Mission Statement: Building Bridges for Christ in All We Do
Seek Others Welcome All Grow in Faith
Serve the Church, the Community and the World
BridgeView started as a new United Methodist church on the west side of Norman in 2000 in Truman Elementary school cafeteria. We grew and in 2002 reached our 100 member mark and were able to charter and become officially part of the United Methodist church. In 2006 we purchased 30 acres on Indian Hills between 36th & 48th St. on the border of Moore and Norman. We have recently completed our Capital Capaign, "Building a Home for All People" that will enable us to break ground early 2011 on BridgeView's new home.
At BridgeView we believe in building bridges. We want to connect people to God and to one another. In a time when so much negativity in some of our churches and culture wars divide us we think the church ought to be about trying to find common ground in Jesus Christ so we can better serve and honor Him. While issues of theology and values are important and worthy of discussion, we believe our priority as Christ's church is to love others as professed in I John 4:11: “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.” (NRSV). We put this love into practice by building bridges that help lead people to Christ, we believe all are children of God and are welcome here.
BridgeView is also a church of people who actively seek truth and realize the world and all its problems are not black and white. There is plenty of gray in the world, so we don't want you to check your brain at the door. We are thinking Christians who don’t believe science and faith have to be exclusive. We desire to be faithful to our Christian heritage and to be open to the new ways God is moving and speaking in the world today. Jesus said, "The first [commandment] is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" We believe these to be central to Christian faith and practice. These are best illustrated in stories from the Bible such as the prodigal son (Luke 15:11), the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25) and in Matthew 25:40 when Jesus tells his followers that when you care for the least in society you are caring for him. We believe Church should be something we are and do, rather than just a place we go to on Sundays.
We invite you to join us in this journey to build bridges and to connect people to God and one another. We hope you will join us for worship this Sunday!
Grace and peace
