New Malverne Church 'Bridges' Faith Groups

Putting their diverging beliefs and religious practices aside, members of the Malverne Jewish Center and The Bridge Church of the Nazarene finalized a deal last month to share the building at 1 Norwood Avenue in Malverne.

The Malverne Jewish Center, which had owned this property for 57 years, decided to sell the building to Bridge, a Protestant church originally located in Valley Stream, in late 2008.  

The Bridge Church, under the leadership of Pastor Brett Williams entered into negotiations with the Malverne Jewish Center, which had been under-utilizing the 24,000 sq. ft. building  in recent years as its membership dwindled.

"They weren't averaging very many people, so they weren't using a lot of the space," said Williams.

For over six years, the parishioners of Bridge had been without a church and instead had to worship in the auditorium at Molloy College in Rockville Centre. They had left their original home in Valley Stream, because the space could no longer accommodate their growing congregation. There were issues with parking and the church had to have two or three worship services on some days since it could not fit all its parishioners in the small church.

"The church started a capital campaign in 2000, while still meeting in the small church in Valley Stream," WIlliams explained. "They had outgrown that place."

They sold the building in 2004 and moved into a "temporary location" at Molloy College.

"They were hoping it would be short term, but ended up staying there six years," Williams said.

During this time, the church leaders looked at 140 potential properties throughout Nassau County, but none of these fit the criteria that they were looking for. They either lacked in size, parking spaces, or classrooms, or the price was too steep.

Then, Williams and his wife joined the church in Sept. 2008. In the first week in October, the new pastor learned that the Malverne Jewish Center might be selling its building.

"We walked into the building for the first time, and we fell in love," Williams recalled. "The village, first of all, was a major selling point, and so was the building itself."

The center had a banquet room, a large sanctuary and plenty of classrooms, though half of the building had not been used for some time.

"The ballroom really intrigued us," Williams said.

Bridge and the Malverne Jewish Center entered into negotiations in late fall, which would last 18 months before moving to a contract.

"One thing that came about was that the Jewish Center, while not as large as they once were, wanted to maintain the building as as a Jewish Center," Williams said.

The Malverne Jewish Center was not ready to leave the village. "It's a very warm, caring and accepting community," said Linda Brodsky, whose husband, Herbert, is the Center's president.

When the deal was finalized this fall, Bridge became the new owner of the building, but contracted for the Malverne Jewish Center to continue to use the space.

"Negotiations have been very friendly and we've developed relationships with them," Williams said."We'll co-exist under the same roof. It became a very positive thing."

The Malverne Jewish Center will have its own entrance and its own space, about 3,000 sq. ft., which they will keep Kosher.

Members of Bridge got to work right away on helping the Jewish center move out of some of the spaces and then cleaning and painting the parts of the building that hadn't been touched in recent years.

There is whole lot of work to be done," Williams said. "Not even construction, just cleaning."

He plans to begin worshiping in the space soon and have a grand opening to officially announce its arrival in the community in early January.

During the celebration they will host events, bury a time capsule and hold its first public worship service in their new home. Starting in 2011, they also may be performing some interior construction.

'This worked out really well for us and [the Jewish Center]." Williams said. "We were able to move into an unfinished facility and can afford to do the work on it and they can afford to stay."

The church has already had an impact on its new community. Over the summer, members of Bridge worked at the former Grossmann's farm in Malverne.

"We gave 300 indiviual volunteer hours," Williams said. "We want to be a positive influence."