Why do “bridge” events?

“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew…To those not having the law I became like one not having the law …To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

We’re having an Easter egg hunt on Saturday, April 23rd and we’re inviting the whole city to attend! It’s going to be pretty amazing.

The day will include:

• An egg hunt with 10,000 filled eggs!
• Easter bunny arriving by helicopter to start the hunt!
• Wilson Fire Dept. Ladder Truck #1 on site.
• Wilson Police Dept. offering Child I.D. program
• Wilson County Sheriff Dept. vehicles
• Wilson County EMS/EMT Services vehicles
• Free hotdogs, drinks and cotton candy
• Games (Corn Hole, Basket Toss, Cake Walk, … many more.)
• Children’s crafts (Cross necklaces, Cross key chains, etc.)
• Guess the number of Jelly Beans (prize given for winner)

Sometimes people ask us why a church would sponsor such a day. That’s a good question. Why go to all the trouble and expense to attract a crowd and just give everything away?

We call events like this “bridge events.” These events are designed to build a bridge between our church and the city to which we’ve been called. Our vision for bridge events is stated as follows:

“Building a bridge of trust that will bear the weight of truth.”

What we hope to do is make friends with our community, letting them know that we love them and are willing to serve them. Some have called events like these “pre-evangelism” events. That’s a pretty good description. What we hope is that people will come to our new campus, feel the friendship and excitement of being around authentic Christ-followers, and then be willing to visit one of our worship services at WCC. That’s where we’ll tell them all about Jesus.

We’re not the originators of bridge building as a preparation for gospel sharing. The apostle Paul described his willingness to communicate the gospel into the culture to which he was called. He said he was willing to “become all things to all men so that by all possible means” he might save some.

We could just stay in our comfort zones and expect people to come to us, but we’ve decided to be a church that is willing to speak the language of our culture. We do this as prayerfully and wisely as we can, balancing our freedom to engage the culture with our responsibility to be salt and light. But we’re also willing to stretch ourselves and challenge our comfort zones as we seek to build a bridge to those who need to hear about the love of Christ.