It is the land of lattes, Microsoft, the Puget Sound and Mount Ranier. In some areas, there are as many coffee shops as grocery stores. And it is home to some of the most free-thinking and open-minded Americans.
Seattle, Washington – an international gateway to the Pacific Rim – is one of the last frontiers in American life for the church. Less than 4 percent of the population are active evangelicals.
Gary Irby, church-planting director for the Puget Sound Baptist Association, says that the Northwest is an escape from large institutions. Many people move to the area to get away from big, corporate situations, including the church.
“This – is why Seattle is not post-Christian: It has never been Christian,” said Irby.
Irby, along with other church planters in the Northwest area, are partnering with existing churches in other parts of the country, including South Carolina, to support the growing number of church plants working in this most unreached metropolitan area of the U.S.
In the past seven years, the Puget Sound association has planted 70 churches in 20 different languages. Contrary to popular belief about the area, Seattle is extremely diverse, with more than 200 languages spoken in the Seattle-area school districts. More than half of the 70 new churches are non-English speaking.
“The only thing that people here will not tolerate is intolerance,” he said.
Of the English-speaking churches, the focus is mainly the young adult population, and the plants are extremely relational and community focused.
“Being missional and servant-oriented are not catchy buzz phrases for us. They are the reality of everyday life for many of our church plants,” said Irby.
David Lee, Lexington Baptist Association’s director of lay mobilization, says that he knows the potential of the region and wants South Carolina churches to see the same.
“Many of the churches in the Lexington Association have committed to reproduce themselves at least once in the next 10 years. One of the places they can do that is to start a church somewhere in the Northwest,” said Lee.
Lee says though the culture and demographics may be different from the South, the main focus and strategy are prayer. Lee is encouraging all Lexington Association churches to pray for Seattle and any potential partnering involvement.
In fact, the Northwest is looking for partners who will provide prayer support, missions involvement and financial giving. Irby calls these “pray, play and pay.”
Irby says the cost of living is extremely high in Seattle and can cause a financial strain on churches and church planters. Ongoing support is needed for most Northwest churches to thrive.
Though there are challenges in the area, God is proving himself faithful to his church in Seattle.
“Some of our new churches have grown very rapidly by Northwest standards and have exciting stories of transformed lives,” said Irby.
A vision trip to Seattle, jointly sponsored by the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board, is planned for Aug. 23-24. Churches who are seeking to fulfill an Acts 1:8 vision and feel led to explore the most unreached metropolitan area in the U.S. are invited to participate. For more information, log on to www.scbaptist.org/missions.