In early 1979, small groups of people familiar with the United Church of Christ began meeting in homes. By late 1979, Reverend Bob Haertig was called to be the organizing pastor, and on March 30, 1980, the first worship service was held at Mountain View Improvement Club House in Woodinville.
During four years at the tiny, borrowed Mountain View building, we grew, held our first confirmation class, became a full member of the Washington North Idaho Conference, and installed Robert Haertig as Founding Pastor.
Then it was time to build our own church home–a formidable task for a still-small church. Acting as our own contractor and dedicating countless volunteer hours to construction, we achieved our dream. The first service in today’s Northshore UCC building was held Palm Sunday, 1984. The dramatic Christus sculpture on the front of the church was designed by founding Minister Robert Haertig. Symbolic of this “Band of Many Persons,” each component piece was hammered by a founding member of the congregation, then mounted together to create our “Dancing Jesus.”
In 1990, Rev. Bob Haertig retired and in December 1990, the church called the Reverend Paul Forman as our second minister. Under his leadership, the congregation strengthened its ministry with young families, built a powerful music and arts ministry, increased outreach of time and resources given to others, and developed ecumenical connections in our hometown and the region. During this time the education building was constructed and connected to the original building by a covered walk.
On March 19, 2005, the church celebrated 25 years of our mission to transform the human spirit to do God’s work.
In 2006 the congregation invited Tent City 4 to reside on its property for 3 months only after they had been unable to locate when a prospective church withdrew at the last minute. Northshore UCC was in litigation with the city of Woodinville over their action for over a year before the Supreme Court of the State of Washington found in favor of the church’s right to minister to the homeless by providing space for Tent City on church property.
Rev.Paul Forman retired after 16 years of ministry in our midst and was honored with a mighty celebration.
Rev. Cynthia Riggin became our next settled pastor in November, 2007. During this time the church held a Capital Campaign and raised more than enough funds to pay off the mortgage on the education building. We continued our support for the homeless through meals for Tent City 4, Camp Unity and Church of Mary Magdalene and participated in the Backpacks for Kids program offering weekend food supplies to homeless students. During each Christmas season we hosted an Alternative Gift Fair in support of local and international non-profits. Under Cynthia’s leadership we also hired a Director of Families and Youth and continued a strong Christian Education Program including OWL (Our Whole Lives) classes for Jr and Sr High students.
Rev. Cynthia Riggin remained with us until 2014.
Rev. Ann Eidson served as our Interim Minister from February 2015 until September 2017. During her tenure we updated our bylaws, reorganizing our boards into ministry teams. We also again hosted a homeless camp, Camp Unity Eastside.
On October 1, 2017 Rev. Dave Schlicher joined us as our settled pastor.