Faithfulness and Experience
A Desire for Bridgeway Church
"How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God."
—Psalm 84:1–2"Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!"
—Psalm 105:4“God will manifest His presence to you in congregational worship in ways you can never know even in the most glorious secret worship. That’s because you are not only a temple of God as an individual, but the Bible says (and far more often) that Christians collectively are God’s temple... God manifests His presence in different ways to the ‘living stones’ of His temple when they are gathered than He does when they are apart.” Donald Whitney
I long to be a church that is pursuing deep discipleship while passionately seeking the manifest presence of God.
We are to be formed into the image of Christ through the means of grace God has given us: His Word, preaching, communion, fellowship, worship, prayer, fasting, and sacrifice. We walk faithfully through trials and suffering. We live peaceable and quiet lives—a long obedience in the same direction, as Eugene Peterson described it.
But alongside this, we pursue His presence. Actively. Expectantly. Eagerly.
We long to see hearts transformed in a moment. The lost saved. The saved awakened—repenting, re-centering their lives on Christ and His commission. To see evangelism unleashed—fruitful and multiplying—because the church is alive in His Spirit.
I believe both of these must exist in Christ’s Church: Faithfulness and Experience.
Faithfulness is the daily path of discipleship. It's the slow, steady shaping of our lives into the likeness of Jesus. Basic training in following Jesus. Ordinary obedience in the place God has called us, to live under the waterfall of his transformative grace.
Dallas Willard once said,
“Every church ought to ask two questions: What is our plan for making disciples, and is that plan working?”
Every member of Bridgeway will be called, exhorted, and equipped to grow in Christlikeness—through gathering with the saints, practicing the disciplines, confessing sin, committing to community, putting to death the flesh, rejoicing in suffering, producing endurance, character and hope.
And we also long for more.
We also hunger for the manifest presence of God—the tangible, transformative nearness of His Spirit among us and within us when we gather. To be a church that experiences God by knowing Him, not only knowledge of Him. Deep intimacy fueled and encouraged by presence and power.
Moments where the Spirit descends.
Conviction awakens.
Desires for holiness are born.
Miracles released.
Worship.
“Since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”
—1 Corinthians 14:12
When the Spirit moves among us, evangelism erupts. We can't help but give Jesus—to our coworkers, friends, family. How could we not, when the Living God is in our midst?
Yes, God is omnipresent (Psalm 139). But His manifest presence awakens our awareness. It stirs our affections. It disrupts our distractions. It fills us with joy.
We glimpse this every week in communion—where bread and wine awaken our awareness of Christ’s nearness. We don’t climb the mountain to get to God—He came down to us in Christ and gave us His Spirit. He is near. We simply show up and seek.
Our entire worship gathering is structured around this pursuit. We are not chasing emotionalism. We are seeking God. We are relying on the Holy Spirit—not manufacturing experiences, but making room for Him.
The goal is not hype—it’s His presence.
The aim is not to feel better—it’s to enjoy Him more deeply.
God’s manifest presence is something we feel, experience, enjoy, and adore.
And when Psalm 105:4 commands us to “seek His presence continually” (literally, His face), it’s a call to seek with our whole being—heart, mind, soul, and strength—not just to believe He is present, but to know it, sense it, respond to it.
We want more joy in Christ.
More glory to God.
More power in our witness.
More love for one another.
“The work of the Holy Spirit is to manifest the active presence of God in the world, and especially in the church.” - Wayne Grudem
This is my heart for Bridgeway.
To be a church who walks in deep discipleship and in a passionate pursuit of the presence of God.
I believe this has always been God's heart for us.
It’s time.