Instagram, June 2020
From before it was officially founded, Oregon was a hostile place for Black men and women. In an attempt to establish America’s first “all-white” state, the provisional government of 1844 ordered Black people out of the territory. By 1857, a constitution was adopted that banned all Black people from entrance, residence, and ownership of property. This founding idea of Oregon was as a “white utopia.” Even as the 14th & 15th amendments were established following the Civil War, giving Black Americans certain rights, Oregon refused to officially recognize them.
Racism was deeply entrenched in the laws, culture, and social life of Oregon, making it an ideal climate for the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. By the 1920s, Oregon had the highest per capita Klan membership in the country, holding influence in government and church leadership. In 1922, Walter Pierce, a politician supported by the KKK, was elected governor of Oregon. Local papers published photos of the Portland Chief of Police, Sheriff, District Attorney, U.S. Attorney, and Mayor all posing with klansmen. By the 1980s, Oregon had become a destination for the largest skinhead movement in the country. Its objective was to achieve what the early pioneers had dreamed of over a century earlier, the creation of a white homeland.
Learn more about Portland’s racist history and pray for a different future.
Instagram, June 2020
Juneteenth is the celebrated commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation and the abolishment of American slavery. Effective January 1, 1863, by executive order of President Lincoln, “All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” But it wasn’t until two and a half years later, on June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas that the remaining Black men and women still subject to enslavement were informed that, “in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” By then, the war was over, General Lee had surrendered, President Lincoln was dead, and the 13th Amendment was nearly ratified. On December 6, 1865, the United States Constitution officially declared that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Juneteenth is a moment of celebration for the liberation of Black Americans. But after the war, oppression took new forms. Confederate soldiers occupied positions in the justice system, becoming police officers and judges. Black codes, jim crow laws, segregation, voter suppression, redlining, police brutality, mass incarceration, labor camps, lynchings, and white supremacy formed the systems of racism that still afflict our Black sisters and brothers today.
Instagram, Sept 2021
Sept. 15 marks the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, during which we celebrate the unique and vital role that Latino and Latina Americans have played in the shaping of America. This is a moment to celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
The Latino community is a fundamental part of American history. Despite over a century of systemic oppression and inhumane treatment, like profiling, false stereotypes, holding cells, kerosene baths, income inequality, and housing discrimination Hispanic Americans and immigrants have contributed immeasurably to the benefit of American society. We celebrate the gift of diversity and cultural enrichment they have shared with the world.
We grieve and pray against the systems of injustice that Hispanic Americans and immigrants endure. We eagerly anticipate the day when every nation, tribe, people, and language worship God together as one.
Learn more from the lives and teachings of prominent Hispanic voices and authors like Luis Palau, Rich Villodas, María Guadalupe García Zavala, Óscar Romero, and Vicenta Chávez Orozco.
Instagram, Oct 2021
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is the recognition of the lives and cultures of the First Peoples of North America and Alaska. We honor and celebrate Indigenous people whose communities lived in harmony with this land for generations. Their beautiful traditions, creative expressions, advocacy as caretakers and protectors of land, and insight into sustainability have established a rich legacy.
Oct. 11 is also a day to grieve the violent history of European colonization by Christopher Columbus and others like him who landed on these shores. A campaign of dehumanization was created, leading to centuries of ethnic cleansing, stolen land, historical erasure, biological warfare, tribal massacres, and genocide. We lament the relentless evil and tragic injustice that Indigenous Peoples have endured.
The land that Oregon now occupies was originally home to the vibrant, diverse communities of the Cowlitz, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Wasco, Molalla, and Watlala bands of the Chinook, and many other nations of the Nch’i Wána (“The Big River”), also known as the Columbia River. The land we occupy as a nation, as a city, and as a church, was taken unjustly.
Podcast, May 2022
Growing up in America in an immigrant family from India, Daniel found himself wanting to blend in but feeling like he stood out. This desire to fit in, push beyond Indian stereotypes, and search for his identity led him into the creative industry and an identity that was more wrapped up in his career than his cultural identity. It wasn’t until he was able to receive his identity from God as a son that he could embrace his identity as an Indian man and his value in the multiethnic body of Christ.
Listen to “AAPI Heritage: Embracing Identity” on the Bridgetown Audio Podcast as Daniel Jagaselvan and Tyler Hanns discuss Daniel’s experiences growing up as an Indian American and his journey of identity.
Podcast, Nov 2022
For the month of November, we are honoring Indigenous Heritage Month. Each week, members of our church family will be sharing stories that acknowledge and celebrate Indigenous heritage and culture.
Listen to “Indigenous Heritage: Oregon’s Past & Future” on the Bridgetown Audio Podcast as Tabatha Leady, Matt Leady, and Tyler Hanns discuss Oregon's past and a vision for the future.
Podcast, Nov 2022
As a tribal member, Tabatha has a long legacy in the Pacific Northwest, from the ancestral lands of her people to raising a young family in the city of Portland. Discovering and embracing her Indigenous identity has come with much celebration and grief. Through a dark history of tragedy and loss, the people of her tribe have survived violence, genocide, and oppression. Tabatha has learned to carry this legacy with lament while honoring the good as she carries on her tribal traditions to another generation.
Listen to “Indigenous Heritage: Family & Tribe” on the Bridgetown Audio Podcast as Tabatha Leady and Tyler Hanns discuss the story of her ancestry and how she is passing down a legacy to her daughters.
Vision Statement, Sept 2016
Bridgetown Church is practicing the way of Jesus, together, in Portland. As apprentices of Jesus of Nazareth, we order our lives around three goals: be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did. Our dream is that as we live this way, our lives, our communities, and our city will be transformed.
The Church is not another sub-culture but the making of a new humanity. It’s not a building or a weekend activity but a people. We want to partner with God in his relentless pursuit to put the world to rights and pray as Jesus taught us, that God’s will would be done in Portland as it is in Heaven.
Teaching, Mar 2022
Our family of origin is the most typical setting for generational blessing and generational sin. Alcoholics often spring from alcoholic parents, who marry alcoholic spouses and produce alcoholic children. Sexist families tend to reproduce sexism, spreading through the family tree to control and patronize women. Racists families raise racists children, who disseminate hate on playgrounds and in classrooms and workplaces.
But those are some of the worse cases. Inhospitable parents raise children who don’t know how to welcome and care for strangers. Greed, anger, impatience, selfishness, unhealthy relationships with food, emotional neglect, perfectionism, criticism, elitism, anxiety, poverty, and mental illness are all passed down in the family.
How do we break these patterns?