Bridgetown
Church,

It has been such a memorable year in the life of our church, highlighted by key signs of life in our church body. We welcomed in new brothers and sisters among us through salvation and baptism, while also deepening our commitment to community and values of prayer and justice.

All throughout the year, but most notably on Easter Sunday when we baptized 25 people, we heard beautiful stories of individuals choosing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus through Alpha courses, moments of decision on Sundays, and through prayer and relationship to those in our church.

Additionally, we made the value of “church around the table” the center of our vision series this fall, which focused on the robust, biblical call to community. Over the course of the last year, we welcomed more than 250 new people into Bridgetown communities through Basics, meaning that 1,500 people now gather in 125 Bridgetown Communities in homes scattered throughout the city of Portland each week. Participation in a Bridgetown Community is the key indicator an individual is choosing, not just to attend worship gatherings, but to actively practice the way of Jesus together in Portland. Seeing a record number of individuals and Communities active today is such an indicator of the resilient commitment to apprenticing under Jesus that is alive in our church. Equally, discipleship is happening among our kids with the addition of new classrooms on Sundays and Family Guides offered midweek, equipping parents to practice the way of Jesus together with their children.

In 2023, we continued to grow and broaden our culture of prayer by running two Prayer Rooms dedicated to night and day prayer, birthing an inner healing prayer ministry, and deepening our practice of response prayer in Sunday gatherings. One of the key life signs in Bridgetown Church today is that a readiness to respond actively and receive prayer communally does not ebb and flow with a particular Sunday’s teacher or topic but is a constant and consistent practice.

Finally, it has been a year of exponential growth in our outward expression of justice and mercy to our neighbors. We started a monthly Feast, breaking bread as equals with the hungry in our city as an expression of our Sunday worship, and, in Tre’ Giles and Shaundre’ Horne, we integrated into our team two full-time, local pastors focused on justice.

It is such an honor to participate in Bridgetown Church, and to be among those who shepherd such a lively, deep church is an unspeakable joy. We are filled with gratitude to be with one another on this journey behind Jesus.

Tyler Staton

Lead Pastor, on behalf of the Elder Board

Pam McConnell

Board Chair, on behalf of the Board of Directors

Financial
Report

FY 22/23 Income & Expense Summary

We thank God for his continued provision through your incredible generosity throughout 2023. As a result of your giving we’ve been able to see extraordinary growth in our Communities, Youth, and Kids ministries. In addition, we were able to move our Feasts to a monthly cadence, serve our city and Justice partners at scale like never before, facilitate two focused 24-7 Prayer Room seasons, and open our new Bridgetown Justice and Mercy Center in Southeast Portland. The following represents a pre-review summary of income and corresponding expenses for our fiscal year, Oct 2022 – Sept 2023.

Total Giving

$5,030,362

Total Income

$5,222,049

Includes $191,687 of other income

$1,109,990

Total Ministry Expenses

$533,768 

Internal Ministry

Ministry Expenses include but are not limited to: Kids, Youth, Young Adults, Women, Practicing The Way Courses, Bridgetown Communities, Alpha, Alpha Marriage, Living Waters and more.

$576,222

Justice & Mercy

10% of every dollar goes directly to our justice and mercy efforts and those of our partners. Any remaining funds at the end of the fiscal year are kept in a reserve for future justice initiatives.

$2,344,034

Personnel Expenses

Personnel Expenses include but are not limited to: Wages, salaries, and payroll taxes for all staff and benefits for full-time staff.

$1,228,346

Facilities & Operating Expenses

Facilities & Operating Expenses include, but are not limited to: Mortgage interest, utilities, insurance, office equipment, etc. It also includes building and grounds maintenance in the current year as well as planned allocations for significant capital maintenance (e.g., roof replacement, parking lot repairs, heating and cooling systems, etc.) required in the coming years.

$539,679

Mortgage Principal Paydown

By God’s grace and with your support, this year we were able to expedite paying off our building’s outstanding mortgage balance, bringing the balance down to $961,013 as of December 31, 2023. We purchased our building in January 2019 and then performed substantial and necessary renovations. The mortgage balance reflects what remains from the original purchase price and the costs of those early renovations. Not only does an expedited loan payoff save the church a lot of money that would otherwise go toward interest, being completely debt free will enable us to allocate even more of our resources to ministry and justice efforts every month.

The following figures cover our special Christmas Giving campaigns and the special initiatives to which they are dedicated. Giving and expenses related to these campaigns are recorded outside our annual budget.

$438,440

Christmas Giving Campaign 2022

$113,392

Christmas Giving Expenses

Last year’s Christmas Giving Campaign allowed us to make necessary improvements to our Bridgetown Kids space, facilitate more justice initiatives from within Bridgetown, and collaborate financially with our justice partners. The remaining balance is being utilized for construction of expanded justice partners space and Bridgetown Kids classrooms at NE Tillamook St.

* Note the rest is planned to be spent in FY 23/24

$336,635

Christmas Giving 2023

For this latest campaign, we had three focuses centering on the emerging generation: carrying out our downstairs construction project to expand our kids classroom capacity by 50%, bringing needed technical support to our growing youth ministry at our Southeast Bridgetown Justice and Mercy Center, as well as launching a Pastoral Fellowship program. Above and beyond normal tithes and giving, you have given more than $336,635 toward this campaign, allowing us to take action in each of these areas. Barring unforeseen scheduling setbacks, we anticipate our downstairs renovation project wrapping up in mid-summer 2024.