Bridge of Peace, Camden, New Jersey

www.bridgeofpeace.com

One hundred forty‑seven global prayer partners prayed Bridge of Peace Lutheran Church into being! Mission developer Wolfgang Herz‑Lane organized a visioning group—the “Dream Team”—and recruited the pray-ers six months before the congregation's 2000 opening. He asked friends and colleagues for the names of 10 people each willing to pray once weekly for a year for Bridge of Peace. Herz-Lane then kept them up-to-date on progress and needs through newsletters and e-mail updates.

The congregation's sanctuary is located near a bridge connecting historically African‑American and white neighborhoods in one of the poorest and most violent cities in the United States. Bridge of Peace, organized in 2007, has grown into a neighborhood connector by nurturing relationships with the community, 18 Mission Partners, the New Jersey Synod, and the larger ELCA.

The synod prepared for five years to open Bridge of Peace by retaining a closed church building and providing neighborhood canvassing training. The ELCA Churchwide office and synod provided mission developer funding. Mission Partners sent supplies and money. Bridge of Peace received $89,000 in gifts its first year, including $15,000 from a synod congregation. The synod provided $90,000 for renovations.

Today, Bridge of Peace serves a congregation that is 25 percent each African‑American, Latino, mixed ethnicity, and white. Congregation members speak Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Worship services are conducted in all three languages.

“This congregation asks, 'If Bridge of Peace disappeared, would it be missed?'” said the Rev. Giselle Carvalho Coutinho, current pastor at Bridge of Peace.

The congregation provides up to 2,000 meals monthly to those in need, works with domestic violence victims, and leads a hospital prayer service. Bridge of Peace also is training eight deacons, providing multi‑cultural immersion training, hosting seminary students, and sending speakers, including Coutinho, to mission training events.

Meanwhile, two Mission Partners provided the majority of the congregation’s funding. Two others supply children's worship bag materials. Another donates money to Bridge of Peace's homeless ministry, while another donated 800 boxes of cereal. Representatives of another Mission Partner congregation bring food every Tuesday night and teach board games to Bridge of Peace's youth.

Coutinho nurtures such relationships by guest preaching and teaching, and lifting up the spiritual gifts of congregation members and colleagues. Congregational representatives, including youth, make presentations to other congregations.

“Bridge of Peace and Mission Partner youth have formed friendships and will go together to the 2009 ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans,” said Coutinho. “This will be Bridge of Peace's first National Youth Gathering.”