Evananetwork.org



Congregational Profile: LifeBridge Community ChurchPhysical Address—LifeBridge Community Church, 301 N. Wooster Ave., Dover, OH 44622Telephone—330-826-1509Website— Search Committee Chair—Kathy Neal (cell: 405-668-2403, email: threads301@)Regional Pastor—Matt Hamsher (cell: 330-749-9692, email: matt@)Interim Pastor—Dan Hooley (email: dan.lifebridge@)LifeBridge began as church plant supported by several local Mennonite churches in 2009. The founding pastor, Chet Eshleman served for 10 years as pastor and church planter until he stepped down in December 2018 to begin another church plant effort in Cincinnati, OH. The church grew from a few families to an average of 90 members attending Sunday morning worship services in 2019. Included in this average attendance are over fifty covenanted members, about twenty children, and many other attenders who want to know more about Jesus. Most of the congregation is Caucasian but there have been some Guatemalans who have attended the church and the church would welcome more racial/ethnic diversity. The congregation is a partner congregation with the Evana Network () with most members identifying as evangelical and/or Anabaptist. There is a wide range of theological perspectives represented in the congregation, education levels, and socio-economic status. The congregation is committed to uphold the Evana covenant while also providing space and grace for others to grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ from a variety of differing backgrounds and perspectives.The congregation has strong evangelical Anabaptist beliefs. However, they are also flexible in that they view a commitment to Christ as most important, followed by a commitment to their community of believers and the unique ministries offered by LifeBridge. They are open to pastoral candidates from outside Anabaptist traditions if they are able to sign the Evana covenant and support the ministries of LifeBridge. The congregation’s theological commitments are to the absolute authority of the Bible as God’s Word as well as the necessity of accepting Christ’s sacrifice for salvation.The vision of the congregation is to grow and flourish in their community, fostering a sense of family among their members (there are strong bonds within the church; members love spending time together and love inviting new people into the family) and being an example of Christ’s mercy and love to Dover and surrounding towns. Morale in the congregation is sound and relationships are more harmonious than in other churches as they genuinely seek community within the church. They like to think of themselves as open to new ideas and ways of doing things. Over the next five years, they would like to see an expanded children’s program as well as seeing more families joining the church. They anticipate continued growth in the areas in which they already have ministries and have unused space that can be used to accommodate an expansion of programming. They anticipate that their membership will continue to increase over the next five years as the congregation tends to be younger with very few senior citizens. Their ministries also tend to serve younger members of their community.LifeBridge’s pastor should be a shepherd who is able to care for the current members of the church (including the youth), while also being able to serve as a voice in the community. The pastor will ideally serve as both leader and counselor, as well as teacher. The pastoral tasks given the highest priority by the congregation include preaching, evangelism, ministry in the community, teaching, and administration. A successful pastoral candidate will be able to relate well to a wide variety of people, listening to them and loving them while leading the congregation by example in engaging the needs of the community, including inviting them to follow Jesus. The congregation is led by a Leadership Team made up of seven men and women. There is also a team of three trustees and five Worship Committee members. A few other ad hoc committees have been put together to work on things like the church constitution.Worship in the congregation is led by a worship band that plays mainly modern contemporary worship music and choruses with lyrics projected on a screen using PowerPoint. The worship band is fairly young and instruments include guitars, keyboard, and drums.There are no Adult Sunday School classes but there are small group opportunities. LifeBridge has struggled in the area of spiritual formation and would welcome some new energy and focus. Many deep and meaningful conversations do occur as the congregation spends time together. There are also multiple older Christians that care for and actively disciple younger Christians in the congregation. A men’s Bible study and a women’s recovery group both meet weekly. Many church members volunteer at the thrift store and with various other local ministries and outreach programs (preparing/serving meals at the homeless shelter, cleaning up homes, and offering mutual aid to support fellow church members).The church operates a thrift store in the basement with the proceeds going toward the launch of “Beneath the Shade,” a sober living house for women seeking freedom from addictions. The church has also developed a small space in the church building that could be operated as a coffeehouse. The thrift store is very active in the community and many people complete their community service hours at the store which gives church members a chance to love them and be a positive influence in their lives. They are also very intentional with relating and welcoming customers who come through the door. The store also gives a great deal of clothing and goods away to the local residential rehab center when women transition there who do not have anything. The store also has partnerships with a local Hispanic ministry and a local Head Start program to provide vouchers for clothing and household goods at low cost to at-risk populations. They also work with many women in recovery, helping them get set up in their new homes when they come out of rehab. Part of this help requires them to volunteer at the store for accountability and to be part of the process. LifeBridge has hosted a MOPS group and new families have sometimes joined through that ministry. The congregation has reached out to their local community by taking part in parades in Dover, a chocolate walk, a Christmas tour, and by volunteering at the homeless shelter and the local food bank. There is no systematic approach to making new disciples, but they do their best to love those who walk in their doors. Some might consider the congregation to be an odd mix of personalities, but there is a family feeling and it is natural to want to invite others into that. The congregation shares a meal together every Sunday after church and that also provides a great way to get to know new people and stay connected.The youth group is small but continues to be strong and close-knit. The youth meet every Wednesday and perform many support functions for the congregation. The congregation is supportive of the youth and would love to see the group grow.The church uses PowerPoint in worship but is not otherwise a very “techy” church. They own their own building. Originally a historic United Methodist Church and then a base for the Salvation Army, the church was originally built over a hundred years ago. A recent renovation in 2016 doubled the size of their worship space and added room for the thrift store in the basement. Additional rooms are available that are not currently being used. The amount owed on the renovation was $321,496 as of May 2020.Occupational Profile of Covenanted MembersEducational Level of AdultsCraftsman/laborer/operative15Up to and including high school70%Not currently employed12Some college or college graduate25%Business/manager/proprietor 7Graduate school 5%Homemaker 5Medical: doctor/nurse/administration 4Student/voluntary service 4Education/administration/teacher 2Clerical/sales 1Farmer/rancher 1Other professional 1Community ProfileDover is contiguous to New Philadelphia, the county seat. In 2018, the population of Dover was 12,755 and New Philadelphia was 17,417. After a period of growth in the 1990s and 2000s, the city population has declined slightly over the last ten years. The county is otherwise largely rural with a few other small towns. It is located 30 minutes south of Canton, OH, just under 2 hours west of Pittsburgh, PA, and just under 2 hours northeast of Columbus, OH. The racial composition of Dover is 94% white, 3% bi-racial, 1% African American, 1% Asian, and 1% other. Of these percentages, 5% also identify as Hispanic. The median age is 45. Dover is located just east of a large Amish-Mennonite community which is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state of Ohio. In many ways, Dover is typical of a small Midwestern town with the addition of being on the edge of Appalachia. The largest employers in Dover include Union Hospital and several manufacturing companies including Allied Machine and Engineering, Marlite, Zimmer Orthopedic, Greer Steel, and Arizona Chemical. There is a sizeable population of Guatemalan immigrants who moved into the area in order to find work in manufacturing and nearby food processing plants like Case Farms and Gerber Poultry. ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download