Take Up Your Piece of the Net

There’s a difference between attending a church and having a church home.

You can attend for months or even years. You can enjoy the worship, appreciate the teaching, bring your family, and recognize familiar faces in the hallway. All of those things matter. But at some point, every follower of Christ should consider a deeper question: Is this the church God is calling me to call home?

At Bridgeway, one way we answer that question is through partnership.

We use the word partner intentionally. In Luke 5, Jesus tells Simon Peter to put his nets into deep water. The catch is so large that the nets begin to break. Scripture says they signal their “partners” in another boat to come and help. This is a powerful picture of ministry.

Can you see it? The net is stretched across the water - that’s our reach into the community. The fish filling the net are the people God has called us to reach. And we are the fishermen holding the net. No one person can hold the whole thing. Each of us has a place along the net, using what God has given us and working alongside one another.

Bridgeway’s mission is to build into one another as we build bridges to our community. Our vision is to be a multicultural body of fully devoted followers of Christ moving forward in unity and love to reach our community, culture, and world for Jesus Christ. That kind of mission requires people who have decided, “This is my church home, and I have a part to play here.”

As you can see on our Discipleship page, a church home gives you a place to belong, grow, serve, and be known. We live in a culture with endless options. If something doesn’t work for us, we can quickly find something else. That mindset can easily carry into church. We can consume different pieces of several churches and never really put down roots anywhere.

Christian community is deeper than that. Christian community calls us into relationship. At Bridgeway, one of our core values is Building Into One Another. Scripture repeatedly calls believers to love one another, serve one another, encourage one another, forgive one another, and spur one another toward love and good deeds. You cannot fully live out the “one anothers” from a distance. Having a church home means there are people you are committed to and people who are committed to you.

I recently met a woman who came to Bridgeway after spending a long time searching for a church home. She had visited churches, watched services online, and kept asking the same basic questions: Can I grow here? Can my family belong here? Can I see myself serving here?

Eventually, Bridgeway began to feel different. She stopped thinking of herself as a visitor and began thinking, “This is my church.” Partnership gave her a way to put that decision into action.

Today, she doesn’t simply attend on Sundays. She participates. She serves. She tithes. She has relationships with people in the church and understands how her gifts can contribute to what God is doing through Bridgeway. Church has become personal for her.

That is what happens when you pick up your piece of the net.

If you’re ready to explore partnership at Bridgeway, the process is designed to help you understand your faith and your place in the church.

Believers’ Baptism is an important step of obedience for followers of Jesus. Baptism is a public expression of the decision you have made to follow Christ.

S.H.A.P.E. Class helps you better understand how God has uniquely made and equipped you. Your Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences all contribute to the ways you can serve God and others. Pursuing partnership after you discover your S.H.A.P.E. gives you a tangible way to put those things to work alongside other believers.

Partnership Seminar helps you understand Bridgeway’s beliefs, mission, vision, values, and what it means to commit to this church family. It gives you an opportunity to understand the commitment you’re making rather than simply adding your name to a list.

Partnership isn’t about achieving a higher status at church. It’s a commitment to participate in the life and mission of the church you call home.

Maybe you’ve been attending Bridgeway for a few months. Maybe it has been a few years. Maybe you already tell people, “Bridgeway is my church,” but you’ve never taken the step toward partnership.

Consider whether now is the time.

There is a community to build into. 

There are bridges to build. 

There are people who need to know Jesus. 

There is ministry to be done.

And there’s a piece of the net with your name on it.