LIGHT+LIFE | JANUARY 2025
Our Brand Tells A Story
New Year. New Look. 😎
The past several months, we have been working with the design team at Bright Coal (not to be confused with Bright City) to take us through a complete branding process.
Branding is about story—and it was exciting to tell that story visually as Bright City has taken shape. Here are three main parts of that story:
01 | Growth in the Community
In variations of the branding, field-like land is shown beneath the homes to recognize the growth happening in Sunbury.
Bright City was started in part of Columbus that has recently experienced great change in the community. Sunbury is the fastest growing city in the fastest growing county (Delaware) in Ohio. Having doubled in size over the last 10 years, it is expected to continue growing as more businesses and families continue to move to the area.
Much of this change on the physical landscape looks like farmland being developed for new homes and neighborhoods. Many of the people in the Bright City family have moved into those new neighborhoods. In our branding, we wanted to honor the past and future of this area—recognizing that there are many aspects of the community we want to preserve as it grows.
The mayor and local leadership often talk about the “balance” of keeping a small town feel while also embracing what’s ahead. Bright City will actively be involved in the contributing to the growth and good of our community in the years ahead.
02 | Following Jesus in Everyday Life
Three connected “homes” represent the philosophy of our Missional Communities. We follow Jesus in the context of our everyday life. We prioritize living as a spiritual family with other followers of Jesus and inviting those who need to experience life in Jesus.
We don’t follow Jesus on our own. We invite others into our lives to follow Jesus together as one spiritual family. We also live connected to those in our life that still need to experience life in Jesus. This is relationally what it means to follow Jesus in our everyday lives.
Bright City also started in a home. When we (Josh & Sarah) moved to Sunbury, we began meeting with a handful of people weekly in our home for dinner, praying for our neighbors, and building relationships. Bright City has strategically determined to be a collective of missional communities that follow Jesus in everyday life together—meeting in homes and blessing their neighbors.
03 | A New Identity + New Way of Life
The sun and rays represent the key beliefs and philosophies of Bright City. Three rays represent who we are with a new identity in Jesus—family (adopted by the Father), servants (restored by the Servant King-Son), and missionaries (sent into the world with the power of the Holy Spirit). Three rays represent how we follow Jesus in every part of our lives—by being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and doing as Jesus did.
The center ray points us to the source of our new identity and new life—Jesus.
We believe that before Bright City was here, God was already at work in this community. We are excited to join in what God is doing. We believe we have a unique opportunity to partner with Him and others in our community for what He wants to do right now. We want to bring God’s kingdom to be experienced in real-time for those around us—in Sunbury as it is in heaven.
We want to help more people experience life in Jesus. This is our mission. Everything else is our method.
Often at Bright City—after a family prayer, on a volunteer team, or at a milestone event—we will put our hands together in a huddle and shout “Be The Light.” We started doing this as a simple way to say we are committed to living out this calling in our everyday lives. To follow Jesus in every part of our lives together, and to partner with God in helping more people experience life in Jesus.
Bright City Christmas Recap
We hosted our first ever Christmas Program for the community at Big Walnut Intermediate School. Our team worked hard together to make this a special event for the community. We had 125 adults and kids attend, and 12 people who asked for prayer after the program.
We also raised money for our Christmas Hope Fund that helped us to provide gifts for 5 students in Big Walnut schools with Christmas gifts this year and bless their families in a greater way.
The most exciting part about the night was the many people from our community who showed up— families who have been invested in and prayed for over the last year, and new faces that we had yet to meet.
We met a woman named Megan who came with her two children. As we interacted with her, we learned that she saw our Christmas Program advertised on a yard sign in town and decided to check it out. Megan and her husband have been praying for a local church family, and she is excited to come back again with her husband for our public launch in January.
What’s Happening in January
New Time. New Location.
Bright City will begin having Sunday Gatherings at 9:00AM at Big Walnut Intermediate School (777 Cheshire Rd, Sunbury).
Sunday Schedule
Jan 05 | Vision Sunday
Jan 12 | Preview Gathering
Jan 19 | Preview Gathering
Jan 26 | LAUNCH CELEBRATION 🎉🎉🎉
For those who have prayed for us and supported us: We want to invite you to be part of our Launch Celebration on Sunday, January 22 at 9:00AM—family and friends, local and out of town, in our Movement Church Network and in our local community. Don’t miss being part of this moment!
