We are more than a church. We are family. Here you will find truth, forgiveness, and a place to belong.
Thursday, October 2, 8:00 PM, in the sanctuary. We gather for a family on Weatherby Lane. You do not need to know them. They are known.
Dear friends and neighbors,
If you are new to our church, our town, or simply searching for a place to belong, I want to personally welcome you.
Hollow Pine is a special place. It is surrounded by beauty, rooted in faith, and held together by a close community that shows up for one another. It is also a town that has seen hard years. We know what it means to face loss, hardship, and seasons of uncertainty. Yet through it all, we have held fast to the hope we find in Jesus Christ.
Here, you will find more than a building. You will find a family. A place to rest when you are weary. A place to grow in faith. A place to be known and loved just as you are.
We have sat with more grief than most churches see in a lifetime, and we have learned not to look away from it. In Christ, we have found comfort, and it is our calling to extend that same comfort to you.
No matter where you find yourself today, you are welcome here. We would be honored to walk alongside you in this journey of faith.
In His grace,
We are called to care for one another. Through these ministries, we seek to love our neighbors and walk together in faith, hope, and compassion.
A warm meal and friendly faces in the hall. All are welcome around the table.
We gather to lift our town, our families, and our needs before the Lord in prayer.
We visit every home in Hollow Pine eventually. If you have not yet had a visit, one is coming.
A safe place to share, to listen, and to be understood by those who truly care.
We want you to feel at home. A little something from us to help you settle in.
Our pastors have always walked this town. In the hard winter after the works closed in 1981, Pastor Kroll went door to door to every household that had lost its work, and some of them more than once. When the winter ended, he kept going. We have never stopped.
Today every household in Hollow Pine receives a visit at least once a year, on a rota kept by our visitors. New households are visited within their first week. Nobody is exempt. In the off season we visit guests at the Lodge and the Millrace Motel too, room by room.
Since 1889 the church has kept a household register: every house in town, who lives there, when they came, when they left. It is the most complete record of Hollow Pine that exists. We keep it so that no one here is ever forgotten.
Every new household receives a welcome basket within its first week. There is no sign-up and no list to join. We'll come to you.
People in town say "you've been visited" the way other towns say "you've been welcomed." They mean roughly the same thing.
No synod. No bishop. No headquarters. A board of elders, one pastor at a time, and a building that has stood on Church Lane since 1871.
The settlement raised a plain timber meeting house. Whoever came through preached in it: a Methodist circuit rider one month, a Presbyterian the next. On weekdays it was the school, on court days the courtroom, and always the room where the town argued about the water. The burial ground began beside it the same year.
When Hollow Pine incorporated in November 1889, the people who had been keeping up the building organized themselves that same month as The Church of Hollow Pine. We did not pick a denomination, because picking one would have lost half the room. That is still the arrangement. The name of our first settled pastor is on the plaque by the door.
Carpenters from the Sash & Door Works added the steeple, the bell and the Gothic windows. That is why our windows match the ones on so many old houses in town.
Elias Kroll, a works kid whose father ran a shaper, came home from seminary to lead the church. He served for forty-one years.
The works closed in November. That winter the visitation began, one door at a time. It has never stopped.
Daniel Ruiz came to us from Tacoma with his wife and two children. He knew every name in town within a year.
Leads Sunday worship, the Grief Support Circle and the visitation rota.
Still on Church Lane. Still on the visitation rota. Still Pastor Kroll to everyone.
Seven members keep the building, the register and the rota. Their names are available at the church office.
Greymantle surrounds the church: weathered stones close to the walls, newer granite out toward the trees, gravel paths between. The church keeps the grounds and the burial register. Cedar Grove Playground sits at the north edge.
We do a great many funerals for a town this size. Everyone comes for a funeral.
Nobody has ever been refused a burial at Greymantle.
Grounds open dawn to dusk. For plot and memorial inquiries, speak with Pastor Ruiz after Sunday service.
Some of you have asked about our new words on the flyer. I want to be plain about what they mean.
In a town this size, no one should be a stranger at the door. When you come to us, you will not have to introduce yourself. We will have prayed for you by name long before you arrive. That is all it means. It is a welcome.
There are people who make a living from a town's grief, and never come home for the burying.
We will not name anyone. We do not need to. We only ask that when you hear our funerals sung back to you from a stage, you remember who sat with those families, and who brought the bread. The door is open. It has always been open.
"In those days people will seek death and will not find it." Many of you have asked why we chose it.
It is a verse about hope. It tells us that suffering is not the end of the story, and that even when we long for an ending, we are held. That is all. It is about hope.
The church holds nothing on Whistle Night, and the bell does not ring.
That night belongs to the families of the works. We tried a vigil once, and eleven of you came, and we understood. We will be here the morning after, as we always are.
None. We never chose one, and nobody has ever asked us to. We are a nondenominational congregation governed by a board of elders, with one serving pastor at a time.
No. Come as you are. You will find that we already know who you are, and that you are welcome.
Every household in Hollow Pine is visited at least once a year. It is not because of anything you have done. It is simply your turn.
We understand the wish, and we respect it. Your household will remain on the register, and we will continue to pray for you by name.
It is a small town. People tell us things.
The White Church has stood on Church Lane since 1871. We ask that notices on this subject not be posted on our board.
No.
Under your windshield wiper on Main Street. In the rack at the Grand. Beside the Bible in your room at the Lodge. If you threw one away, there will be another soon.
If you are in crisis or considering harm, you are not alone. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time, day or night.