Northbridge Church

Pastor Ray Brandon dreamed of planting a church with a simple goal: help people who were unfamiliar with the Bible and church, connect with God in a church without letting structures and programs get in the way. With the help of 35 adults and their families committed to seeing this vision become a reality— Northbridge Church began on October 5, 2005. That first Sunday, over 131 attended the first service at our location in Cooper.

Northbridge has grown and planted a new church, CityGate Church in Portage Michigan. CityGate launched in the fall of 2017.

God has given Northbridge a new vision for the future as well. The year 2025 will be a significant milestone in Northbridge’s life as we celebrate our 20th anniversary. Our history is one marked by passionate believers desiring to see our community changed by the gospel.

Life is a relentless storm of anxiety, distractions, depression, insecurities, and isolation. We are flooded by busyness and seeking ways to stop the erosion. The hope of the gospel offers a secure foundation which can never wash away. At least 70 percent of our community does not have a gospel foundation. We imagine by 2025 that what was once an eroding landscape, will be a rich soil filled with mature trees that provide a gospel-centered ecosystem for flourishing lives.

We picture neighbors and friends who share their lives together, join for weekly meals together, and intentionally speak about how the gospel shapes and changes their lives. We imagine families and homes transformed by parents who are living out the gospel, committed to discipling their children, and seeing them grow in Christ. We envision Northbridgers who find specific ways to tangibly bless our community, grow spiritual successors, and daily saturate the community with gospel conversations.

By 2025 Northbridge will seek to relationally connect and verbally engage the 70 percent to grow to a Church of 700. We will develop disciples who plant and nurture the seeds of the gospel through small groups that cultivate gospel centered relationships in their group and community network. Our members will build genuine friendships in and outside the church that create opportunities to model and teach gospel centered living, producing new believers in Christ. As these believers grow and mature, they will germinate seeds of the gospel in their community network.