gdnazare.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., January 4, 1945, page 6

MAY ORGANIZE NAZARENE CHURCH; SERVICES SUNDAY

The group known as the Blockhouse Committee Sunday School, which has been meeting for the past several months in the Blockhouse School, will hold services in the Women's Association club building, starting Sunday, January 7, with Reverend Roger S. Atkinson in charge.
Plans are being made for the organization of a Church of the Nazarene in the near future, it was reported.
The following services will be held Sunday:
10:00 a.m., Sunday School; 11:00 a.m., morning worship, sermon by the pastor; 7:00 p.m. young peoples' meeting; 8:00 p.m., evangelistic service.
Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. a cottage prayer meeting will be held at the Paul Bellamy house at Blockhouse.
The ladies of the group will meet at the home of the pastor at 305 S. Klickitat Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m. to organize a missionary society, which will be followed by a covered dish luncheon.

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., July 29, 1976, page 9
Includes photograph.

NAZARENES WITNESS GROWTH, COMMITMENT

Goldendale's Church of the Nazarene had its beginnings at Blockhouse and in the efforts of several Blockhouse families which formed a nucleus.
The church's history, in a very real way, it seems, is a picture of building, growth and commitment.
Meetings were held in an old building near Blockhouse in early 1944. The congregation, with the Rev. Roger Atkinson as first minister, moved into a new building at Grant and A streets in Goldendale on Easter Sunday, 1945.
Goldendale's Church of the Nazarene actually traces its origins back to the fall of 1943 wend Mrs. Paul Bellamy and family moved onto a 380 acre farm one-half mile north of the Blockhouse store.
Mrs. Bellamy noted a little school house about a mile from the farm and decided to have Sunday School. Twelve family members and six or seven neighbors served as nucleus for the early church.
The church from which the Bellamys came, in Canby, Ore., contributed one dozen hymn books. A county resident donated an organ. Others also gave. The first service in Blockhouse settings were held January 23, 1944 with 16 present.
A number of community meetings and early church activities bouyed the Church of the Nazarene of its initial trail to Goldendale.
Soon, Nazarene religious district leaders advised that the congregation to move into town and began a Church of the Nazarene with a full-time minister.
During the summer of 1944, Dr. Vanderpool, district superintendent, came to Goldendale, and held services for the group at Blockhouse. The church's congregations decided to make a commitment to the organizations future at that time, members say.
More services and additional work by the fledging congregation brought a response from area residents, members also stress. The 1944 Christmas program, in fact, was held in the Blockhouse dance hall because the schoolhouse was soon to small for church needs.
The first services by the Goldendale Church of the Nazarene group in Goldendale were held Jan. 1, 1945 in the Women's Association Building, downtown.
Rev. Atkinson found what had previously been the old court house office building which had been moved to the corner of Grant and A in Goldendale. The streets are directly south of the present courthouse location.
The congregation banded together and purchased the building for $4,000. They also finished paying for the lots.
Rev. Atkinson and local resident Leo Moore did remodeling work with the help of church men.
The east wing was used as a parsonage until one could be built in November of 1950.
In Nov. of 1951, the congregation purchased a new furnace and repainted the exterior of the building.
Many additional improvements were made within the church and to the building throughout its history.
The Goldendale Church of the Nazarene group celebrated its 25th anniversary and dedication January 25, 1970. It noted its 30th year of church service in 1975.
Through it all, the church has grown. What began in Blockhouse in 1945 has spread the Nazarene ministry into Goldendale and throughout Klickitat County.