Our History
In early 1979, small
groups of people familiar with the United Church of Christ began
meeting in homes. By late 1979, Reverend Bob Haertig was called to
be the organizing pastor, and on March 30, 1980, the first worship
service was held at Mountain View Improvement Club House in
Woodinville.
During four years at the tiny, borrowed Mountain View building, we
grew, held our first confirmation class, became a full member of the
Washington North Idaho Conference, and installed Robert Haertig as
Founding Pastor.
Then it was time to build our own church home--a formidable task for
a still-small church. Acting as our own contractor and dedicating
countless volunteer hours to construction, we achieved our dream.
The first service in today’s Northshore UCC building was held Palm
Sunday, 1984. The dramatic Christus sculpture on the front of the
church (shown below) was designed by founding Minister Robert
Haertig. Symbolic of this “Band of Many Persons,” each component
piece was hammered by a founding member of the congregation, then
mounted together to create our “Dancing Jesus.”
In 1990, Rev. Bob Haertig retired. During the interim search for a new minister, the church was served by the Reverend William Wright.
In December 1990, the church called the Reverend Paul Forman as our second minister. Under his leadership, the congregation has strengthened its ministry with young families; built a powerful music and arts ministry; increased outreach of time and resources given to others; and developed ecumenical connections in our hometown and the region.
Under Rev. Paul
Forman's leadership the education building was constructed and
connected to the original building by a covered walk.
On March 19, 2005, the church celebrated 25 years of our mission to
transform the human spirit to do God's work.
In 2006 the congregation invited Tent City 4 to reside on its
property for 3 months only after they had been unable to locate when
a prospective church withdrew at the last minute. Northshore UCC was
in litigation with the city of Woodinville over their action for
over a year before the Supreme Court of the State of Washington
found in favor of the church's right to minister to the homeless by
providing space for Tent City on church property.
Rev.Paul Forman retired after 16 years of ministry in our midst and
was honored with a mighty celebration and sadness.
Rev. Kathleen Morgan served as interim pastor during 2006/2007
helping the congregation through the transitional period.
We welcomed Rev. Cynthia Riggin as our fulltime pastor November 1st
of 2007.
Covenant | Ministries | History | Open and Affirming | Progressive