Church is set for new buildings

After a three-year fund-raising effort, the 100 members of Bothell’s Emmanuel Presbyterian Church celebrated the groundbreaking for two new buildings that will be connected to the church’s main sanctuary.

The $900,000 project will create a new preschool, as well as office, meeting and fellowship space, said Pastor Steve Knowles of the church’s first major expansion in its nearly 45-year history.

The church sits at 19540 104th Ave. N.E.

“It’s a great joy for the congregation,” Knowles added. “There is a lot of excitement around here.”

Funding came from donations from the congregation, as well as a loan from the Presbyterian Church, USA.

The project will replace two buildings and expand and upgrade the sanctuary, while putting everything under one roof, according to church officials.

For most of its history, Emmanuel Church has consisted of three separate buildings. An old farm house was used as a preschool and to house Sunday school classes. That building was there when the church was founded.

As a fellowship hall, Knowles said the congregation used a building moved from down hill to the church site, a building that had once belonged to the Bothell Funeral Home.

Knowles added that, clearly, both structures had outlived their usefulness. He added that while the overall footprint of the church will not grow, the work will create additional space for church use.

Workers already have completed demolition of the two older buildings. Knowles expects the work will be completed on the new facilities by August.

In the meantime, the congregation will be meeting three Sundays a month in the St. Brendan’s Catholic Church gymnasium. During the third week of each month, services will be held in the Maywood Hills Elementary School multipurpose room.