The Bridge is Elizabeth's youth ministry, serving the youth and families of the city for over a decade.

Carlos Cedeño was given leadership over the youth ministry of Christ Fellowship church early in the year 2000.  At the time there were only four leaders in the program: Carlos Cedeño, Jennifer (Alves) Cedeño, Brian Mayfield, and William Hartz.  The average weekly attendance was between 8 and 10 teenagers.  Looking to start something new, the leaders met and decided on a new name for the youth ministry: The Bridge.  

The Bridge first opened it's doors on June 02, 2000.  Since we had no building of our own, we met in a small rented room in the 2nd Presbyterian Church on E. Jersey St.  This building would be home to The Bridge for several years.

As time went on, the Bridge began to grow.  In November 2002, we noticed that most of the teenagers who were coming to The Bridge all lived within a fairly short radius of where we were meeting on E. Jersey St.  Since Elizabeth is such a large city in New Jersey, we knew we were not reaching our maximum potential and influence with teenagers across the city, and we began to dream.

What if we had other locations in different parts of the City of Elizabeth where teenagers from those areas could come and learn who they were and who God is and what they could accomplish together?  And so, we opened The Bridge: Elmora on April 04, 2003, in a rented room of another church: the Elmora Presbyterian Church on Magie Ave.

The experiment worked, and new students from the Elmora area of Elizabeth began attending The Bridge!  And so, we continued to replicate and add new Bridges as the opportunities arose and we were able to do so.

Eventually we moved from renting out other churches and began to work with the public school system to use their gymnasiums for our Friday programs.  Over the years we have opened many different Bridge locations.  Some have grown wildly, some have transitioned to new locations, and some have had to close.  But every Bridge that meets, regardless of what school they are in or what the culture of their area is like, follows the same structure and vision as all the other Bridges.  

Our leadership team has grown over the years, with new people coming on and several students who have grown up though the ministry remaining to share Jesus with the next generation.  Today, The Bridge has five different locations: Elmora in School 12, Downtown in School 03, North Elizabeth in School 30, South Elmora in School 19, and Twenty-Three in School 23.  We have also developed various programs to benefit our community if different ways, including: The Mission - a week long community service project that takes place every summer, A Helping Hand - an on-going project where our students can go out and serve their community as needs arise every month, BYMC - an annual youth conference, the BBA - a free high school boys basketball league, and many more.

On July 27, 2014, Carlos Cedeño, our founder, changed positions in the church and became the senior pastor of Christ Fellowship of Elizabeth.  His 14 years of service and leadership to The Bridge has helped to make it what it is today, and we are excited for the new season and new adventures that await us in the years to come.

As we are entering into our second decade of serving youth in the City of Elizabeth, we are excited for all the new students and possibilities that lie before us.  We started with not much else than a simple mission statement: "Uniting the hearts of youth with the heart of God." We have done our best to remain faithful to that mission since the beginning.

Uniting the hearts of youth with the heart of God.

Our mission is who we are as a community and family. It tells the world what we are all about. This is the mission that was cast for The Bridge before we even opened our doors, that we still use today, and that we will always use.

To create a safe atmosphere where young people will learn who they are, who God is, and what they can accomplish in relationship with Him.

Our vision is the current push for where we want to go as a group. The vision gives us direction. It shows what our goals are. Everything we do needs to help push us further towards the goals outlined in the vision.

These are the five things The Bridge values above all else.

God
Souls
Unity
Integrity
Quality

Our values tell what are the things that are important to us. They are our priorities and most important treasures.

The Purposes of The Bridge can best be expressed via the acrostic for the word "bridge" and directly tie into the five purposes of the Church.

The BRIDGE EXISTS TO HELP STUDENTS:

Build meaningful relationships. (Fellowship)
Reach out to those who don't know Jesus. (Evangelism)
Identify God's purpose for their lives. (Discipleship)
Discover and using thier God-given gifts. (Ministry)
Grow in order to become more like Christ. (Discipleship)
Embrace God's presence. (Worship)

Our purposes are the methods that we use to achieve our mission and reach our vision. They are the tools for how we do what we do. We gauge our success as a ministry and as a family on these criteria. If you are experiencing some or, even better, all of these, then we are doing what we are supposed to be doing.

Below is an outline of what we believe, a Statement of Faith, as outlined by our parent church, Christ Fellowship of Elizabeth.

Christ Fellowship's purpose in laying out a statement of faith is that it be uncompromising in the essentials of our faith yet allow God’s freedom in the non-essentials.  This statement of faith is detailed in the Constitution and Bi-Laws of the church.