BridgePointe gives ten percent of its budget to support ministries that are expanding God's kingdom. BP's Outreach Leadership Team has provided the following updates and prayer points so that you can join in praying for our outreach partners.
Hopeville Church, Baltimore, MD
In October, BridgePointe sent a group of men to Hopeville Church to work on their new space they’re calling “The Motley.” Visit the project website and watch the video above to see their vision for the space and join them in praying for the following requests:
Pray for a successful campaign to fundraise for The Motley project. Pray for generous donations to come in and against the $30K matching gift they have.
Praise God with them for the four people who were baptized last month and pray for more to take this step of obedience and surrender to Jesus.
Join them in their prayer for more leaders and serve team members. Pray that the number of people serving at Hopeville would double in 2024.
NEU Church Planting
NEU’s mission is to plant churches in New England's poorest inner city communities. They are celebrating the launch of a church plant in Central Falls, Iglesia Cristiana Centrados en el Evangelio on November 19th! We are so happy for Jonathan Lugo and the friends we know who are founding members of the church.
Additionally, NEU is in the process of three growth steps: hiring a Director of Staff Development, hiring an assistant pastor for the Newport church plant, and seeking a pastor for what they hope will become a Boston church plant in the Roxbury/Dorchester/Mattapan area.
Join us in praying for their requests:
Pray for God's wisdom as they make decisions about new staff members, and join them in asking God to lead them to the right pastor for Boston.
Please pray earnestly for the spiritual protection of the new church in Central Falls, and for the leadership team: Jonathan, Tere, and Elizabeth.
Pray for the many new believers Iglesia Cristiana Centrados en el Evangelio will be baptizing on December 3. Pray for their encouragement and resolve to walk with Christ if doubts and discouragements come.
City Coast Church, Fairfield County, CT
City Coast is praying that this holiday season will give them a glimpse of their “reach” as a church. Their weekly attendance seems to hold in the 50-75 range even though more and more households are folding into the community. They feel like they’re reaching more people than they are regularly seeing.
Join them in praying for the following:
Pray that Christmas will be a season where they can see just how much their community has grown.
Pray that it will also be a season where people’s faith curiosity draws them to experience their church. Pray that they will see some tangible fruit of all their marketing efforts in the coming months.
Dave & Elizabeth, Middle East MissionS
Please note, due to the sensitivity of where Dave & Elizabeth serve as missionaries, we cannot provide specific details. Below is an update that Dave shared with us:
“We have now been in the country for seven months, with six months of language learning under our belts. Each of us is feeling the weight of our cross cultural transition in different ways. Some of us grieve not being with loved ones during the holidays, some of us feel like we don't have a stable sense of home and relationships, some of us are experiencing culture shock from positive and negative personal interactions with locals and some of feel the weight of expectations or the weight of family impact on the decision to move overseas. Through it all, God has been faithful in surrounding us with special local friends who remind us of the beauty of the culture and why we want to live here, expat friends who understand our struggles and care for us, and strong connections with our support network of family, friends and churches back in the States. Thus, God is sustaining us.”
Join them in praying for the following:
Pray for the family’s struggles with transition. Pray for them as parents to help their kids through these transitions.
Pray for continued grace in language learning for us and immersion school for the kids.
Pray for continued deepening of relationships with local friends and neighbors.
Pray for rest, for time to focus on our marriage and for spiritual wellbeing.
Pray for wisdom regarding safety and security in this volitile region of the world.
Harmony Women’s Care Center
This fall Harmony has continued to serve patients, provide pregnancy tests, support women in their choice to parent rather than have an abortion, and share the Gospel message with those who come through their doors. Here is a story they shared with us:
“We had some wonderful testimonies over the last three months. One of our patients, a young homeless woman, had just escaped a violent relationship and had nowhere to turn. She heard the Gospel message, received community referrals for support, and let us pray for her. She returned for her follow up appointment a week later with her mother accompanying her. After her initial appointment at Harmony, she reconciled with her parents and had moved back home. She stated that she had ‘seen our prayers work’ and was ready to accept Christ as her savior. We were able to pray with her for salvation, witness to her mother, and provided her with church referrals for her area. She was extremely thankful for our services and her life was completely changed.”
