A Look at Faith Bible Church

The ministry of Faith Bible Church is a testimony to God's faithfulness in answer to the prayers of those who have sought to honor and glorify His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The church grew out of a weekly Sunday School class formed in the early part of 1948. The group was especially burdened to pray concerning an evangelical witness to the Japanese English-speaking population. This vision led to the formation of the Nisei Christian Fellowship in December 1948.

Further leading of the Lord culminated in the formation of a constitution on September 18, 1950, and the Fellowship was incorporated in the State of Washington as "Faith Bible Church". This step was accompanied by the purchase of a family residence at 128 18th Avenue in November 1950. On Sunday, February 4, 1951, the first meetings were held at the new location.

The first full-time pastor was Reverend Lee Kirkpatrick who, with his wife, served the church from 1956-1972. Since then, Reverend Howard Inouye (1972-1976), Reverend Rod Higuchi (1976-1981), Reverend Raymond Gosden (1983-2002) and Pastor Chris Hyde (Associate: 1996-2002) have served as pastors. Pastoral Intern Mike Kurtz was promoted to Associate Pastor on August 11th, 2002. Craig Swanson was called as Senior Pastor on September 1st, 2002

In May 1981, an outreach to the Japanese-speaking community was begun. This ministry gradually developed until at the beginning of 1988 a weekly Worship Service was started.

Faith Bible Church is an independent evangelical fellowship and is not connected with any denomination.