New Church in York

        A new church has moved into the building on the corner of Gladstone and Cornwall in the York neighborhood.

The church “Gathering the Harvest Tabernacle” has held a service every night last month in dedication to its new home in the York neighborhood. The official grand opening of the church was last Feb. 1.

            Pastor, Anthony Westbrook, has been running the church in Bellingham for the past five years. The church has been in a constant state of uprooting and location changes. Throughout the years and many moves a congregation of roughly 40 members has grown dedicated to the Gathering the Harvest Tabernacle.

The 50-year-old Pastor prides his church on being diverse and inclusive. He has hopes that the building could be used for Alcohol Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. “God has a place for everyone, and so do we. I want everyone to feel welcome here and we encourage people of any race, any faith, and people of any sexual orientation to come in.”

The new church serves hot meals every night. Attending church is not a requirement.

Some recovered drug abusers and alcoholics find refuge under the Tabernacles ceiling as well. “Some people may be dismayed from coming to a church if they see homeless people or know recovering drug addicts are in my congregation, but I would never turn any one away from this door. People come to church to feel love, respect, dignity and honor. On the other hand I do not want to upset any one in the neighborhood either,” Westbrook said.

Although the building on Gladstone and Franklin has been a location for churches for many years now, the neighborhood seems to have little to no recollection of what goes on there.

 “I don’t know the name of the church, but everyone calls it the purple church,” Jen McNew said. She said the ‘purple church’ has a reputation of being quite alternative.

Westbrook admits he has not targeted the college student demographic yet, but he is in the progress of finding the best approach.

Another college student, Andrea Pitz vaguely acknowledges their being a church in York but it does not ring many bells, “I think there is a church in York. I think it’s in a blue building or something. I don’t really know.”

According to Westbrook, the majority of people making up the congregation in the churches new location are the churches dedicated patrons. He does not think the York neighborhood is aware of his church yet, but it will be.

Westbrook wants anyone and everyone to feel comfortable attending church, he also wants to offer the building to anyone or any group to use at their will. “I want to put it (the building) to good use,” he said.

The church does not qualify for state grants. Donations are vital for the church. Many donations are made from the Lummi Nation, including all chairs and tables. Westbrook is hopeful the church will soon get a state grant.

When more people start coming to services, Westbrook plans on asking Planned Parenthood if the congregation may use its parking lot. “They are our neighbors, and their parking lot is always empty on Sundays.”

The congregation is a very close nice group. During a service the Pastor will often speak directly to an individual, addressing him or her by a first name and maybe even slip in an inside joke. The mood in the church is light and informal. There are many jokes and laughs during the sermon and there is no dress code. After last Sunday’s sermon, the congregation, including Westbrook, began socializing with one another. The topic of discussion was the type of beer to be brought to the Super Bowl party they were all attending.