I’m using today’s post to make an appeal on a church that is very precious to me. Sunbridge Road Mission is the church where I grew up. I spent most of my first 18 years there. It’s where I put my faith in Jesus as a five year old. It’s where I grew in my faith in Christ and the Mission building holds lots of wonderful memories for me. It was also at the Mission that I got a taste for open air and door to door evangelism. That’s a priority I’ve carried with me since.
I’m not alone in owing so much to the church. It has a rich heritage over 100 years. The Mission pioneered urban mission back in the 1800s. It was planted into one of the roughests, toughest parts of Bradford. Many people first heard the good news there but the Mission also supported other churches through preaching teams (my dad was part of that team), it sent people onto the mission field, others went on to pastor and lead churches and in Bradford itself a number of churches have been planted over the years that owe their existence to the Mission.
The Church has, like many of its age been through its tough times as well as days that must have felt like revival. Ny childhood memory is of a building filled every Sunday with 300 or so in the main auditorium them children’s work for a 100 or so youngsters, an afternoon Sunday School and an evening service also often full with regular TV overflows. I understand that they pioneered those closed-circuit TV overflows. Then in the late 80s and into the 90s they experienced sharp decline. However, they still kept going and pioneered work amongst prostitutes in the near by red-light area as well as increasingly engaging with refugees. Now, especially post COVID they’ve experienced renewed growth. It was a joy, just a few months back to be visiting a packed building again. So, it’s not just mere nostalgia that makes this church special. It’s what it stands for in terms of urban mission and what the future might hold that give it an added place in my heart.
Now, you will remember that at the start, I said I was making an appeal. Well, here it is. This year, the church began work on a new building better suited to 21st century needs and with added capacity not just for Sundays but in the week ministry. The total cost of the project is £3m and they have raised most of that through sacrificial giving within the church over a number of years. However, they still have about £470,000 to raise.
So, I’m asking you, either individually or as part of a church to prayerfully consider whether you might be able to partner with SRM to help them realise this new building. In some respects it will be a bitter-sweet day for many of us when that new building is in use. Gone will be the nostalgic reminders, the row where I prayed and asked Jesus into my life, the old Sunday school rooms where I heard about his love for me etc. However, there will be greater joy in seeing the real church continuing to be faithful and fruitful in a needy area, still having an impact not just in Bradford but all around the World.
To find out more about how you can give, please visit these pages on their website.
Faithroots 