A Little Country Church
I'm just a little country church, built so many years ago.
By those who knew the future, of where our souls would go.
They prayed the valley would gather, to sing praises and fellowship,
To break bread and communion, though first uncomfortable to sit.
There's been so many come and go, with laughter, pain and tears,
And walls that shook with voices, with songs of many years.
And though my frame is changing, and new paint adorns the walls,
The same foundation still remains, for the purpose of it all.
You see God is still in charge here, He will let us know His plan.
For how the walls are structured is not the important thing.
It's the love my workers have for each other, while they labor.
Each blessed soul who's filled with grace, neighbor helping neighbor,
So if you want to come and worship and find peace you're searching for,
Please don't stand on ceremony, just open up my door.
Our Story
“It was on October 1, 1950, in the Silver Lake Grange Hall that Reverend Victor Hovde, the American Sunday School Union superintendent of Southwest Washington District, met with 37 people from the Silver Lake-Toutle area and appointed Henry B. Enns as superintendent of the local Sunday School group. This group met in the Grange Hall until October 15th when we began meeting in the music room of the then grade school building of the Toutle Lake School.
Here we had our Sunday worship services until 1956, when the Multipurpose building was built and we moved our Sunday School and worship services into that building. In both buildings we were permitted to use as many grade school class rooms as we needed.
The beginning of this work for the Lord was exciting. As it became known to the people that there was a Sunday School in this community, the attendance steadily increased until in the early 1960’s we were averaging 110-115. On Easter Sunday we had our largest attendance ever, 130 people.”
--Ruby Enns, November 3, 1984.
In the spring of 1958, the property (about 2 acres) for the church building and parsonage, directly across the road from the Toutle School was purchased from Crown Zellerback Company for $250.00. Weyerhaeuser Timber Company donated two bunk house cabins from logging camp 9, which the men of the church prepared and moved to the church property on December 26-27, 1958. These structures were positioned just south of where the present parsonage stands. They were connected to each other in an “L” shape and remodeled with the addition of a wood stove and seats. They were then used as the meeting house for the Sunday evening service, Bible studies, and prayer gatherings.
In late summer of 1963, construction for the first portion of the church building (the south wing) began by an all-volunteer crew. By 1967, although construction was still ongoing with the church building, the congregation moved from meeting in the Toutle Lake school to the unfinished church building. The first service was held in the incomplete auditorium of the church on August 13, 1967.
After its completion and the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the construction of the north portion of the church began in 1981. The congregation, again, began to meet in the new, yet still incomplete, worship space in 1984. The new addition of the church building was not fully completed until the final trim and finish work was installed in 1988. The building was a volunteer project, and no loan was ever used to finance the building. God supplied the needs at each stage of the construction, every step of the way.
In 2005, Toutle Lake Community Bible Church changed its name to Toutle Christian Fellowship and continues today under this name. Since October 1, 1950, there has been an established Gospel witness here in the Toutle Valley, despite the many ups and downs for this little country church. We are grateful for the people who have been faithful in the Lord’s work and to those who remain devoted to the Lord’s guidance and direction of His church that we get to call home.
