Covenant News

Selah (WA) Church Relocates; Seeks Property

SELAH, WA (November 9, 2001) - Selah Covenant Church has moved its worship services and Christian education classes to an area elementary school. The move comes nearly three months after fire destroyed the church annex August 29.

The church had two buildings, located on either side of a large parking lot, that were used for ministry purposes. The annex, which was used for Christian education and youth programs, could not be rebuilt to meet current code requirements, according to city officials. The annex was built in 1910 and previously served as the local United Methodist church. Selah Covenant bought the annex a decade ago.

Although the Selah Covenant Church sanctuary (which seats about 230) was not harmed, pastor Marc Peterson said that parishioners voted to move worship services and Christian education programs to a local elementary school because they wanted both worship and Sunday school classes at the same site.

"If we stayed here, it would be nearly impossible to continue our current ministries," Peterson said. "We would have to eliminate some of our adult Sunday school classes and consolidate our youth classes."

The church will determine its long-range goals no later than the end of January 2002, according to Peterson, who has served as Selah Covenant's senior pastor for eight years. The church council meeting of September 6 served as a catalyst for serious discussion over the future of the church at its current location. The church is searching for property with the help of the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

"For five or six weeks we used our Sunday school time to present our information," Peterson said with respect to research conducted on setback codes and other considerations. "At the end of that time we had a vote and the church was overwhelmingly in favor of going to the elementary school."

Selah Covenant Church, founded in 1908, has a worship attendance of about 300. The church is located in Selah, a town of 6,000 located five miles north of Yakima in central Washington.

For more information about the church and its future ministries, call Peterson at 509-697-6116.

Printable version of this page.