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Building Bridges

What is Building Bridges Inside and Out?

Simply put, “Bridges Inside” means greater unity, organization and reliance on the Holy Spirit among our various “tribes” at Valley Church. And “Bridges Out” means a more unified, organized and reliant church working TOGETHER to spread the good news of Jesus to the lost and perishing “mainland” surrounding our “island.”

Building Bridges comes down to three bullets:

  • All our people GROWING in groups
  • Our groups SHOWING God’s love; and
  • Our church KNOWING how God is working

Here’s some more info on each bullet:

Bullet #1: All our people GROWING in groups: We’ll continue to gently nudge every person to join a DISCIPLE Group for “personal-connection koinonia” — i.e., studying, praying, sharing burdens and rejoicing together.” You can help in three ways: (1) join a group (this includes youth Life Groups, you Teenagers); (2) notice who isn’t in a group and invite them to yours; and/or (3) lead or host a group in your home.

Bullet #2: Our groups SHOWING God’s love: We will be asking each DISCIPLE Group to add “shared-project koinonia,” to their “personal-connection koinonia,” by partnering at some appropriate level with a Showing project. Here are five projects that we’re particularly excited about:

  1. Alpha/Reasonable Faith (Steve Meyer, Susie Morales, Leonard Brunk and Andy Wu)
  2. Tennis and Sports Ministry (Thomas Sorrentino)
  3. International Student Fellowship (ISF) (welcome dinners, weekly meetings and friendship partners) (Terry Yu and Gary Claassen)
  4. Children’s Ministry outreach events (STEM Fair, Angel Breakfast, Bunny Breakfast, VBS and Camps) (Louise Winsor)
  5. Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) (Allison Thomasson)

However, your group might have its own ideas about how to show God’s love together. That’s just great.

Bullet #3: Our church KNOWING how God is working: We want to multiply the number of live testimonies, interviews, videos, pictures and reports of what the Holy Spirit is doing in and through the Valley Church family for the “glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:11). Praise stories will be told regularly in worship services and at Celebration Lunches on November 10, 2019, and April 5, 2020.  So, please help us by being on the lookout for God-at-work stories. When you see the Holy Spirit’s presence in a person, group or project, please tell a staff member.

What’s the Ministry Fair all about? It’s a way to learn about our many other Showing and Serving Ministries. So, on Sunday, 9/15/19, our various ministries will spread out on the quad and share about what they do. You can stroll around, ask questions and get inspired.

What is the “Acting Out” preaching series? Starting on September 22, 2019, we’ll be doing a ten-week sermon series from Acts, an action-packed narrative featuring the Holy Spirit working powerfully in and through ordinary people like us.

What’s our curriculum plan for groups? In the spirit of uniting our “island,” we’ll be inviting all our groups to learn from the same material for eight weeks, starting September 22. The study we’ve chosen is called “Go Fish” and it’s by Pastor Andy Stanley. If you’re not in a group, please talk to Pastor Andy Drake or Pastor Steve Noble.

I want to do Showing projects by myself, with my family and with my group. How do I know what’s going on so I can sign up? Great! Please email Julia at julia@valleychurch.org and subscribe to the Showing/Serving group. You’ll get a bi-monthly email from Valley Church Community with the latest opportunities. You can sign up online. You can opt out anytime.

You can also contact the following Showing/Serving Project leaders directly.

  1. ALPHA/REASONABLE FAITH–To help with Alpha set up, clean up and meals, contact Darren Seitz at darrens@valleychurch.org.
  2. TENNIS AND SPORTS MINISTRY–To help with Tennis/Sports ministry, contact Pastor Thomas Sorrentino at thomas@valleychurch.org.
  3. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FELLOWSHIP (ISF)–To help with International Student Fellowship (ISF) (welcome dinners, weekly meetings and friendship partners), contact Gary Claassen at gclaassen@isionline.org.
  4. CHILDREN’S MINISTRY OUTREACH EVENTS–To help with Children’s Ministry outreach events, contact Louise Winsor at louise@valleychurch.org.
  5. Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS)—Ladies, to take care of adorable infants and preschool children who never fuss, cry or make a peep : ), please reach out to Allison Thomasson at mops@valleychurch.com.

We’re weak, but He’s strong. How can our church be more reliant on the Lord? We’re recommitting to calling out to God at the monthly Sunday Night Prayer Gathering. In addition to our wide-ranging prayers, we’ll focus each month on a specific Showing project or serving team. We’ll hear from and pray for the team members as they carry out their bridge-building.