“We are a new church, a small church, a non-denominational church, a journey-at-your-own-pace church, a don’t-take-yourself-too-seriously church, a come-as-you-are church.”
Getting Started
Good News Bloomington (GNB) is a new, non-denominational church located in West Bloomington, Minnesota.
GNB began with some of the families who attended Bethany Church (formerly located on Auto Club Road) up until its closure in January 2023.
Our focus is on creating opportunities for anyone to connect with God in a meaningful way — through worshipping together, journeying in faith together, and serving people in need together — in Bloomington and beyond.
After getting started in a living room, a coffee shop, and a middle school cafeteria, we now meet in the Fellowship Hall at Community of the Cross Lutheran Church — who have graciously welcomed us into their space.
Presently, we hold our weekly worship services on Sunday evenings at 6:30pm.
"My wife, Shawnee, and I pray everyone who gathers to worship would experience God's life-changing presence — and feel understood as we open the Bible together."
What to Expect Sundays
We begin at 6:30pm with a welcome, opening prayer, and a scripture reading to help focus our attention towards God. This leads us to singing a few worship songs/hymns together. We are not flashy — just one or two people lead us with vocals and an acoustic guitar. We enjoy singing songs from different eras along with some that are popular today.
After singing, it's time for what we call "Family Matters" — an opportunity for anyone to share a prayer request, something they're thankful for, or an encouraging word for the church. Basically we "rejoice with those who rejoice" and "mourn with those who mourn" (Romans 12:15) — and everything else between. (Immediately following the service, we have people designated to pray with those who have private prayer requests.)
Then we enjoy a three-minute break for parents to escort their children to Kids Ministry while others enjoys refills of decaffeinated coffee, use the restrooms, stretch the legs, etc.
After the break is the message. Pastor Chris (or a guest speaker) leads in a teaching from the Bible. Our current teaching series is called "Original Christians" — a journey through Christianity's backstory found in the Bible book called "Acts."
The message leads us to celebrate "The Lord's Supper" — The Bread & The Cup. Actually, our entire service is designed to culminate with celebrating this sacrament — the "meal" Jesus gave us to remember him. While there's much to say about this later, we want people to know EVERYONE is welcome to express their faith in Jesus by participating. We ask parents to bring their own kids from kids ministry if they'd like their children to participate. Full disclosure: we use grape juice rather than wine and there's gluten-free bread available upon request. Participants come to the front to receive a piece of bread that is dipped in the cup by the officiant and returns to their seat.
The service concludes before 8pm with a blessing for the week ahead.
After the service, people are welcome to stay to visit afterwards, receive prayer, or remain seated for personal reflection. From time to time, we host a meal, games night, or church meeting afterwards.
That's basically what we do. Somewhat low-key but hopefully very meaningful for everyone.