kids, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  It’s tedious work.  Some of you may wonder, “Why do I have to fill out this dad-blame(sp?) card every week?”  But there are a number of reason we do this. 

1. We believe the Connect Card is the pulse of our church.  When someone fills out their card, we are learning something about them.  Did they have a prayer request?  Is God calling them to some point of decision?  Do they want to join a Connection Group?  All these things help us to get a guage or pulse on what is happening in the life of our church. 
2. Another reason we ask everyone to fill out a card is that we REALLY want our newcomers to fill out a card so we can send them a “thank you” for investing some of their time in us.  We want to be able to let our newcomers know that we are really glad that we had a connection point with them.  But here’s the deal, if we only ask newcomers to fill out the card, it singles them out!  We don’t want to do this!  We want everyone to blend together as one big happy church family.  If everyone else is filling out a card, our newcomers are more likely to fill out their card.

So, when we ask you to fill out your Connection Card each week, let me say “thanks” in advance for doing just that.  Your doing that helps us check our pulse and engage our newcomers.

Things we say

Something we repeat often @ The Bridge, but not always in the same way, is that people are in need of help, hope and healing.  This goes along right along with our vision of being “outwardly-focused.”  We remind ourselves of this b/c it is so easy to forget.  It is so easy for us turn inward, and think only of our own problems, and forget that people all around us are hurting, needing hope and healing.  All of us are pretty good at putting on our masks.  We clean up pretty good on the outside, but on the inside there is often a lot of doubt, fear, self-loathing, guilt, etc, etc, etc.  I think it is our natural tendency to just blind ourselves from the reality that people we are around us are in need.  If we didn’t wear our mask or tried to see past everyone elses, it would really become overwhelming.  But it is so important that we don’t become so inwardly focused to the neglect of everyone around us.  It is to overwhelming to know about and want to help those who are hurting, needing hope and healing.  But we aren’t the savior.  It is not our job to ‘fix’ everybody. Our hope is in God.  And God is the hope we can share with those in need.

So, know this, people are hurting.  They want help.  They desire healing.  They may not show it.  They may not say it.  But a lot of them are hoping that someone cares and has that hope, help or healing from them.  Care enough today to look past someone’s mask and love them.  Lend a hand.  Pray for them.  Serve them.  Invest your life in theirs.  You may be the one that plants that seed of hope that leads that friend, neighbor, family member to put their trust in God.

Things we say @ The Bridge

If you go to The Bridge, you’ll notice that we will say the same things over and over again.  We repeatedly say and remind ourselves about what is important to us.  Like vision. The reason for this is that “Vision Leaks.”  That’s one of the things we say @ The Bridge.  Vision Leaks.   Our vision is to be an outwardly-focused church.  This means we focus on honoring God and not doing church for us, but for God and for others.  All too often, a church, which starts with a focus on God and letting others know about God’s love for them, begins to turn inward and focus on itself.  The vision has begun to leak.  We begin to create programs and opportunities that benefit the members, attenders and insiders, and lose sight of the fact that the church is “God’s Plan A’” for reaching the world (see Ephesians 3:10).  We begin to lose the healthy balance between developing our own faith and sharing that faith with a world that desperately needs, hope, help and healing. The vision is leaking.

By reminding ourselves that “Vision Leaks”, it will hopefully help us keep our vision in mind of being “outwardly-focused” – to live our lives and do church with God’s perspective and God’s heart for people.  We don’t take the best spot in the parking lot at church when it’s available.  We leave it open, so maybe, just maybe, a newcomer to church finds it open and has an easier time getting into our building for church on Sunday.  We avoid speaking Christianeze (using words that only someone who has been in church for 80 years and has a seminary degree would know) and instead use language that everyone relates to and understands.  We use the Bible not as a hammer to nail people for sin, but understand that we all struggle on a variety of levels and share God’s truth with love  (Ephesians 4:15) and grace so that we build a bridge into lives and not walls that further separate us.  We get to church early so we can greet people as they come and make a new friendship.  There are a zillion ways to be outwardly-focused.  And that’s the vision.  And it will leak.  So we will keep repeating it and hopefully fill it back up again.

Vision leaks.  What’s the vision?  Be outwardly-focused. Live a life not so inwardly and self-focused but is concerned about the lives around you.  People are hurting.  They need help.  They want hope.  We have it.  Live the vision.

And, I would love for you to comment with ways we are being, or could be more outwardly focused as a church or as an individual.