What is LIFEBRIDGE?

LifeBridge is a local church located on the northeast side of Rochester, Minnesota. Launched in January of 2022, LifeBridge is an official restart of Rochester First Church of the Nazarene, which was first planted in 1945. In other words, we believe God wants to revitalize and renovate the local Nazarene church that has been here in our city for over 75 years rather than start with a new church plant.  


Check out why we exist by taking a look at our purpose and mission statements below. We've also included a list of our core values as well, which we commit never to compromise, either for convenience or short-term gain.


For more information about the Church of the Nazarene:

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Purpose, mission, vision

a deeper look into Lifebridge

While LifeBridge officially launched on January 16, 2022, we've recently gone through a process of reviewing and revising our purpose, mission, and vision statements. Our goal is to continue to ensure that these statements clearly communicate God's intentions for LifeBridge.

  • Purpose

    LifeBridge exists to:

    Embody Jesus & journey together through life.

  • mission

    To fulfill our purpose, we must:

    ENCOUNTER         (the grace of Jesus)                                         (Rom. 8:1,  Eph. 3:16-21)

    EXPERIENCE         (transformation in Jesus)                             (II Cor. 5:17,  Rom. 12:1-2)

    BUILD                     (bridges to Jesus)                                            (Matt. 28:19-20, Acts 15:19)

Core Values

Core values are a list of fundamental beliefs and priorities which drive an organization's behavior & culture.

At LifeBridge, we recently updated the core values that we believe are vital to our mission.

  • We define greatness as Jesus does: the last shall be first. Jesus said that the greatest in the Kingdom of God is the servant. If we are going to find greatness, then we must become servants of everyone. (Matt. 20:26-28)

  • Christians are called to "walk in the light" not only when we are doing the right thing, but also when we are doing the wrong thing. Walking in the light (i.e. vulnerability) means being kept accountable in every area of life so that sin doesn't have a place to hide in our lives.

  • We are called to generously welcome people not only into our homes, but also into our lives. Reverse hospitality means that we don't simply love people to make them feel welcome at church or in our homes, we are called to love people where they feel safe, where they feel at home, and where I may feel uncomfortable or inconvenienced. It's a pattern of living that echoes Jesus words to Zacchaeus: "I'm coming to your house today."

  • Building relational bridges can be difficult . . . especially when only 1 party wants the bridge to be built. Therefore, at LifeBridge, perseverance is vital. God didn't give up on us, and so we also don't give up on people around us who have not yet encountered the grace of Jesus or experienced transformation in Jesus.

  • Spiritual disciplines continually point our hearts back to God. Bible study, prayer, fasting, and gathering for worship, encouragement and accountability are a few examples of these exercises that keep us spiritually healthy.

  • At LifeBridge, we are learning to value our sending capacity more than our seating capacity. We want to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. That may or may not look like a large, full worship gathering on Sundays. But as we seek God's guidance on what it means to multiply, we believe the Spirit of God will equip us to do just that.