Who We Are
A Church On Mission
We are passionate about connecting people to Jesus for life change.
We desire to be a church full of followers of Jesus who Enjoy God Fully, Live As Family, and Take Risks so that, together, we become unstoppable in our mission to connect others to Jesus for life change.
Take Ownership Of Your Impact
To grow as a follower ofJesus and begin to overflow in the three mission measures we must take personal ownership of our spiritual growth. We call this our Discipleship Pathway.
ENCOUNTER
Everything begins with a genuine encounter with Jesus. We want every person to experience His grace and truth in a personal way through worship, prayer, and the teaching of His Word so that life change starts from the inside out.
COMMIT
Spiritual growth happens in community. We commit our lives fully to Jesus and intentionally to one another, living as family and walking together in faith, accountability, and love.
EQUIP
Following Jesus means becoming more like Him. Through biblical teaching, spiritual disciplines, and serving others, we are equipped to grow in character, wisdom, and obedience to God's Word.
REPLICATE
The mission does not stop with us. As followers of Jesus, we are called to share our faith and invest in others, replicating ourselves through others who will go and do the same so that the gospel continues to spread and transform lives.
10-Year Vision
What We Believe
In a world where truth feels uncertain, we believe clarity matters. What we believe shapes who we are, how we live, and the hope we share.
Distinctives
God has revealed Himself in this incredibly relevant, supernatural book called the Bible. We don’t want to miss anything He has to say about Himself or how we relate to Him. Therefore, expository teaching is the primary way we teach. This is not the only way we teach, but it is the primary way.
The church is to be governed by a plurality of biblically qualified elders who provide spiritual oversight and guard the mission and values of the body. In prayerful dependence and diligent commitment to the authority of God’s Word, the elders’ role is to determine how the Lord, who is the Head of the body, wishes to direct His Church.
The New Testament church was led by teams. Our approach to leadership follows this same model. We are served by a pastoral team of individuals who function in specific roles based upon gifting and calling. In various ministries, teams comprised of pastoral staff and lay leadership give direction and oversight.
Southbridge Fellowship is a safe place to ask tough questions. Some people believe they can’t ask questions because it might reveal they do not “have it all together.” We believe that asking questions (and yes, we mean tough questions) is a healthy way to grow.
Because Truth must be applied to be experienced, we will call people to apply the Truth and provide opportunities for people to live out the Truth. We will regularly ask ourselves, “So What?!,” as a means of moving the Truth beyond something we know in our heads, to something we believe in our hearts and live through our hands and feet.
We believe that God is so big that there is nothing He cannot do. We are a community of people who have seen and desire to see God do big things. When we say “big”, we mean things that we have to step back and give Him credit for. Have you ever seen, done, or experienced something that left you wondering, “How in the world was that possible?” Those are the God-things that we trust, remember, and praise Him for.
We desire to see people realize that nothing is too big or small for God. He is the God who creates new life, parts the sea, knows our words before we speak them, and knows the number of hairs on our head.
One mark of our maturity is the measure of our relational depth and integrity. We will not ignore conflict or relational problems. Rather, we will embrace them as a pathway to intimacy by learning to resolve conflict, forgive, and live in true committed friendships.
Genuine relational intimacy and significant growth are inseparable. God changes people and reveals Himself in the context of people learning to live life together. This is why we see small groups as an essential ministry.
The role of the pastoral team is to equip every Christ-follower to live life biblically, experience the joy of spiritual influence, and embrace the privilege of being used by God for a transcendent cause.
Rather than focusing on events that people invite others to attend, our emphasis is on equipping people to be confidently unleashed as an irresistible influence where they live, work, and play.
Meet Our Lead Pastor
DR. Scott Lehr
Pastor Scgrew up in Flint, Michigan. He graduated from Cedarville University (Ohio) and married his wife in 2000. They have four daughters, El, Ava, Janie, and Gracie. In 2006, they moved to Raleigh to plant a new church, which would later be called Southbridge Fellowship.
“I grew up in an unchurched home. At 18 years old, a local attorney told me that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one could get to God apart from Jesus. I placed my faith in Jesus Christ and fell in love with Jesus but hated the church. However, as I grew in my relationship with God, I learned that while imperfect, the church is God’s plan for reaching the world for Jesus. We started this church (Southbridge) to be a community of believers who exist to connect people to Jesus for life change.”
FAQs
We believe Jesus Christ is the head of the church and that local congregations in the New Testament were led by a plurality of leaders (overseers, pastors, elders). We are led by a plurality of elders who seek and submit to the leadership of Jesus. We also believe that since we have one Spirit, one Lord, and one baptism (Ephesians 4:5) that the Spirit will lead our elder team to make decisions with unanimity. In addition to the elder team, we also have a team of pastors on our full-time staff who oversee various ministry areas according to calling, gifting, skill, and capacity.
One mark of an individual’s spiritual growth and health is that they are becoming evangelistically bold. We want to share the hope of Jesus Christ with our community and the world. We believe evangelism is best accomplished in our culture when each person in the church is seeking to share the reality of Jesus Christ in their respective relational networks.
We provide church-wide events for everyone to participate in. These events help equip the body to see that they can love others and share the gospel in their everyday life.
Southbridge is a non-denominational church for two reasons:
- First, we exist to make a big deal about Jesus, not a subsect or specific group of Jesus’ followers (often called a denomination, association, and or network).
- Second, no one denomination accurately represents who we are as a church. When you attend Southbridge, you will meet people from every church background (Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, Charismatic, Pentecostal, Assemblies of God, Church of God, Episcopalian, etc.), including those with little to no church background.
However, we also recognize the significant benefits of being part of a larger organization. Because of that, we partner with other like-minded networks, associations, denominations, and organizations because we know we don’t have all the answers, and we realize that our impact is more significant when we work in partnership with others who have the same goals we do, even if we disagree on what we consider secondary issues.
We determine our strategic partnerships based on two main questions.
First, do our beliefs concerning Jesus and the Bible align? Second, are we on the same mission with the same focus?
We currently associate with three networks:
- Fellowship Network of Churches: Sharing ideas and church planting.
- IMB: Developing and sending missionaries
- Send Relief: Disaster relief
- NAMB: Church planting
- NC Baptists: Disaster relief and church planting.
Our adult interaction, teaching, connecting, and encouragement occur primarily in our small groups that meet throughout the week, a context we believe best facilitates our mission of connecting people to Jesus for life change.
We do not have traditional adult Sunday School. Instead, our emphasis on Sunday mornings is participation in our worship services and serving in various ministry opportunities, especially in the Bridge Kids children’s ministry. Multiple services allow adults the opportunity to worship and then serve as teachers, volunteers, and small group leaders for our children.
Or it allows adults to worship and then serve in various areas required on Sunday mornings.
Our primary way of providing support and care in times of crisis and difficulty, whether emotional, physical, or spiritual, is through the relationships you establish in our small group ministry. We also offer Celebrate Recovery, pastoral counseling, and referrals to trusted Christian counselors in the Raleigh area.
For immediate assistance, direction, or counsel, please contact our office by calling 919-789-9955. Someone will gladly meet with you or make sure you are connected to the resources you need. There is hope in Jesus Christ in whatever you are facing, and we desire that this hope becomes a reality in your Christian experience.
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