On a recent Sunday, the large brick building that previously housed Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church was quiet and still. Two black couches with flaking upholstery sat in a small courtyard facing the vacant parking lot. Although a sign at the entrance advertised Sunday worship below the cheery words “visitors welcome,” the only passersby were dog owners taking their pets on a morning constitutional.

Located at the corner of Harvard Avenue and Howell Street, CHPC held its final service on June 24 at 9:45 AM after over a decade of Sunday services. Church leadership cited the inability to afford a seismic retrofit on the nearly century-old building and decreasing church membership as reasons for Capitol Hill Presbyterian’s closure. According to CHPC data from 2007 to 2017, attendance dropped from 161 to 45 members in a decade.

The church’s dwindling attendance followed regional trends: Between 2013 to 2017, the Seattle Presbytery closed six churches as its total membership fell from 17,113 to 12,762.

Since the final service, the Capitol Hill building has remained under the ownership of Seattle Presbytery — a religious organization that oversees more than 40 Presbyterian churches in the region. Presbytery staff occasionally use the building for office hours, or to hold preliminary conversations with groups interested in acquiring the property. Otherwise it remains vacant.

“We would like to see that property be a multi-use community service, meeting needs that we identify in the community, or that the community tells us,” Seattle Presbytery’s Executive Presbyter Eliana Maxim wrote in an email. “We’re still in early stages of conversation.”

The closure came as a shock to former CHPC congregants who were drawn to the church’s tight-knit community and focus on the arts. Although some former members have dispersed to other houses of worship, some have yet to find a new church, former congregant Donna Bellinger told CHS.

Bellinger returned to University Presbyterian Church where she was a member for two decades prior to joining the Capitol Hill congregation during its 2006 opening. She is joined by a dozen former congregants at University Presbyterian. A Friendsgiving feast the weekend prior to Thanksgiving reunited the former church family for one last time. Otherwise, her contact with former patrons is relegated to a chain email in which members seek prayers to avert a crisis or have their hopes answered. The dispersed group also remains connected on a Facebook page for Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church alumni.

While Bellinger believes that God sent her to University Presbyterian for a reason, she still misses the CHPC community. “It was unique in its ability to pull people from all strata of society together and to feel like we’re a close-knit family,” Bellinger said. She credits her personal and religious growth to her time worshipping at the Capitol Hill church.

Meadowbrook resident Gini Schmidt also began attending University Presbyterian after Capitol Hill Presbyterian’s final service, which she called a “bitter sweet” event. Schmidt was sad to leave the church, yet she felt hopeful for new opportunities.

“A lot of us felt like we’re being sent out to new places for different purposes, and so that for me is positive. It was sort of like, what’s the next adventure?” Schmidt said.

The church’s June closure hasn’t prevented her from maintaining the connections she gained there during her 12 years of worship. Schmidt meets weekly with five other former congregants at one of their houses for fellowship. She also regularly joins a few former patrons for a University Presbyterian Sunday service, followed by lunch.

Instead of dwelling on the loss of CHPC, Schmidt is looking ahead to opportunities that she can bring to her new church. As a former English as a Second Language instructor, Schmidt enjoyed practicing English with foreign students at Capitol Hill Presbytery; she hopes to introduce a similar program to University Presbyterian.

“I keep up with as many [Capitol Hill Presbyterian] folks as I can, but I’m really ready and excited for what happens next,” Schmidt said.

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