This is a brief summary of who we, Steven and R.K. Ulrich are, our backgrounds, and our approach to reaching the nations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ via The Bridge International, Inc.
Ragnhild (“R.K.”) Marie Kjeldaas – Born, raised, and educated in Norway. In 1973, while teaching in her homeland, she received a Fulbright scholarship to attend an eighteen month post graduate work-study research program on Dewey’s American philosophy of education at the University of Hartford, CT with a group of 12 educators from various European countries. in 1974, after the completion of the program, R.K. was invited to move to Upstate New York to help establish a private grade school for a community of young people who had come out of the hippie movement into faith in Christ. R.K. accepted the call, founded the school in the barn’s toolshed. She remained administrator and teacher of the school for six years, at which time the school was acknowledged by the Albany State Educational Department as the best private school in its category in the State of New York. Short of 50 years, the school is still in operation.
In 1981, R.K. moved via Florida to Germany where she administrated the children’s department at a German East European Mission who focused on providing relief aid and production and delivery of Bibles and Christian educational material for the persecuted, underground believers behind the then Iron Curtain. For two years, she helped produce the material and traveled as a courier behind the Communist borders where she personally encountered the suffering believers face to face. At the time, not being a citizen, she had the choice of staying in Europe and continue the work behind the iron Curtain, but with the cost of losing her American residency (green card). or to return to the States. She chose the latter after, during her last trip to the then Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, she received a vision of a bridge spanning between the United States and the Soviet Union with the commission to return to the States to “be a bridge – don’t build one”. She understood it to mean – don’t build a organization with costly overhead, but rather build relationships; then serve and network with the believers with like vision and passion to reach others with the love of Jesus in the nations. Build a bridge with people as the stones It caused R.K. to move back to the States, where, in 1983, she founded The Bridge International in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with supportive co-workers from abroad and her local church at home.
Steven Ulrich – Born in Peoria, Illinois, but grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After college, Steven returned to Fort Lauderdale where he became a successful entrepreneur. In his mid-twenties, after coming to faith in Jesus Christ, he became a philanthropist with a passion the help resource the gifts, talents, and vision of those who were serving others with the Gospel. He decided to live a frugal lifestyle, while generously funding a number of Christian church leaders and projects and in his local community. After reading Richard Wurmbrand’s “Tortured for Christ”, Steve’s focus shifted – he wanted to find ways to help the suffering believers living behind the Iron Curtain with his resources. He began to search for a venue through which he could funnel funds and be assured they would reach those for whom they were intendedwithout too many middlemen. In 1985, Steve and R.K. met over their mutual burden of serving the believers behind the Iron Curtain
Our friendship grew to love. In April, 1987 we were married. We brought to our union the unique combination of know-how within missions, education and entrepreneurial business. During the last thirty six years, we have been doing business with one arm and mission work with the other.
The Bridge started with serving the underground church in the East European countries under Soviet rule. In 1991, the Iron Curtain fell and the communist countries opened up for the Gospel. We found ourselves in the midst of a massive spiritual revolution, in large part a sweeping, new Jesus movement. Young people in particular who had been fully indoctrinated into atheism, began in their new freedom to search for spiritual truth, and a new surge in obtaining and reading the forbidden book, the Bible, ensued. With the doors wide open, alongside with the staff of The Bridge Field Office in Holland, we were instrumental in sending hundreds of Christian believers overseas from Western countries to share their faith among the younger generation of Russia, Central Asia, and all of the East European nations. In addition, we reached young people in several countries in the Balkans, i.e. Croatia, Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Scores responded, and many were saved and baptized. We facilitated the growth and maturing of the new believers by helping establish full time and part time Bible-based Leadership Training Schools, and helped conduct Christian conferences where solid, mature Bible teachers were invited to teach the Word of God in a number of cities throughout those regions. After training, the graduates were sent out to do pioneer evangelism and church planting. We also helped support the mercy ministries of the new churches as they reached out into their local communities with the compassion and love of Jesus. As example, we initially sponsored relief aid to the widows and orphans in Kosovo after the Balkan war, and have assisted the establishing of micro-businesses and drug rehab centers in a number of communities.
From the start, The Bridge fully sponsored the schools and the pioneer church planters, but as their churches and mercy ministries grew, and they found creative ways of financing their work from their local communities, we gradually pulled back our financial support. In the wake of these efforts, today there are strong, self-supporting, fully indigenous churches throughout these regions who keep on serving their people with the love of Jesus.
Our focus of support continues to be on those who do pioneer evangelism, church planting, and Bible-based leadership training. In the last couple of decades, through personal relationships, our focus has shifted some from the Bridge being on the forefront of the pioneering, to working in partnerships with individual indigenous missionaries who have already established solid ministries of their own in Africa, the Americas, and the Far– and Middle East, and are in need of funding in various areas of their work. We also work with low-cost Western ministries who are doing effective work and serving the indigenous church in places where the resources are less and the needs are greater.
Steve has always been an ardent student of the Word of God. In the early years, when realizing there was a desperate shortage of Bibles in the native languages everywhere, he became passionate about providing the Word of God to all those new believers overseas. During the nineties when we were engaged in major pioneer evangelism in the countries mentioned above, he was instrumental in building partnerships with other ministries and businessmen who, in addition to our own personal finances, helped provide the printing and distribution of millions of New Testaments in a number of languages. The Director of The Bridge Holland was a printer by profession, so Steve provided the funds, and Bram did printing of some of the New Testaments.
Presently, we are a couple of decades into our retirement years, but up till now, we have not been not pulling back as we have continued to serve with The Bridge, although in a smaller measure than in earlier years. We embrace that we are His servants in His field, so we identify with the Scripture verse in 1. Corinthians 3:6-7, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” When we finally will stand before the Lord in His Glory, we are longing to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” Matthew 25:23.
This year The Bridge is celebrating it’s 40th year since its foundation. It is the Year of Jubilee, and the perfect timing to transfer the leadership and administration into the hands of a younger generation. After much prayer, the Lord has provided us with a wonderful young man who grew up partially overseas in the mission field, partially in Europe, and in the United States where he is well established as an entrepreneurial businessman with a mission heart. He has a wife and two children. We are at the very beginning of our working together to ensure the transfer is smooth and without glitches. As we progress, we will bring you the full story
P.S. You will find background information on the partners and projects we currently sponsor by clicking on the COUNTRIES button above. To find some of the prior people and projects, click on the PDF ARCHIVE above and scroll, or chose a date under ARCHIVES in the column to the right, These prior years’ Bridge Reports in .pdf form are ready for download and printing. There is also a DONATION button on the home page for you who would like to join us in giving to the mission field through The Bridge.