A 38,000-square-foot Old Apostolic Lutheran Church is under construction in Winlock, and members say the new church will bring upwards of 50 families to the Winlock area.
On North Military Road, near the Benaroya Industrial Park, the base structure of the church has been built, and Art Halberg, a member and one of the project leads for the construction, said that the church will have just under 1,000 seats when completed.
Winlock Mayor Brandon Svenson said that members of the church have been in contact with the city to discuss the land purchase and construction, which broke ground this past summer.
“They’ve done it quite fast. It looks like it’s going to be quite the building,” Svenson said. “I think a lot of the church members have been involved in the community already. I welcome them. I think it’s fantastic that they want to move into Winlock and the Toledo area and saw it as a place that they want to call home. I’m proud that they want to be here and be a part of this community.”
Svenson said that a handful of church members have already moved to the Winlock area.
There are Old Apostolic Lutheran Churches located in nearby counties, including four in Clark County and one in Cowlitz County. Halberg said those churches have been outgrown, and because of the availability of land in Lewis County, it was decided that Winlock would be the home of their sixth church.
The church is being built by members through volunteer labor and is being funded through donations, Halberg said.
“The church in Cowlitz County in Woodland is where a lot of the people are coming from,” Halberg said. “People are building new houses and buying existing ones in the Winlock area.”
Halberg, who lives in Toledo, currently attends the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church in Woodland and said he is looking forward to being able to worship at the new church in Winlock.
“Most of the labor is coming from all of the congregants from our other churches. I suppose we will have about 1,300 volunteers in total. We have about 50 people working a day now,” he said.
Since this is the sixth church being built, the members have a system in place where the project is broken up into phases. The church fundraises for the next phase of construction after the previous phase is completed. Halberg estimated that the project will cost around $5 million.
Halberg has been a member of the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church of America for 47 years and said that they follow the teachings of Jesus and his 12 apostles according to the original King James Version of the Bible.
There are seven affiliated church locations in Washington state located in Brush Prairie, Davenport, Heisson, Lewisville, Tri-Cities Woodland and Yacolt. The new church in Winlock will be located at 126 N Military Road.
