History

More history: Joyce Paeth's History Lesson | 60th Anniversary, June 1996

Vancouver's population was estimated at 20,000 in 1936, the year that Al and Ruth Wallace started a Sunday School in the farming community of Minnehaha. The weather was clear and warm. Sunday School was opened with prayer by Mr. E.J. Boddy. Teachers present 6. Scholars 62. Total 68. Collection $3.34, a document dated June 14, 1936 reads.

The church that grew out of this ministry met in the old Minnehaha schoolhouse and later in the Grange building. "Mrs. Helen Ferneding, Florence Manning, and others started teaching in those days," as Joyce Paeth said in the history presented at the groundbreaking in 1995. "A man named Ira Washburn, an architect from Portland, came over and taught an adult class for 4 or 5 years, and then he and his wife Tracy felt called to go to Colombia as missionaries."

Attendance rose from an average of 29 for the Sundays in that first year to 47 in 1937. In 1943 Albert Forgey, a former County Sheriff, became the first full-time pastor. The church was incorporated August 17, 1944.

Construction on the first church facility began in 1952, due to the sale and impending demolition of the Minnehaha School, where the church had been meeting. The new building was designed by Ira Washburn, who was home from Colombia at the time. He was also present at the 60th Anniversary celebration in June, 1996.

The building was renovated and expanded in the 1970s, while Richard Schwab was pastor. Since his retirement, Pastor Schwab has served the church in many other capacities.

By the 1980s, the facility was no longer meeting the needs of the growing ministry. The board and members determined that a relocation was the best decision. The building facility was sold and the church began meeting in rented facilities, including 8 years at Fort Vancouver High School, as well in a number of local schools during the week.

Wood and concrete walls were beginning to rise at the new facility in 1995, but more arduous years of work were ahead to complete the facility. The thirty thousand square foot structure accommodates some 750 in the main multipurpose room. It was first used in December of 1998.

The importance of remembrance was spoken of by Pastor Paul A. Jackson at the groundbreaking for the new facility on April 30, 1995, as he pointed to Joshua 4. That passage recounts how the Lord commanded the leaders of Israel to set up 12 stones as a reminder of his deliverance of the people when he stopped the Jordan River.

Like those stones, the institution serves as a reminder of God's faithfulness. He pointed to reasons why we must remember the works of the Lord. First, "that our children may know that God is mighty and cares for us." Second, "that our community may know God is mighty, and cares for his people." Finally, he said, "so that you may fear the Lord your God forever. If we fear God," he went on, "if we have confidence in him and are obeying him, God will continue to accomplish his work in our lives. Let's never forget what God has done and is going to do."

Building dedication: 'This building is Yours, and we are Yours. We dedicate this place to you.'

With the added blessing of the final occupancy permit that was issued by the county on April 23, the dedication service for the new Glenwood facility took place on Sunday, April 25, 1999: a celebration of what God has done, a look forward with expectation toward what he will do, and a purposeful setting apart of the new building for his honor.

"If God has brought us to this place as a church body, just imagine what things he has for us yet out in the future," Randy Keeley said as he opened the service in prayer (photo). A former associate pastor, Randy now leads a church in New York.

Throughout the building were archives of pictures, teaching materials, and documents covering the history of the church, assembled by Lorrie Donahue and her colleagues.

A multi-media presentation brought images from the earliest days of the church, the years in the first building, the celebration at the groundbreaking in 1995, and recent images in our new facility. Paul Jackson recalled listening to a tape of the dedication service for the first building after it was expanded in the 1970s. "The Jesus that was preached in this ministry in 1974 is the same Jesus who is being preached in 1999 - that is the core, that is the heart of our ministry," he said.

As we celebrated the completion of the building, the description of the angels that surround the Lord on his throne in Revelation 4-5 offered a guide to a proper sense of proportion. "The angels are not enamoured with the furniture," Jay Mosser said. "The main feature of heaven is God himself." As we look at God we should also honor and celebrate the people of God as they have been used to bring about his work. Our response to the Lord should be: "We celebrate you, we celebrate your people, we celebrate what you have done."

Pastor Jackson pointed to how God has used his people to meet specific needs: Mark Johnson, the architect who designed the structure, had moved to our area just at the right time, as had Lewis Thomas, who served as the project superintendent, coordinating the volunteer and contracted work. And there were hundreds more: "people who used their skills; people who gave regularly," as well as those who gave substantial gifts, some in times of great need.

As we look forward to what God can do through us in the future, we should follow the example of the Thessalonian believers in the New Testament. "Your faith in God has become known everywhere" the Apostle Paul wrote to them. "They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God."

"I hope we continually turn to God from idols to serve the living God," Paul Jackson said. That's what I hope God does through us, that men, women and children continually turn to God from their sin, receiving the full and complete forgiveness offered only through Jesus Christ."

"That's when our faith will go beyond these walls - carried not just by the elders and the pastoral staff but by all of you." Before the prayer of dedication, the Pastor asked those who had been at the church during the 1940s and 1950s to stand, and then joining them, those under age 21 - the next generation.

"As you look around, you see those who began this ministry with a vision that God gave to them. You see how God has blessed. You see the generations that are to follow."

The service closed with Ted Wilson and the choir singing "Beyond These Walls." The song, composed by Ted, emphasizes the mandate for the church to carry the gospel beyond the protective walls of the church, where "safe from the storm, we're growing strong ... our fellowship's sweet."

"This place is not just a sanctuary where we sit in complacency," the song declares. "This church is our training ground, our sending agency." With the walls now complete, we must not hide behind them but go out 'beyond these walls.'
 

Thank you, Lord, for this new place to worship and serve you.
We give thanks to you, O Lord.
You have been with us in the past -
You are with us still.
This building is Yours, and we are Yours.
We dedicate this place to you.
We dedicate ourselves to you.
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name.
We will not forget.
We will tell of all your wonders, O Lord.

-- from the responsive readings
 

From you, Father, and you alone, we are abundantly blessed in the gift of this property, this building. We give it all to you. We dedicate it to you, Father, for your honor, for your glory, for your work, for the effecting of your will.

Knowing, Father, that there is no other name under heaven by which men may be saved, we dedicate this building to the worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to the preaching of His gospel. In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, we dedicate this building and this ministry to the sending and support of worldwide missions.

We dedicate this building for the training of our children in your ways, and to exhorting coming generations to live a life fully devoted to you and your Son, Jesus Christ.

Purify us as a people for your own possession. And now, Father, unto you, the only wise God, and unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we the people of Glenwood Community Church dedicate ourselves to you to be used by you for your ministry and for your glory, with overwhelming gratitude, we thank you and praise your holy name.

-- from the prayer of dedication

Mini News, Glenwood Community Church, 5/1999