From: Ian Teh <>
Date: (recently)
Subject: Visitor Query
To: contact@bridgechurch.org.au
Good morning
My wife and I attended the East Campus service the last 2 Sundays and on each of those visits, David’s message resonated with us and made us think about our church life and commitment to both the church and the community.
We were Malaysians and moved to Melbourne in 2004. We attended a church in Glen Waverley from 2004 till Nov last year, when we decided to move on. Partly due to our travels (summer holidays and to Canberra where our daughter goes to Uni) we have not been able to settle into a new church. My wife’s colleague mentioned the commencement of the East Campus so we went there and like I said, David’s message connected with us like no Sunday sermons have for a while now.
We are inclined to ask to be part of East Campus going forward. My background however, is as follows:
- I grew up in a Methodist church in Malaysia
- I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was 14
- I went to uni in Sydney and was a regular at the Campus Bible Study taught by Phillip Jensen who was at St Matthias in Sydney and is now the Dean of the Cathedral in Sydney
- I consider the formative years of my Christian education to be when I was in uni, at Phillip’s classes
- While in uni in Sydney, I also attended meetings relating to John Wimber’s visit and heard and read his teachings
- I have done minor studies and read a bit on John Wimber’s work, the Vineyard work generally and I particularly learned a lot from Wayne Grudem’s work
- At this moment, I believe the following:
o Speaking in tongues is one of many gifts and is not required as evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit (second limb of 6th item in Bridge’s statement of Beliefs)
o Healing and prosperity is part of the “now and not yet” phenomenon and so is not a given in this lifetime (Item 8 of Beliefs)
o The power of the supernatural which is the work of God through the Holy Spirit is principally borned out in conviction of sin and acknowledgement and acceptance of the person, deity and work of Jesus. I believe this is a different slant from that inferred in the Vision and Mission statements of Bridge
My wife and I share the same background and beliefs.
I will be grateful if you can share your thoughts with me, on whether I will be able to share in fellowship with Bridge Church and be planted at the church to be part of your community, work and mission, instead of visiting “as a potted plant”.
Many thanks for taking time to read this, and my apologies if this has been a bit long.
Regards Ian
Ante 