About The Bridge Christian Church

At the Bridge, Community is Key. Worship at The Bridge includes singing, dancing, drumming, painting, writing, lauging, crying, praying, learning, teaching, and even just listening.

We try to open ourselves up to full creativity, full giving of ourselves in worship to God, and see what God speaks back to us as individuals. People are not only allowed, but encouraged to worship in whatever way they want.

You deserve to be loved because you exist. And that love has to come without a price tag!

The Bridge's Story

Where We Came From

In 1998 my husband Ken and I and our friend Crystal Ward started The Bridge. Having left a large suburban church in Seattle where Ken was one of fifteen pastors, we were ready for something different. We had so many friends in Seattle that couldn’t make it in the traditional church setting. We brought them to Sunday meetings and it never worked out. We were trying to figure out how to do a sub-church or a house church when our senior pastor suggested that we go start something on our own. As we were researching our options I received a call from Portland. “We heard that you are starting a church soon. We had a community here that dissolved because no one would take responsibility for us. Would you come here for us?” I couldn’t believe my ears. Talk about a call from God! As it turned out this community was much like our Seattle community, young, talented and very broken.

We sold our beautiful suburban home and moved to Portland using our profit to create The Bridge. Ken and I and Crystal came to the table with our core values. We encouraged the people of The Bridge created the rest of the church in a way that made sense to them. It looked much like a nightclub, sans alcohol. It was dark, loud, with lots of dancing. Artful media presentations illustrated sermons.

Since then The Bridge has had a few different incarnations but we are still the same at our core. We believe that people should be loved just because they exist and that love should come without a pricetag. Are we evangelical? Absolutely. It just looks different than the typical presentation of four spiritual laws. Our desire is that all should come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and learn how to live a God honoring life. We believe that you cannot possibly love God whom you cannot see without loving your neighbor who you can see (1 John).

Who We Are

We are artists, musicians, dancers, and writers who love God passionately. Our call is to the poor and disenfranchised of this city. We seek racial and cultural diversity. We love single moms and their children. We have a natural affinity to the young who do not or cannot fit into their parents’ churches. We love them and they love us. We feed the poor every Sunday with a large donation of groceries from Trader Joes. On the last Sunday of each month we all sit down together for a community meal. 

The Bridge also believes in mission outside of our immediate community. We host a monthly social event called Shaken and Stirred. Many people who would never step inside a church attend this event to hear about humanitarian causes being addressed by Christian organizations, mostly overseas. People donate money and we place it in the hands of Christians. The artists of The Bridge do a semi-annual event called Art for Aid. We donate our artwork to this event and it is then auctioned off. The money goes to causes like The Invisible Children or aids relief in Africa.

What We Have Done in the Past

In the past we have hosted many classes for the community to better their standing in life. Here are a few: FAFSA information, assistance in filling out school loan applications, Moms/Dads play groups for toddlers, how to do college for free (grant info), communication class, pre-marriage, marriage support, how to buy a house, childraising classes, debt management, life skills, resume’class, music lessons, song writing, art classses, writers classes, personal boundaries class, telling yourself the truth class, and and many more.

Of course, we have had numerous Bible studies: men’s group, women’s group, youth group, Christian Ethics class, Inductive Bible Study class, preaching classes, study in the Book of John, the book of James, I John, Twenty Third Psalm, the Exodus, the Ten Commandments, and Red Letter Tuesday (we study Jesus words only). As you can guess this list could go on forever. In nine years we have had over five hundred creative and impactful Sunday sermons as well.

We had a strong homeless ministry for about five years averaging around 30 to 40 each Sunday. My husband has since left The Bridge to plant a church downtown among the young homeless and most of them now meet downtown with Ken. HomePDX, as it is called, was The Bridges first church plant. Our second plant, The Nameless Church in Vancouver, WA, went out in March. Our third plant is now in process in Manhattan, New York and we have another church starting in September in Sacramento, CA.

What We Need

We need a facility for Sundays and we would like to have it for the entire day. We also would like to use the space quarterly for a fund raising event on Saturdays. This time could be somewhat flexible. In the long run we are looking for a permanent home of our own so that we can expand the witness of Jesus Christ and become more effective in the community without having to worry about where we are to go next. So if you feel led.. please Donate today! We have made it easy for you please press the Donate Button at the top right of the page.