Chehalis Adventists Mark 100 Years

At about 8 a.m. on any given school day, you know where to find John Mutchler.

The Chehalis Seventh-Day Adventist Church senior pastor is at the door of the Lewis County Adventist School. He greets students as they walk through the door. He knows the names of each and every student, parent, even every car in the parking lot. After greeting students, he leads a devotional with a different class each day.

In reflecting on his church reaching the milestone of celebrating 100 years as a congregation, Mutchler mused that it is the next generation of believers that is truly the heart of his congregation. And it is the church’s memberships’ dedication to caring for all who enter their doors that makes it truly a special place to be.

“This community, this church, is a really great place to serve,” Mutchler said.

Chehalis SDA will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a gathering planned for April 14. Former clergy members as well as former congregation members and their families have been invited to attend. There will be special times for sharing stories and memories, as well as a worship service and luncheon. 

“The public is welcome to join us and celebrate with us,” said Pam Burghart, a 26-year member of the church.

Chehalis SDA is a church steeped in the history of the city where it grew. The church began in 1918 in a small, white church building across Northwest West Street from Kaija’s Garden & Pet. Truman Johnson, a member for his entire eight decades of life, is the grandson of charter member Wilhelmina Nix and counts five generations of his family who have attended the church. He said some of his earliest memories as a child are of gatherings in that original church.

“It was a small group of people at that time and when we studied our lessons we’d go to a small building behind there, which is still standing,” Johnson recalled.

The Adventist population grew in Lewis County in part due to the efforts of Bible Workers, who visited homes selling religious materials and sharing their faith, Johnson recalled. When the congregation outgrew the first location, it moved to a brick building on the corner of Market Boulevard and Main Street, which is still standing across from current day Les Schwab. Elder Phil Becker, a member since 1982, grew up attending the Baptist church that was housed in a building now for sale across Cascade Avenue from the Chehalis Post Office. He recalls meeting Adventist L.G. Steck, founder of Steck Medical Center, when Steck visited the Baptist church.

“He lived nearby and would walk over on Sunday mornings and sing hymns with us,” Becker recalled.

In 1994, the Chehalis SDA congregation once again decided it was time to grow. Ground was broken for the church’s current location off Chilvers Road in May 1994. In May 1995, before that first building could be completed, it burned in an accidental fire. The congregation made the decision to rebuild in the same spot, work began in June 1995 and the new church was completed in 1996. Today, the congregation counts about 500 members, with an average worship attendance of more than 250. Mutchler said there are multiple members who count 50 or more years with the church.

“When you get where you have people who have been with the church 50 years, I’d call that a successful church,” Mutchler said. “It’s important to have younger members but it’s also important to have those pillars.”

For members of the Chehalis Seventh-Day Adventist Church, celebrating 100 years as a congregation is an amazing milestone to celebrate.

But amid the celebration, they also hold hope that perhaps this year is the last, Mutchler said. That is because their segment of Christianity focuses on every aspect of the Bible, including the belief that one day God will return to Earth and create a new, more Godly Earth in the place of the current one. 

“It’s a huge honor to be the pastor of a church with a vision,” Mutchler said. “The challenge is that vision still goes on and we’re honored by that but we still pray for God to come.”

Mutchler said SDA members are perhaps most widely recognized for their belief in the seventh-day advent from the creation story in the Bible, meaning they worship on Saturdays instead of Sundays. Many SDA members are from the medical profession and choose healthier lifestyles such as eating vegetarian or vegan and not drinking alcohol. Becker, who joined the congregation at the age of 20, said it was the emphasis on the use of the Bible that attracted him.

“I liked that it uses the whole Bible to explain theology, it doesn’t use ‘well, I like this part and I ignore the rest,’” Becker said. “We use the whole Bible.”

But Mutchler said it is the heart of the members of his congregation that he hopes people truly understand and remember. The church counts among its members those who give their time to the Lewis County Gospel Mission, Health and Hope medical outreach and jail ministry, just to name a few. The church also often offers community outreach, such as courses on healthy cooking or healthier lifestyles, as well as hosting the annual Messiah sing-along.

“I’d rather be known for who we know, which is Jesus Christ,” Mutchler said. 

From Bible education to the Pathfinder youth group, raising the next generation of believers is an important activity within the Chehalis SDA. Members are proud to talk about the members of two teams in the Pathfinder Bible Experience, who learn books of the Bible and compete against other teams in quizzes on those memorized verses. Chehalis SDA is sending two teams to the Pathfinder Experience division championships in Florida this month. 

Chehalis SDA is also among the local Adventist congregations that support the Lewis County Adventist School, a 10-grade school that opened in 1922 and moved in to its current location on Scheuber Road in 1952. The school is among the most supported missions for the church in volunteer hours and monetary donations.

“The school is really important to us. It’s the glue that binds us all together,” said Sharon Miller, a member for 50 years.

Mutchler said it is important to him as the pastor of Chehalis SDA that he spend time with the students, regardless of their religious backgrounds.

“I’d say about 20 percent of our students are not Adventists so we’re just sharing Jesus with them,” Mutchler said.

Mission is an important part of life at Chehalis SDA, with an estimated half of the congregation having gone on some sort of mission trip. Becker attended his first mission in 1992 to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Today, he has been part of more than 30 mission trips outside the United States, most recently returning from Zimbabwe. Groups from Chehalis SDA work with Maratha Volunteers International, which provides the supplies for missionaries to build infrastructure such as wells, hospitals, schools and churches.

“When I think back on it, I really think God is amazing,” Becker said of his years of mission work for the church.

“He said ‘go share that Gospel with other people,’ and we’re sharing the Gospel,” Miller said.