OUR VALUES:

  • God speaks through His Word [scripture] and spoke through his Son, therefore the Word of God and the Word made flesh is our guide in all we do.

  • God really loves people. So much so, He sent his Son Jesus to die for people. We are a community of people who seek to love and sacrificially serve all people according to the heart of the Father.

  • God is an all-powerful God, and He has extended all of His power to His people, for the advancement of the Kingdom. Therefore, we use gifts and the miraculous to advance His Kingdom and church.

  • The Holy Spirit has been extended to His people for intimacy, clarity, and to help us bear fruit. Therefore we walk in step with the Spirit and produce fruit that shines the light of Jesus.

  • God created His people to be hearers and doers of His word and gave us an example through Jesus. Therefore, we seek to live like Jesus wherever God has placed us in culture. At Bright City, we call this The Way of The Bright. 

OWNERSHIP AT BRIGHT CITY

At Bright City, we have “Owners” rather than “Members”.

Throughout the New Testament, the Apostle Paul uses the term “co-worker.” In Romans 16, he takes time to list those co-workers by name. We embrace this because we believe the local church is the fruit of the faithful work of many, rather than only a few. At Bright City, we call this “Ownership”. We use this term because before Jesus ascended, He extended personal ownership to the willing, for the advancement of the church and kingdom.

So what does ownership look like at Bright City?

Here’s what the fruit of being an owner looks like:

HOW IT STARTED:

During the summer of 2013, the Connolly family and four others moved from Fort Wayne, IN to plant a church in Charleston, SC. Once settled in SC, we added two more people and began meeting regularly at the Connolly house to dream about our launch. 

On January 19th, 2014 the Connollys - plus our “sensational six”- officially launched Bright City church at James Simons Elementary, right in the heart of downtown Charleston. Our vision was to create a place where people could encounter the love of the Father through the cross of Christ and the power of the presence of God.

We didn’t just want to be another church option, but a catalyst to help people encounter a living God who loves us.

A few years into our journey as a church, Pastor Nick sensed God calling him to change the name from Gospel Community to Bright City, based off of a sermon series called “Bright City”, rooted in Matthew 5:16-18. We knew it was our calling to shine brightly in our community and culture. 

We officially announced the name at the end of 2017, and became Bright City Church. 

In April of 2019, God did a miracle and we moved from James Simons Elementary to a beautiful building located at 59 Piedmont Avenue. We’re so grateful for all that God has done in our past, but we’re eagerly expectant of God’s faithfulness for our future. 

We have a goal of seeing 1,000 people living out TWØTB and establishing five Bright City locations. 

Additionally, we have dreams of finding a permanent home for Bright City Church in downtown Charleston.