The Bridge Church held its grand opening service Sunday at the Alexander House, the new location for the weekend service.
Since being launched in August 2007, The Bridge Church has finally found a permanent meeting place for its Sunday services-the Alexander House.
The interdenominational Christian church held its grand opening Feb. 10 with an estimated 35 people in attendance, according to Josh Parson, staff member for the church. Services have been held at other Miami University buildings, such as the Shriver Center Multipurpose Room and Sesquicentennial Chapel, but this marks the first time The Bridge has moved off campus.
The Bridge Pastor Chad Moore said the Alexander House is a great location for the church because everyone knows where it is, it is close to many bus stops and it is the middle ground where the campus meets the community.
According to Moore, the grand opening was a normal church service, hoping to maintain the typical church atmosphere.
"We didn't want to go changing things around too much," Moore said.
The permanent move to the Alexander House is a symbolic step for The Bridge, which is planning on going from a campus ministry to a communitywide ministry in April, Moore said. The church hopes to serve as a "bridge" between the Oxford and Miami communities.
"Many students come here and don't get to know any of the people who live in Oxford and many of them don't get to know students," Moore said. "We hope to be able to bring both sides together."
Parson said one of the appealing characteristics of the Alexander House, apart from its location, is that it is not open for business Sundays.
"We were looking for a place to meet and found the Alexander House to be a good fit because we wouldn't be putting them out at all," Parson said. "We called the owners and pretty soon we had the place rented out."
Moore agreed and said the owners of the Alexander House have been very helpful to the church. "The owners have been amazing to us," he said. "They have helped us work out the details of bringing our church there and they are some of the best people in Oxford if you ask me."
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The Bridge adds another place for worship among Oxford's numerous local churches. And for Karen Bernard, reverend for Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, this is positive thing.
"Anything that helps bring people closer to God is a good thing," she said. "If it does that, then we're going to be fortunate."
Apart from Sunday services, The Bridge Church holds events and meetings at its main office, a house located at 210 Tallawanda Rd. Community and student led groups are held during the week to give students an opportunity to connect with each other.
Moore said the most successful events for the church have been the Coffee House Wednesdays, also located at The Bridge Church House.
"It's just a time for students to come and hang out and fellowship together," he said.
When The Bridge Church goes communitywide in April, it will be sponsoring more events that will be announced in the near future.
"We really believe the move to the Alexander House will make a huge impact," Parson said. "The goal has been to get the campus and community to interact with each other and this is a big step."
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