Praise God for testimonies like this one! Please join us in praying for the following:
Pray for Harmony’s patient numbers to continue to increase and for increased staff so we can expand our hours to reach even more women.
Please also pray for each and every woman who accepts Jesus and chooses life, both life for their baby and their new lives in Christ.
Sojourn Collegiate Ministry
Here is an update from Sojourn:
“At our Fall Retreat (Camp Sojourn) we brought close to 70 students across all Sojourn campuses, many of whom were attending for their first time. This weekend allowed students to connect and build trust with each other and learn more about Sojourn.
We’re in the process of planting a chapter at Providence College this fall. We’ve deeply connected with eight students and are beginning to meet and invest in their friends. We’re also connected and interacted with close to fifty students through passing out candy and asking questions. One student wants to start a small group with a few of her friends from school which is really exciting.
We have some students from Rhode Island that are considering interning with us next fall. It is so exciting to see God moving through this, and is a huge answered prayer to more staff on our campuses.”
Join them in praying for the following:
Pray for Sojourn’s student leaders and potential interns- that they could continue to invest and encourage them as they take steps towards where God is leading them.
Pray for growth at Providence College. They’re seeing God move in big ways as they connect with PC students, but don’t have a consistent space to gather with them that is near campus. Sojourn is in the process of potentially renting a space close to campus to use as a ministry hub for PC students. Please pray for this process, that they would see where God is at work, and have a space to invite students to, and to find people who are excited about partnering with this vision.
Pray for recent staff transitions- Chris Link is taking on the role of Executive Director starting in January- prayers for him as he steps into this new role and for the whole team as they adjust to new roles.
TAKE HOLD SCOTLAND
Paul and Angela Richardson have moved with their family to Scotland to plant a church where less than 1% profess faith in Jesus. Here is the update they shared with us.
“We have had three services and had new faces each time. We are not blowing the doors off, but we are encouraged. We are encouraged mostly by the fact that our church has been made up of people who are not in church, and many who don’t know Christ at all are coming from personal invitations.”
Join them in praying for the following:
Pray for their “Welcome to Church” environment geared to newcomers
Pray for Angela after the death of her father this fall. It has been really tough, but also the beginning of healing after a long journey. My sons are doing well. Living in Europe has created some opportunities for them to travel, which they love. They are both actively engaging in the ministry here, which greatly blesses me. All in all, we are getting our feet under us. Last week, we welcomed a new couple who completed their fundraising journey and have just moved out.
Tanner Green, Orchard Group
Tanner Green is the regional director for Orchard Group, an organization working since 1948 to connect church planters and generous partners to establish churches in cities. Tanner is celebrating that a new church is coming to New England in 2024 in Brunswick, ME. He’s grateful for this new church to join Beacon Church in NH (2 years old) and City Coast in CT (1 year old) as new work in New England.
Join Tanner in praying for the next New England church planter.
There’s a potential church planter in Boston, please pray for wisdom, guidance, and timing.
Together With Love
Together with Love is dedicated to working with the community to advocate and care for those impacted by sexual exploitation.
They share that they continue to create hundreds of care bags for women on the streets, reach hundreds of people with community awareness events, they have trained two interns and are growing their list of partner organizations. They are very encouraged by the participation of the body of Christ in their work, especially, for those whose willingness to share, give, pray, and volunteer has allowed them to accomplish so much. They have shared the following prayer requests with us:
Join them in praying for the eradication of sex trafficking and for freedom from those who are enslaved by it. Pray for the power of Christ to break through the hearts of all - victims, buyers, and traffickers.
Pray for unity amongst the team as they go out on the streets in situations where they need to make quick decisions that balance their safety with the needs of the women they are serving.