URCNA MISSIONS
The brothers and sisters of the Gig Harbor United Reformed Church plant would like to introduce ourselves to the congregations of the URC! We thank God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ for blessing this work in our community where the Gospel of our Savior is now proclaimed weekly.
Gig Harbor is an old fishing town in western Washington that is part of the post- Christian Seattle -Tacoma metropolitan area. Despite rapid population growth over the past 20 years, faithful Reformed churches have been non-existent on the peninsula where Gig Harbor is located.
In the summer of 2017 several families began meeting with the hope of seeing a warm, confessional reformed church founded. While attending Classis Pacific Northwest in October 2017 we met several members of the Lynden URC council and began ongoing conversations. We requested the Lynden URC assist us with this effort in May 2018, and the Consistory accepted our request the following month. Reverends Mark Stromberg and Mark Vander Pol began making the 300 mile round-trip two times per month to lead a study on the basics of Reformed theology beginning in September 2018.
As the introductory study concluded, we had an established core of six households. The Lynden URC Consistory began calling Lord’s Day services on March 10, 2019. We have been blessed to have pulpit supply from the Western Washington URCs of Lynden, Bellingham, and Burlington as well as one OPC church for which we are tremendously grateful.
We are thankful for the congregation of Lynden URC and for their generous gifts of time, prayer, teaching and consistent encouragement to us, as well as supplying us with copies of the new Trinity Psalter Hymnal and Forms and Prayers. These two volumes have been a great help as we recover the singing of the Psalms, and the confessing of our faith.
We have been amazed to see the Spirit bringing visitors to our congregation through friends and family connections of other URCNA members from California, Montana, and Iowa. Through all these means, God has continued to bless us. We have grown to an average weekly attendance of over 30 people with frequent new visitors. The Lord also has provided a wonderful rental meeting facility and our initial financial needs.
We earnestly desire to grow to a point where we are a congregation with a clear identity as a doctrinally sound, committed confessional Reformed church that radiates Christian love and warmth. Learn more about us at www.gigharborurc.org and follow us on social media @gigharborurc.