It’s a huge celebration of a dream and calling that started over 18 months ago to plant a gospel-centered, life-giving church where God wanted to work through us. We hope to see you there!
For Bright City Family
New Kid City Classes
Kid City will now have three classrooms:
Newborn & Toddlers (0 to 3 years) – located in Room 156
PreK & Kindergarten (4 to 6 years) – located in the Gym
Elementary (1st to 5th grade) - located in the Gym
Volunteer Team Gatherings
Jan 12 | Hospitality Team Gathering at 11am (lunch provided). Email Kim Montgomery to RSVP at akmonty516@gmail.com
Jan 19 | Kid City Team Gathering at 11am (lunch provided). Email Sarah Brogan to RSVP at kids@brightcitysunbury.com.
TBD | Worship & Production Team Gathering. Email Tuck to RSVP at tuck@brightcitysunbury.com.
Still need to complete your volunteer team interest form?
Missional Communities (MCs)
Missional communities will start meeting again around the week of our Launch Celebration. You may have already been invited to join a specific MC, or you will be able find the one that fits best in your rhythms of life as we announce MCs in January.
If you are interested in starting/leading an MC, email Sarah Taylor at sarah@brightcitysunbury.com.
Giving Pledges
As a new church, we rely on the generosity of those who consider Bright City their family as we work toward becoming self-sustaining over the next few years. That means we ask each person who joins the Bright City family to determine how they are able to contribute financially.
Our financial plans at Bright City are based on the pledges of our church family. This is managed by our finance coordinator, Andy Stone.
To determine your pledge, calculate your total giving for the months remaining in our fiscal year: July to June. (For example: if you plan to begin giving $100 a month in January with six months remaining in our fiscal year, you will pledge $600).
Email the total pledge to Andy at finance@brightcitysunbury.com. You can set up online giving or contribute via check at Sunday gatherings or by mailing it to PO Box 973, Sunbury, Ohio, 43074.
BREAD Bible Reading Plan 2025
At Bright City, one of our church family commitments is to walk with Jesus daily. A way we want to resource you to do that this year is with a simple and versatile Bible reading plan called BREAD (adapted from Bridgetown Church).
This reading plan is able to be started, paused, or restarted at any point in the year. You may have a different pace or part of the Bible you want to read, or you may be committed to read the Bible together with some people from your MC or your neighborhood/workplace. But for most people, it is helpful to have a reading plan that they know their church is following throughout the year that they can participate in at any time.
Download and print the reading plan. Grab a journal to jot notes and prayers. And establish a time and place to be with Jesus in Scripture every day for 10-15 minutes.
Church Communication & New Apps
In the next phase of our church, we are adapting severals communication channels at Bright City. Previously, we used Google Chat for almost all communication—launch team, groups, volunteers, etc. We will no longer be using Google Chat, and instead will be using apps from Planning Center.
Church Center App - This allows you to view upcoming events, groups, and teachings at Bright City, as well as participate in group/team chats and make adjustments to online giving.
Services App - This allows you to manage and view everything regarding volunteering at Bright City for Sunday Gatherings. You will be able to see and accept schedule dates, arrival times, any files needed for your role, and even a schedule for the service that day. Your chats will also all be available here, just like in the Church Center app.
Finally, if you want sign up to receive emails and texts from Bright City but don’t yet, sign-up below:
How to Pray
Pray for our Launch Celebration Sunday on January 22nd. We are still bringing together everything needed to be a mobile church—equipment, volunteer teams, and new processes. We are also praying that many people from our community will attend (or come back from our Christmas Program) and feel called to make Bright City their church home.
Pray for our people starting/leading Missional Communities in January. Every MC starts with who they want to reach missionally and who they will create rhythms of life with in that mission. MC leaders give away much of their time, space, and life to host and love others. They have a tremendous impact on our church family and those they are reaching.
Pray for our impact in the Big Walnut community. On a personal level with individuals we have been reaching this year—that more people would experience life in Jesus, have changed lives, and say “yes” through baptism. In our community with new inroads to partnerships and opportunities for local impact (i.e. The Freedom Collective, YoungLife, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and new opportunities with the leadership/city of Sunbury).
