Mars Hill Downtown Seattle, a robust evangelical congregation, has moved into Seattle’s once historic landmark Methodist Church.
“By the grace of God we’ve come back to see Jesus preached once again in this epic location in the heart of Seattle,” explained Pastor Tim Gaydos.
The old liberal United Methodist congregation, dwindling in numbers, could not sustain the majestic domed sanctuary and tried to tear it down for development. A developer saved the building for use as a concert hall, and he is now renting it to the thriving evangelical congregation.
Famously Calvinist Mark Driscoll, age 42 and an unabashed exponent of muscular Christianity, is founder and leader of the Mars Hill movement, which has 15 congregations, mostly in the Northwest. Driscoll and Gaydos introduced the new location for Mars Hill Downtown Seattle, which previously met in a nightclub, in a zippy video on the Mars Hill website.
“We wanted to see God at work in the city,” Driscoll explained. “The church has lost its voice in America because the church has left the city.” Conversing with Gaydos, he noted that too many old churches in cities are “empty, dead, dying,” often renovated into condos.
By contrast, Mars Hill Downtown Seattle typically attracts 1400-1500 people to 5 services and is now downtown Seattle’s largest congregation. Gaydos recalled that the old Methodist congregation dated to the earliest days of Seattle, whose founder was a Methodist. Seattle’s first church was Methodist and created in 1853. The current sanctuary was dedicated in 1910.
As the most “beautiful, grand building in Seattle,” it was saved 5 years ago from destruction, Gaydos recounted. Driscoll noted the Mars Hill Downtown Seattle congregation began with just 50-75 people. On Easter it attracted 2800 this year. “Our family will grow,” he promised. “We will not allow the size of the family to be determined by the size of the building.” Driscoll surmised that “Jesus has more people to love than can fit into a building.”
Gaydos said, “We’re praying this is a place that people will meet Jesus for a very long time.” He also announced, “To welcome Seattle back into this space we need to raise 2 million bucks.” On September 25, the church is gathering for a night of prayer. “They will pray, sing, and petition God to do an amazing work in the city of Seattle,” their website reports.
Good for them, and I’m expecting they’ll raise $2 million and more. America’s great cities were once lead by thriving and teeming Methodist and other Mainline Protestant downtown congregations, the vast majority of which are now dead or barely shadows of their former selves. Thank God some of the beautiful old sanctuaries they left behind are being reclaimed as once again outposts for Gospel proclamation.
Comment by ric on September 26, 2012 at 11:18 am
I’ve visited the new facility that Seattle First moved to across downtown. It’s certainly nice and functional, but the profit they made from the sale of the old facility seems to have been plowed into more than ministry. How about a hammered titanium facade, 3 stories tall and about a block long? They’re certainly serving the homeless community in Seattle, which is a mission adopted long ago, but at what cost? How much of what they spent could have been used for ministry?