The Bridge Bible Fellowship
Our Beginnings
Shepherd's Community Church was founded in 1984, as the result of a church split caused by the original church's unwillingness to adhere to Evangelical doctrine. Shepherd's Community Church originally met in the backyard of one of its members and then began to rent space at various schools until June of 1998 when we purchased our present facility.
Our Senior Pastors
Since the founding of the church there were two senior pastors who faithfully served our congregation. The first pastor, Doug Thompson, was on staff at Grace To You, the radio ministry of Pastor John MacArthur. Pastor Thompson served first on a part-time basis and later was hired full-time so that he could devote himself to the ministry. He began our affiliation with the Evangelical Free Churches of America, changing the name to Shepherd's Evangelical Free Church. He served faithfully for six years until he was called to pastor another congregation in Northern California. In September of 1990, Pastor Paul Brown was called to serve as the Senior Pastor. When the church moved to its own facility in 1998 the name of the church was changed back to Shepherd's Community Church.
Heart of the Valley...........................
In 2007, Shepherd's Community Church merged with Heart of the Valley to form The Bridge Bible Fellowship.
The Evangelical Free Church Of America
The Evangelical Free Church is an association of more than 1000 autonomous churches joined together by common purposes, principles, and practices. The Free Church also includes a worldwide ministry of more than 600 churches on 12 mission fields.
EVANGELICAL refers to our commitment to the authority of Scripture as being inerrant in the original autographs and the only safe and sufficient guide to faith and practice.
FREE at Shepherd's refers to the willing submission of the congregation to the Elder's leadership and authority. Free Churches depend upon the active participation of laypeople in the decisions and directions of the local church. All Evangelical Free churches are autonomous which means that the denomination has no authority over the individual churches.
The Evangelical Free Church of America was formed by the merger of two church bodies in 1950, The Swedish Evangelical Free Church and The Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association. The combined church consisted of 275 congregations after the merger, thus vastly increasing the potential for ministry.
The Home Missions efforts (Missions to reach the United States) of the Free Church in America began in 1950 with 275 churches and now has over 1250 churches with a combined membership of over 239,000 constituents. At the present growth rate of one new free church every week there will be 2000 Evangelical Free congregations by the year 2000. This number includes church plants as well as established congregations joining the Evangelical Free Church Of America.
Along with Home Missions the Evangelical Free Church has 12 missions fields outside of the United States which include: Zaire, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Japan, Austria, Philippines, Peru, Malaysia, Belgium, Singapore, Germany, and Brazil. Like that of Home Missions, the goal of Cross Cultural Missions is to plant churches and give existing evangelical congregations resources to further their ministry.
Beyond the Home and Cross Cultural Missions effort, The Evangelical Free Church Of America gives access to numerous support ministries which are not enjoyed by independent congregations. Examples of these include assistance to local congregations with evangelism, church planting, church growth, Christian education, youth ministries, camps, short and long term missions projects, men's and women's ministries, pastors retreats, and many others. Specialized assistance is also available to any congregation in need of finances for church construction, mediation in church discipline and conflict resolution situations, as well as a ministerial association which assists in the licensing and ordination of pastors within the Free church.
The Free church is not only involved in local church ministries but also is involved in higher education and various care institutions. The higher education institutions include Trinity Evangelical Seminary and Trinity College which are both located in Deerfield, Illinois, and Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia. The Seminary is one of the largest in the nation, and enjoys a worldwide reputation for its' evangelical commitment and outstanding scholarship, which trains pastors and theologians to equip the saints within the local church. Trinity College and Trinity Western University offer a four year liberal arts education as well as graduate schools, with a commitment to academic excellence, biblical authority and Christian life style. The care institutions of the Free church include senior citizen and nursing homes as well as homes for children in various parts of the country.
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