Celebration planned as Bridge City Church turns 50
Evangelist Tim Hall, the church’s founder, will return for an anniversary service this Sunday.
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A Murray Bridge teacher’s conversion to faith, and all that has followed it, will be celebrated this weekend at Bridge City Church, the congregation he founded 50 years ago.
Tim Hall, formerly an art teacher at Murray Bridge High School, described himself as a boozy, 26-year-old bohemian at the time he discovered Christianity and “had his life turned upside down”.
Within a year, he started leading get-togethers for like-minded Christians at the home of John and Margaret Thompson.
Original congregation member Margaret Martin, who still attends the church, remembers its early days well.
“Tim came knocking on my door when we were down on First Street,” she said.
“I’d been with one church, but it hadn’t worked out and I was looking for somewhere else, so we … started having little meetings and it grew from there.
“We used to have a bit of a get-together, a bit of a sing-song, a bit of study.”
Sometimes Mr Hall would lead a band of youths through the streets at night, looking for people to meet or feed or sing to.
Worshippers meet at the Chapel on Sturt Street, Murray Bridge in the late 1970s. Photos: Margaret Martin.
The fledgling congregation moved into several larger spaces over the next few years, including the old supper room at the back of the town hall, the Church of Christ on Adelaide Road, and a shed on Sturt Street where it was known as Murray Bridge Christian Centre.
Church members would alternately worship in Murray Bridge, or travel to the Klemzig Assembly of God or Bethesda Christian Centre in Adelaide.
A number of pastors and elders were involved during the church’s early years: Brian and Sue Allen, Robert Bell and his wife, Marie Wright and others.
In time, called by a passage from Ephesians – “to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” – the congregation bought a plot of land on Darling Avenue, on the outskirts of town, on April 21, 1978.
Construction takes place on Darling Avenue in 1978 ahead of the first service, with Robert and Offendia Bell leading; Pastor Paul Smith and his wife Pauline lead the church at the time of the building's opening; and Loretta Blademore, Lorraine Butler, Pauline Smith, Jill Hammond and Margaret Martin participate in one of many panto nights. Photos: Margaret Martin.
The Assemblies of God Family Church was built by the end of that year, and had its official opening on October 6, 1979.
Four hundred and fifty worshippers attended.
During the 1980s, Ms Martin remembered, concerts and youth group events at the church were popular, and the skits were hilarious.
Congregation members used to cook pies during the week and sell them on Sunday mornings to raise funds for the church.
Founding pastor will return for anniversary service
The church’s current pastor, Paul Ireland, looked forward to celebrating 50 years of faith and community this weekend.
“Not everything lasts for 50 years,” he said.
“We’ve seen growth, we’ve seen the community continuing to embrace the church.
“I feel like we’re standing on the edge of a launching pad for the next 50: we’re still bigger, there’s still growth.”
He hoped the church would continue to live out its mission of caring for “the last, the least and the lost”, to influence the community and to change the trajectory of people’s lives.
In the meantime, a number of Bridge City’s former pastors are expected to return for Sunday’s celebratory service.
Among them will be Mr Hall, the ex-teacher who started it all.
Since leaving Murray Bridge in the late 1970s, he has gone on to become one of Australia’s most prominent Pentecostal evangelists, preaching on every continent to hundreds of thousands of people.
Ms Martin wound up moving away from Murray Bridge for a number of years, too, but settled straight back in at Bridge City Church as soon as she returned.
“It’s a really, really good feeling up there,” she said.
“When you get to know some of them, it’s such a support – if you’ve got a few hassles going on in your life, you can go up there, they’ll give you a great big hug and pray for you, and it gives you the strength to face the next week.”
It still amazed her to think that the little house church of which she was a part had grown into such a big part of Murray Bridge’s community, especially since the Hub began supplying food to locals in need on a Friday.
“On a Sunday I’ll go up there and have a prayer meeting; I just stand there and look at (the building) and think Lord, it’s still here, it’s still standing,” she said.
- Attend the 50th anniversary celebration: 10am this Sunday, September 21 at Bridge City Church, Darling Avenue, Murray Bridge. A free lunch will follow the service.
- More information: www.bridgecitychurch.com.au/bcc50.
