WL church, an expanding community

By Katie Browning

The West Linn Tidings, Jun 25, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

/ SUBMITTED PHOTO

Lead Pastor Joel Dumbrow addresses the congregation at Willamette Christian Church at the new church’s dedication ceremony on April 26.

While the smell of new paint lingers at Willamette Christian Church in West Linn, operations are running smoothly less than three months after moving into a new building.

The congregation had been meeting at Rosemont Ridge Middle School after outgrowing their property at the intersection of 10th Street and Willamette Falls Drive.

The 10th Street property has now been sold, and on what was once a Christmas tree farm sits the new church building just off Salamo Road.

“The idea had always been that we’d have a permanent home that was big enough,” said Sherri Oswald, Willamette Christian’s outreach coordinator. “But it took a while to find the right property.”

Fundraising for the massive building project began in December 2006. With $2.55 million pledged for the project, church leaders purchased the 34.7-acre property on the corner of Brandywine Drive and Salamo Road in May 2007. Construction commenced in June 2008, and the church held their first service in the new building on April 5.

Phase one of construction, totaling roughly 25,000 square feet, includes the multi-purpose room for Sunday services, classrooms and administrative offices. Phase two, an additional 10,500 square feet of classroom and meeting space, is currently under construction and scheduled for use in November.

The added space will include an area for The Table, a free, no-questions-asked breakfast for members of the community hosted by the church on Friday mornings.

In addition to the weekly breakfast, Willamette Christian is looking for new ways to make use of their building, said Oswald.

“We have all this wonderful space, and we want to make sure it is full,” Oswald said. “We want this to be a vibrant building from when we open in the morning until we close at night.”

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