g                      i                      n                      k                      w                      o                      l                      d                      .                     n                     e            t  

00

[community]

01

[resources]

02

[your walk

 

 

helping to build community

emerging community resources

for your walk in faith

 HOME 

  

 

Eric Shanburn

Pastor

The Bridge – in Michigan 

 

add your site  

   

 

1. .  we ask this of everyone, how do you define the postmodern movement?

Great skepticism toward truth, organized anything, politics, religion, history, any claim to authenticity. Also a high value of authenticity, ironically. High value toward experience and the spiritual. I think we are still at the very beginnings of the Post-Modern age, so time will tell where we go from here.

 

2. .  how does tech fit into the worship at the bridge?

Tech stuff can help transform a place artistically. For instance, besides our light trees, we use slide projectors(2) to project pictures we have taken of old stain glass windows from older churches. this creates an ancient/modern feel. Of course we have a video projector/rear projection where we show our short films and stories from the lives of our people. We try to have a variety of music dynamics, sometimes big guitars and loud drums, sometimes more organic and unplugged.

 

3. .  how does the bridge reach the people they feel God is leading them to minister to?

For one example, last Labor Day weekend, we partnered with the City in its "Arts, Beats, & Eats" festival that draws a couple million people to downtown Pontiac, around the corner from where we meet! We took our service outdoors to the Pepsi Stage on Sunday morning during the fest and we developed and hosted an Independent Film Festival indoors throughout the weekend.

 

4. .  how important are small groups at the bridge?

We see small groups (we call them Community Groups or The CeeGee's) as key to accomplishing goal in deepening our spiritual lives and growing in our friendship with each other as well as with Christ. Although, we have struggled to get better involvement in them due to business of people and already over involved leaders.

 

5. .  what makes the bridge unique in the community?

We specifically target or appeal to artists and musicians. We are also unique in our young married majority, and just recently our baby boom. We also meet in a small downtown/urban area in the middle of Oakland County. Our people live anywhere's between 15 to 60 minutes from this downtown area.

 

6. what are the three largest concerns facing the bridge?

Becoming a Praying church and what that means for "postmoderns", also visitor retention and assimilation. Oh, and getting into our own bldg downtown instead of renting from an old Masonic Temple place.

 

7. .  as the bridge matures, what plans are there for planting other communities of faith?

Well, we have already had a couple churches that indirectly grew out of The Bridge. At some point we would like to intentionally plant churches as well.

 

Closing thoughts: I'd like to see us Postmodern churches and planters begin discussing Prayer and new paradigms of how to become a praying church and how to incorporate pre-Christians in that as well?

 

Eric Shanburn

Pastor

The Bridge – in Michigan

www.thebridgechurch.com