Pastoring Portlandia: John Mark Comer
John Mark Comer left a suburban Portland megachurch to pastor Bridgetown: A Jesus Church, in urban Portland’s trendy West Side. The church, of around 2,000 total, is a vibrant example of Christian community where one would least expect a powerful church presence—in the hip, professional environment of the city’s heart.
The electric kettle boils by the bookshelf and clicks itself off. John Mark Comer picks it up, and pours water over two mugs of green tea and fresh honey. He hands me one. Behind me, the sounds of the Pearl District come up through the open window—pedestrians laughing, the whir of a bicycle’s freewheel. As we catch up, John Mark casually drops an unusual word to describe our city’s culture …
You just called Portland “corrosive.” Why?
Well, I love our city, but Portland is a great example of Western secular society. It’s a canary in the American mine. We’re 30 to 50 years behind most European cities in terms of secularization, but easily 30 to 50 years ahead of most of the rest of America. The question we’re asking here as Christian leaders is: “As a church, how do we not become Europe?” When a Portlander like me travels internationally—to London, say—we feel right at home. Their city has more professionals, maybe, but culturally, it is very similar. But when I travel to Atlanta or Florida? Oh my gosh, I think. What world is this? It’s so different.
But in this digital age, the way that America is moving, the whole country will continue to secularize. And the reality is that secular culture is incredibly corrosive to faith. It eats away at it. It produces a Babylonlike environment, which is why you have multiple people today comparing our moment today to the exile stories of the Bible. Our task is to remember how to stay faithful in the midst of different cultures, beliefs and values. Our question as God’s people must be how do we not just survive, but thrive here in exile. Daniel found a way to do it. The church in the West can, too. But to do that, we have to change, adapt and innovate—not theologically, but functionally.
What are you learning about pastoring in Portland?
That it’s really hard. [Laughs] I’m not sure Portlanders want to be pastored. Pastors lead people out of immaturity into maturity in Jesus. The problem here is the whole dream of the American West. Individuality.
All along the West Coast, we just want to be Jack Kerouac. Individuals on the road of life. Don’t tell me what to do. I am my own self. People talk about the idolatry of money, sex and power, but here, it’s simply “self.” The challenge is leading people who don’t want to be led, who think of being led not just as unnecessary, but actively against the good of their self-realization. These are overarching terms, sure—some of the best millennials I know go to our church and are amazing believers—but following Jesus means sacrifice, commitment, suffering. American culture, especially here on the West Coast, is all about avoiding those things. Dodge suffering, escape pain, don’t commit, do what feels good, be true to yourself, be “authentic”—which just means do what you feel—and so on. These things are imbibed in our culture in Portland. They’re deep in our soul and psyche. Even for followers of Jesus, it’s hard to even contemplate life in a different way.
We’ve been shaped by individualism, by consumerism, by hedonism. We don’t even realize it. This city pushes you to do your own thing, to do whatever feels good. “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”—and there’s a lot of great food and drink here to keep the mind off death. At Bridgetown, we’re doing a lot of teaching right now about culture, not because we’re trying to be cool or relevant, but because we’re trying to help disciples of Jesus understand the way that our culture has actually primed us against discipleship.
