Over 120 Years of Faithful Service to Kent

On August 4, 1889 eight families, uprooted from their Scandinavian origins unimaginably far away across an ocean and a vast continent, congregated to form a church in the valley of the White and Green rivers in Washington Territory. Perhaps they saw the beginning they made as a witness of faith to future generations that would live here. More likely they were driven by grace and a simple need for fellowship, and at first thought of no future beyond the length of their days.  Whatever the case, God looked upon these few faithful and blessed their efforts.  More than a century later, we their benefactors at Kent Lutheran Church regard them with grateful admiration.

What they undertook in their lifetimes was courageous. It was entirely natural that families of a common language, far from home, sharing a common faith, would be drawn toward one another to form a community. But that they were here at all, choosing a style of life that demanded hard work and sacrifices, in a place so remote, harsh and unfamiliar took courage.  And the times that they lived in were uncertain.

August 1889 found the world in a period of transition in which old and new contrasted dramatically.  That year in Paris a modern engineering marvel, a tower designed by Gustave Eiffel, was erected to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.  Otto von Bismark was serving the last year of his brilliant career as Chancellor in the German state he had unified, while just across the Austrian border a child was born in mid-April who would lead Germany nearly to European domination before seeing it humbled and divided once more.  Britians, still in shock over Jack the Ripper’s grisly horrors of the previous autumn, were nonetheless content under Queen Victoria with prosperity gained from old-world Empire and new-world industrialism.  In the United States, former Confederate President Jefferson Davis died at age 81, living just long enough to hear of Herman Hollerith’s odd new invention, the electronic computer.  Geronimo had surrendered to US troops three years before, effectively ending Native American armed struggle in the fading frontier, and now on March 6, at the stroke of noon, thousands of frantic homesteaders swarmed to claim 160-acre parcels of formerly Indian territory in the Oklahoma Land Rush.  At the same time in the East, 30-year old Theodore Roosevelt was entering the US Civil Service, unaware of a future conflict with Spain that would soon launch him to the Presidency.  Business tycoons, who had profited hugely from American expansion, saw the scales balanced in 1889 by enactment of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.  In literature, Mark Twain published his popular novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, describing with characteristic sarcasm and charm the ingenuity of a modern man out of place in a bygone era.

Washington Territory was no less in transition that August.  Since its founding in 1853 the entire territory had reached a population of only 75,000, but with the railroad finally reaching Tacoma in 1887, the population was growing rapidly.  In the last decade King County had grown from under 7,000 inhabitants to almost 64,000. South Puget Sound was agricultural, and was enjoying the “Golden Age of Hops,” with almost a million pounds a year being harvested and distributed as far away as Europe. Lumber and mining also were key contributors to the economy. Growth and prosperity meant that the Territory was able to sustain itself independently and contribute to the growing wealth of the nation.  For years Washington had been petitioning Congress for statehood.  In February 1889 statehood was finally granted and in August leaders in Olympia were drafting a state constitution that would be approved on November 11, making Washington the 42^nd state in the Union.

Things looked promising indeed, and there were plans to form a city in the valley shortly after statehood was established.  The city was incorporated the following year, 1890.  With a population of only 763, it was the second largest city in King County, named for another well-known hop growing city, Kent, England.

Founders of the plainly named, Skandinaviske Evangeliske Luterske Menighet (Scandinavian Evangelist Lutheran Parish) must have seen all this as blessings from God.  But they were aware of risks too, if not due to the daily harshness of their farming life then certainly due to the unpredictable whims of chance in so remote an area, most recently evident only two months before when a carpenter’s hot glue pot overturned, caught fire, and burned down the entire Seattle business district.  As if that wasn’t enough, Vancouver, Ellensburg and Spokane suffered a similar fate that same month of June.  So it seems bold that despite the uncertainties, Kent Lutheran Church was established before incorporation of the city and even before statehood, even if only by three months.

But there was certainly a need for this church.  In the new state, one out of every eight inhabitants was Scandinavian.  Clearly Den Skandinaviske Evangeliske Luterske Menighet was originally intended to meet the needs of the Norwegian faithful in the area – Norwegian was the only language spoken at services for its first 32 years.  At its beginning and for many years, Kent Lutheran Church served as a home away from home for a part of the population that perhaps more than most felt the stresses and exhilarations of life in transition.

These days Kent Lutheran Church probably risks less and enjoys more prosperity than the eight founding families experienced.  We owe our thanks to God for the humble and faithful beginning they made, with such pure understanding of their purpose.  We can be awed that since that uncertain time, Kent Lutheran has lasted to serve our community and us these last 114 years.  At every stage of transition or hardship we can look back to the church’s beginning for lessons about vision for mission, courage in doubt and trust in God’s plan.  Each year that we mark our church’s founding we acknowledge God’s presence in all the years from then until now, and for years to come.

-Dan Bellaire