We are a small and mighty Christian church emphasizing the Bible’s and Jesus’s core values, primarily love. When asked about the most important law, Jesus said “Love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything God wants from us comes from this.”
According to John (1 John 4:16) “God is love, and those who abide in love, abide in God, and God abides in them.”
We are also a intergenerational church. That makes our services different from many churches. We have kids! Our Sunday mornings are by design a little messy in the sense that we are lively, interactive, participatory, hands-on, and creative – a love lab.
Why do intergenerational services matter to us? We believe our youth are not too young to lead, our elders are not to old to learn. We can grow together in sacred and fun ways that honor all ages and that help us all continue to create, play, and mature in our faith. We are all works in progress.
Youth of all ages are involved to a certain point in our services. Don’t expect to take a little snooze. (Sometimes the youth do break out to conduct their own kindness circles, make connections with each other, discuss Christian life issues, and do arts and crafts.)
We are a place where we intentionally and ardently invite love and life in the fullest to dwell with us and within us. We aspire to be a loving and life-giving oasis. We aim to foster sacred encounters with Divine Love in whom we live and breathe and have our being.
We specifically offer monthly Christian ecumenical meditative Taize services from October through April on Wednesday evenings to promote opportunities for contemplative sacred encounters.
We have also hosted Sunrise services for about sixty years on Flowery Divide.
Our intimate Sunday gatherings are different each week.
First Sundays are more traditional (although we do have an intergenerational skit, story, charades or something to take our learning deeper in some participatory way). Communion is served.
Second Sundays are Lectio Divina (we believe God is still speaking to us). We each individually consider and collectively share what a selected scripture is saying to us. We discern personally what God is calling us to do.
Third Sundays are Family Church – the youth do most everything except give the message (though that does happen on occasion). Youth and adults share skits with love and compassion related themes.
Fourth Sundays are Stone Soup – we gather useful and uplifting resources from the community and each other to address our mission and core aims. We have had speakers from our schools, from Kindness Counts, from Only 7 Seconds, from Braver Angels, for example. We have addressed many topics like mental health and well-being (how ordinary people can help those who suffer), holding sacred conversations with people who have different beliefs and politics, disciplining youth in ways that positively change behavior and build relationships, and building kind communities. We are all about building community which is why we are Cashmere Community Church!
Fifth Sundays (on the months we have them) are mostly music which may involve special music or congregational chosen favorites.
Services are always followed by food. Jesus loved to get people together around the table!
Mission Statement
We are the hands and feet of Jesus spreading God’s love. We seek to build kinship with each person we have the opportunity to touch. We bring healing love to our community through words and works of kindness and compassion.
Cashmere Community Church Core Aims
- To Love God (Creator of all, the loving life force. We cultivate awe of creation – wonder and gratitude; we learn to imitate Jesus; we listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and Holy wisdom; we seek connection and understanding and sacred encounters).
- To Love All Others (They are the “beloved.” We direct kindness, care, and understanding toward others; we appreciate and seek diversity; we promote others’ health and well-being, and we desire connection and community)
- To Love Ourselves. (We are the “beloved”. We direct kindness, care, and understanding toward ourselves; we seek our own health and well-being so that we can fully support others.)
- To Care for Creation (Creation is God’s handiwork. We respect nature and take care of creation).
Please gather with us as we strive to promote community, kinship, and Sacred encounters.
Worship Service: Sundays at 11 am
Compassion Circle via Zoom: Tuesdays 5-6 pm. Contact church at email address listed below for link.
Small Group Study with Pastor: Wednesdays 10-11 am
Pantry for essential non food items: Second and Fourth Wednesdays 2-3 p.m
Free Community Meals Served in Gym: Thursdays 5-6:30 pm (these are done in partnership with our friends in the community including Our Lady of the Assumption, Dryden Improvement Club, Seventh Day Adventists, Kiwanis-Wacoka, Mid Valley Baptists, Rotary, and neighborhood groups.)
This is at the heart of our mission to create community and kinship. Expect to see 80 to 100 people from all walks of life eating together each week. Pulling community together and enriching lives is where you will find us!
SAIL Exercise Classes (Stay Active and Independent for Life) in Gym: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 10 – 11 am (in the gym). You can just show up or call the office for more details.
Chair Yoga Saturdays at 11:00 (in the gym). Currently this class is a mixture of SAIL exercises and chair yoga going from 10 to 11:00. We are experimenting.
Women’s Friday coffee and socializing on the second Friday of each month (in the Friendship Room). Just show up.
We partner with several other local churches to offer summer Vacation Bible School which is a big hit. The youth and a few adults from Maple Valley largely conduct the energetic and meaningful week.
We also host many events like the American Red Cross Blood Drive and Cashmere Community Concerts.
Address:
213 South Division Street
Cashmere, WA 98815
cashmerecommunitychurch@gmail.com
phone: 509.782-3811