We have exciting news today. Mars Hill Olympia just signed a lease on a building in the heart of the capitol city.
Let’s begin by telling you a little about their crazy history. In January of 2008, a few dozen people started gathering in a pub in Centralia, Washington to watch sermons from Pastor Mark Driscoll who preached live in Seattle, 95 miles to the north. This wasn’t just something to do together; this was a group of people committed to making disciples and gathering in community together. Along with many others who had formed unofficial community groups in the South Puget Sound, they began to get trained through Mars Hill Ballard and West Seattle, showing their desire for a church to be planted in their area. Later that year, Mars Hill planted a church in Olympia, bringing hundreds of people together from all over the South Puget Sound.
After being a mobile church for the past five years and moving from one rented space to the next, we are thrilled to have finally found a permanent home for Mars Hill Olympia.
For many years, Mars Hill Olympia was known as the do-it-yourself church due to their lack of a building along with the set up and tear down performed each week for Sunday services. They’ve met in a community college, movie theater, middle school, and performing arts theater. Every Sunday, an army of faithful volunteers would unload the two trailers filled with equipment so the church could be set up before many of the attenders were even out of bed.
They are now a growing church with four elders, averaging over 400 people a week. They love the capitol city and the region that surrounds it and don’t have a vision of big buildings and ministry programs, but of seeing people saved by Jesus and discipled for the purpose and trajectory Jesus is calling them toward to make an impact for the kingdom.
A new building for Mars Hill Olympia is a huge answer to prayer. Not only is it in a strategic location in the heart of the city, it’s one of only three downtown church locations that are zoned for a church. The current office space that Mars Hill Olympia meets in during the week has one room, meaning they can’t host more than one event at a time. So when they do have an event like a Redemption Group, they can’t offer childcare. The new building is 27,000 square feet and will be able to host a variety of events for both adults and children.
Prayers are still needed. A one-year lease has been signed, but one million dollars still needs to be raised in the next 12 months to purchase the building.
The launch of the new building for Mars Hill Olympia on January 12, 2014 will be part of a big day for Mars Hill. That day, Tacoma and Everett will also move into their new buildings, and we’ll launch a new church in Phoenix, our 15th church in our 5th state.
If you’d like to be a part of Jesus moving in Olympia, please pray for the church, give, and if you live in the area, serve the church. More volunteers are still needed because a lot work still needs to be done to reach the people of the South Puget Sound with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
