Gleanings From
In Christian Fellowship
By Shirley Lindahl
Edited by Jerry Rutherford
State Annual Conference Hosted
In the spring of 1965 the church council voted to extend an invitation to the Washington North Idaho Congregational Conference to hold the annual meeting in Kirkland in 1966. The invitation was accepted and plans began. Ken Wagner was general chairman of the host committee. Verna Thormahien chaired the reservations and was also in charge of the name tags and packets. Housing in Kirkland was not available in hotels or motels so Marguerite Johnson had the task of lining up local "bed and breakfast" homes. Church members indicated how many they could house and the response was sufficient (but not without a few anxious moments for Marguerite). Some delegates commuted from Seattle but the housing needs of nearly 200 were met in Kirkland. This was the largest annual meeting held to that date.Between April 29 and May 1, the 450 delegates were fed in a variety of locations, including Fellowship Hall, Kirkland Junior High and Redmond Senior High. Shirley Lindahl was in charge of arranging for the meals. All women in the church were assigned to a dinner list and each meal had a chair for food and one for decorations. The dinner meals were served in the newly opened Redmond High School Cafeteria. As a souvenir table decorations at the final banquet each guest received a jar of homemade jelly labeled "Made for you by Women's Fellowship."
Other committee chairs for the conference were Clare Crowe, transportation; Byron Lutterman, arrangements and Eleanor Helliwell, hospitality. The concluding day of the conference was a mass worship service of 8000 in the Seattle Center Coliseum. There were 44 United Church of Christ churches participating with both the Kirkland vocal choir and bell choir joining in to provide the music. All the conference ministers processing in their black robes created a memorable opening. Scriptures were read by Governor Dan Evans, Reverend Ben Herbster, national president of the UCC gave the prayer and Reverend Browne Barr of California gave the sermon.
Our associate minister, Kendall Baker and his wife, Nancy, worked on the first Kirkland Art Festival. The ministerial Association had chosen films as a way to participate and asked if the sanctuary could be used for the showings. The Board of Deacons decided that the nature of the some of the films would make Fellowship Hall a more suitable theater.
Art had been in the church most of the year as the Visual Art Committee arranged for a variety of shows by local artists. The Dramatic Arts Committee sponsored an Evening of Robert Frost writings.
In 1967 a committee discovered that church supported parsonages were becoming outdated. A recommendation was made that (1) a housing allowance be added to the salary of the minister, (2) the Helliwells be given an option to rent or buy the present parsonage once it had been repaired and (3) grant them $5000 as a down-payment amount. It was adopted and the Helliwells became renters.
An experimental program called "The Circus" was held on five consecutive nights. Films and speakers explored the dynamics of Christian life for modern adults. One provocative film was "The Parables."
After each organization within the church had done a self-study of their
goals, the ideas were brought to the church council. This group approved as
the general goal of the church the following statement. "That we seek to
present Christianity traditionally and progressively to the membership and
the community and to enlist them in Christian expression.
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