Idaho Falls church changes its name but keeps its message - East Idaho News
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Idaho Falls church changes its name but keeps its message

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IDAHO FALLS — It’s been a decision on the minds of church leaders for the last four years and now it’s official. The New Life Church is going by a new name — The Bridge Church.

Pastor Jay Spangenberg, who’s been serving the congregation for over a decade, says the new name is representative of the church’s mission: “Building bridges into peoples lives with love and compassion as modeled by Jesus.”

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Photos taken by Natalia Hepworth, EastIdahoNews.com

“We felt led by God to make this change because we want to be more effective for the kingdom of God and have come to a place where we really feel led that this will make a bigger impact for our community as The Bridge Church,” Spangenberg said.

Spangenberg said the church was affiliated with the Assemblies of God, the Largest Pentecostal movement in the world, but is now non-denominational and governing themselves.

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“We wanted to just make a clean break and not change the message of the gospel, but just change who we are in our community,” Spangenberg said.

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The church officially changed its name on Sept. 2.

“We get to turn the page in the history of this church. We get to start a whole new chapter and we get to essentially be where we believe God is calling us in our community,” Spangenberg said.

The New Life Church has been in the community for 86 years, according to Spangenberg. He said when he came to town 11 years ago from the Boise area, the church had some 20 people. Now, it has roughly 200.

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“It’s been in various different buildings throughout the community. It’s been at this site on 12th Street since 1982,” Spangenberg said.

Spangenberg said this name change is a big deal and the response from the congregation has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We really want to sincerely tell our community that we’re here for them, that’s why we do the many different outreaches that we do,” Spangenberg said. “We love you and most of all Jesus loves you.”

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