Bridge Church in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., celebrated moving its worship services to the gymnasium of Fort Saskatchewan Christian School in September, a step toward community-engaged ministry from a future site called the Bridge Commons. The first phase of construction for the five-year-old church plant’s model is scheduled to be completed late 2025.
“The idea is that we are not building a single-use church building,” said Pastor Ryan Pedde. “We are exploring ways to partner with other community leaders, local nonprofits, and various levels of government to build something that will bless the community in ways a church building cannot. Our dream is to engage every sphere of our city.” The name Bridge Commons reflects the idea of a multi-use community space.
As plans are underway for the new build, the school gymnasium is a temporary home for the growing church, which experienced 20 adults and nine children’s baptisms this past year. Pedde said Bridge is the first church group to partner with the school district in this way.
They worshiped there for the first time Sept. 8, a long way from the church’s beginnings of a dozen people meeting in living rooms, as Pedde described it. “It’s amazing to see how God can take a dream and not only make it a reality, but make it beyond anything that we could have hoped for,” Pedde said.
Bridge Church began as a small group of families from Fort Saskatchewan who were commuting to Bethel Community Church in Edmonton and dreamed of planting a church in their own city. In 2013 Bethel’s leadership created a strategic plan that included launching a new church. After prayerful consideration, Fort Saskatchewan was selected as the location.
The initial group had grown by the fall of 2018 and had “as many as 50 people cramming into each (of two) House Church(es) for Sunday gatherings” (bridgechurch.ca/our-story) until Bridge Church officially launched weekly services in Fall 2019 at the Dow Centennial Centre. Later that year, they moved into a new, renovated campus in the Ross Creek Professional Centre. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bridge Church adapted and even hosted a drive-in Easter service in 2020 that drew hundreds in person and thousands online.
About the Author
Dan Veeneman works in the dairy industry as a ventilation specialist. He lives in Abbotsford, B.C., with his wife and three children. He is a member of Gateway Community Church.