Bridges Community Church Los Altos

All of us, in one way or another, are able to communicate. Even babies can get their ideas across with cries or gestures. But why did God give us this ability? What is it for? Can we misuse it? This week, we'll study the power of words, their purpose, and the proper way to use them.

For some, working with children feels like a natural calling, while for others, it's not so instinctive. The truth is, God calls all of us to be involved in stewarding the children in our community. This week, we’ll explore this shared responsibility, the path it leads us on, and how we can remain faithful in guiding the next generation with purpose and perseverance.

For some, a job is just a way to pay the bills. Others seem to have a career that perfectly fits their talents, skills, and personality. Whether you work to live or live to work, the truth is, work is an unavoidable and significant part of the human experience. This week, we’ll take a look at how work is part of God’s design and how we can better steward our work, and God-given talents, from the t...

Perhaps more than any other gift, we are aware that the time given to us is limited. We only have so many days on this earth. But how to use them well? This week, we’ll study why God gives us time, how to use it well, and what it looks like to waste it.

As we come to the close of our study of 1 Corinthians, chapter 16 is one that some of us may be tempted to skip. It's largely a list of personal greetings, sprinkled with a few petitions. However, this chapter clues us into the importance of connection with others and what is necessary to form them and keep them.

Merry Christmas Eve! Join us tonight at 5:00pm for our annual Christmas Eve Service. Come light candles, sing familiar carols, read the Christmas story, and hear a message from Pastor Dan. All are welcome, and childcare will be available for ages 0-3 in the nursery.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a bottomless wealth of hope with significance for all of our lives. This week, as we study the longest single text explaining its meaning, we’ll see its wondrous implications and how it fulfills our deepest longings.

Love is harder than we think. Of course we love our family, our friends, and those who treat us well. We love nice people. But Jesus says everybody naturally does that anyway (Matt. 5:47). That’s not hard. People love people who love them. The real question is, will we also love those who harm us? Will we keep on loving even when it means bearing burdens we would rather not be bothered with? Will...

We are often impressed by people who seem “gifted.” Whether it’s in sports, business, crafts, music, comedy, or something else, there are some people who stand out from everyone else. But what does that mean for us “normal” people? Do we have gifts as well? If so, where do they come from, and what is their purpose? This week, we’ll study Paul’s instructions regarding spiritual gifts, why God gives...

Sometimes we encounter a biblical passage that seems confusing or even contradictory to other biblical passages. These comments from Paul regarding women in the church might likely be among them. But as we will see this week, his comments have contemporary significance, are not what they may seem on face value, and might, just perhaps, show us something important about God.

The cup and the bread—timeless symbols instituted into church practice by Christ Himself. In some Christian traditions, communion takes a central role in each service, while other traditions seem to minimize it. But what was it like in the early church? This week, we’ll study the early practice of communion and see how it outshines even the greatest of Thanksgiving feasts.

Nothing can make us desire great leaders quite as quickly as experiencing bad ones. But what exactly makes the difference? Are there certain qualities that great leaders share? Does God have a design for leadership? This week, we’ll study two contrasting styles of leadership, the role each of us can play regardless of our official title, and the ultimate litmus test for any leader.

One reason why the book of James is so challenging and practical is that it lays out a series of tests that are designed to help us understand what authentic Christianity looks like in action, so that we may then examine our own lives and faith to see how we measure up. And according to James, one of the things that a living, genuine faith ought to produce within us is Christlike compassion—the wa...

Christians don’t always agree on debatable moral issues, and we can struggle even more in how to treat people who don’t see them the same way that we do. But we’re not left without guidance. This week, we’ll study a murky moral issue in the first century church and how Paul instructed them to navigate it. Not only can his teaching help us better relate to one another, but it can be a powerful witn...

When Christianity burst onto the scene, it upended existing views of both singleness and marriage. For the first time, single people were an esteemed demographic in a community, and marriage took on a new depth of meaning. This week, we’ll study God’s good design for singleness, sex, and marriage, and how it (still) applies to our lives today.

We all, at times, can become discouraged by the darkness we see in our modern world and wonder if it will ever get better. The good news? The letter to the Corinthians provides us with surprising hope. They faced a culture far more immoral than ours, yet they laid the groundwork for a dramatic future renewal. This week we’ll see where Paul instructed them to begin and what it means for us today.

While most people would agree that our world is broken, they may not all agree on how to fix it. Nevertheless, this week’s Scripture passage gives us a great foundation and framework from which to have such discussions, as it reminds us of the ultimate plan of God, the purpose of God behind His plan, why some reject that plan while others accept it, and why it all matters for us today.

Division in the church is nothing new. It goes all the way back to the earliest gatherings of Christians, but that doesn’t mean that division is inevitable. This week we will see how Paul addresses the problem with the church in Corinth, and his prescription for creating unity when we disagree.

Good. True. Right. Faithful. Honorable. Trustworthy. Admirable. We likely know people who live up to these characteristics, and we hope to be among them. But how are they actually developed in us—especially when some amount of corruption seems so much easier? This week we will see God’s desire to develop goodness and faithfulness in us, and how He accomplishes it.

Jesus is meek, gentle, and humble of heart. But also . . . He confronts various people with some of the strongest language in Scripture. What are we to make of this? Is there some way the two images of Jesus can fit together? And how does Jesus’ behavior inform our own? When God develops gentleness in us, is it void of any severity? This week we’ll see the kindness in all of Jesus’ language and wh...

The process of the fruit of God’s Spirit developing in your life is not a quick one. It would be wonderful if we could pray one day to have no more problems with, say, anger, selfishness, materialism, envy, or lust, and then when you woke up the next day those things were completely gone. However, we know from personal experience that it doesn’t work that way. And yet God continues to patiently an...

Our world so often seems marked with conflict—conflict at home, conflict at work, conflict on the national stage. Many voices call for peace, but how do we actually get there? This week, we’ll see the resources God’s Spirit gives us to create peace in our conflicted time.

While we often cannot change our circumstances, Scripture often speaks of finding joy in the midst of them. This week we will explore one of the passages that speaks of a joy available to us, regardless of level of difficulty that we're facing. We'll discover Paul's source of joy that was so deep, it couldn't be shaken.

One of our deepest desires is to know that we are loved. When we have it, we can step out into the world with confidence even when we face seemingly unsurmountable challenges. When we lack it—when we feel rejected or unwanted—we can become riddled with insecurities. This week, we'll see the unconditional love of God, how we can be certain of it, and how it transforms us to love others.

Many of us desire more peace, joy, and patience in our lives, and we hope to remove things like jealousy, rage, and bitterness from our hearts. But how can it actually happen? It seems we need more than new behaviors, we need some of the deepest corners of our souls rewired. And what is powerful enough to give us that? This week, we begin a new series on the fruit of God’s Spirit—how it grows with...