Bridgetown Video Podcast

How to be Alone

From the series "House to House." The COVID-19 shutdown is a kind of involuntary desert. A time of quiet and isolation and stripping away. Yet in a culture of the “extroverted ideal,” many of us simply do not know how to be alone. In this teaching we explore a theology of the desert from the life of Jesus and consider it’s potential for our spiritual formation.

A Kairos Moment

From the series, "House to House." We’re living through what the writer Paul calls a “Kairos” moment, a key junction point in time, and our response to it will determine the future. It’s long been said that every crisis is an opportunity. True. But it’s also a vulnerability. In this teaching, we explore four opportunities in the COVID19 shutdown, as well as their corresponding vulnerabilities. And we lay out a recommenced rule of life for the coming season of virtual community. 

Five Practices for Becoming a Non-Anxious Presence

From the series "House to House." With Coronavirus (COVID-19) being reported in the greater Portland area, local officials have placed a restriction on public gatherings. So we are excited to introduce our new church initiative called "House to House." Listen along as John Mark Comer teaches from the Gospel of Matthew about following the way of love as we seek to be a non-anxious presence in a cultural moment of anxiety, and to love and care for those in our community.

A Long Form Interview with Pete Scazzero

Listen to an interview with Pete Scazzero, founder of New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York, and founder of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, a groundbreaking ministry that transform churches through multiplying deeply changed disciples and leaders. He is also the author of a number of bestselling books, including The Emotionally Healthy Leader and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Along with his wife, Geri, he is also the author of The Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Course that is being used by churches around the world.

Special Announcement: Building Campaign Update

We are over half way into our building campaign and continue to be so encouraged by your generosity. Since the campaign began, our church has given more than ever before. We are confident that God is at work in the hearts of our church family. Our goal is to raise $3 million by December, 2019 for the purchase of Holladay Park Church of God, in Northeast Portland. And with $1 million already in savings from previous years of giving, our hope was to pay for all the needed renovations within that saved budget. Unfortunately, we have learned the required renovations will cost more money and take more time than anticipated.

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Stop, Rest, Delight, & Worship

Part 7 from the series, "Sabbath" as part of Practicing the Way. As we near the end of our Sabbath series, we finally come to Jesus’ relationship with the seventh day. People often misread Jesus’ teachings on the Sabbath as negative, but nothing could be further from the truth. In Jesus biography, we see him set every seventh day to stop, rest, delight, and worship.

A Sabbath Meditation

Part 6 from the series, "Sabbath" as part of Practicing the Way. As we are learning about Sabbath, this week we create a restful experience in our Sunday gathering. With Psalm 23 as a framework, we explore what it means to rest with God as our Shepherd.

Subversive Sabbath

Part 5 from the series, "Sabbath" as part of Practicing the Way. We live in a 24/7 culture of endless productivity, workaholism, distraction, burnout, and anxiety--a way of life to which we've sadly grown accustomed. This tired system of "life" ultimately destroys our souls, our bodies, our relationships, our society, and the rest of God's creation. The whole world grows exhausted because humanity has forgotten to enter into God's rest.

Sabbath & Your Humanity

Part 4 from the series, "Sabbath" as part of Practicing the Way. In Sabbath we bring to God our whole selves, believing that he meets us where we are. As we acknowledge our humanity and aches, we create space to encounter the God who longs to meet with us.

Sabbath as Resistance

Part 3 from the series, "Sabbath" as part of Practicing the Way. In a society addicted to the twin drugs of accomplishment and accumulation, the Sabbath is an act of resistance. A way of saying, Enough. Pharaoh and his empire are alive and well. Like the Israelites, we must live into our own Exodus, our own freedom.