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No building, no problem: How new churches are taking root in Pacific Northwest suburbs
In Bothell, Tukwila and other fast-growing suburbs, ministry leaders are building congregations from nothing — hauling folding chairs into school cafeterias and rethinking outreach for a generation of unaffiliated residents.
By Samuel Cooley | For FāVS News
BOTHELL, Wash. — The commuter suburbs of North King and Snohomish counties are a blur of secular activity most Sundays — tech transplants, youth sports, coffee drive-thrus. But beneath that veneer, ministry networks are racing to plant new churches from scratch, betting on a booming population to fuel an ambitious growth strategy.
The challenge is steep: Church planters must reach a historically unaffiliated population while surviving one of the most inflated real estate markets in the country.
A region ready for new growth
For the Evergreen Network, a regional collective aiming to establish 50 new Pacific Northwest congregations, the growth of these suburbs demands action. Executive Director Toney Salva, a church-planting veteran for over 30 years, notes that the arrival of relocated workers provides the ideal atmosphere to launch something new.
“Churches end their life cycle,” Salva said, “and new ones must be started to carry the baton.”
While traditional models often target newly built suburban subdivisions, Salva notes that Evergreen takes a more tailored approach, prioritizing urban contexts, ethnic diversity and younger generations. Furthermore, the nature of the Pacific Northwest’s famous “nones,” those claiming no religious affiliation, is shifting. While the region shares one of the highest percentages of unaffiliated residents in the nation alongside the Northeast, a new demographic trend is emerging.
“This current generation — Gen — has shown much more of an interest in spiritual things,” Salva observed. “We are certainly seeing a lot of traction with that age range that is looking for a church that really is genuine and real and has opportunities to relationally connect.”
Breaking through that barrier requires abandoning institutional assumptions. Zeb Greenfield, lead pastor of Odyssey Church, an Evergreen plant that launched its public services in late 2025, explains that the goal is simply making church less foreign.
“Oftentimes we create a culture where those who know the drill understand what’s happening,” Greenfield said. “But far too often we’re not bringing people along who maybe are less familiar.”
At Odyssey, ministry leaders explicitly over-explain traditions like communion and baptism every week. Teaching focuses on secular struggles like anxiety, relationships and financial worry to demonstrate the practical utility of ancient texts.
Church in a trailer
Yet, even with a resonant message, church plants immediately collide with a physical barrier: space. In a premium commercial real estate market, new churches must operate as fully mobile entities. Odyssey holds its weekly services inside Tukwila’s Showalter Middle School, transporting its entire operation in and out of trailers.
The logistical friction began immediately. Informed by the school district that no seating was available, the young congregation had to purchase, finance and store 200 chairs of their own.
Earning the district’s trust took longer. Odyssey was initially confined to hallways and the cafeteria commons — a limit Greenfield attributes to the school’s caution with a new, unfamiliar tenant.
“We did not have access to classrooms, and so kids’ spaces were kind of makeshift, set up in hallways,” Greenfield recalled. Only after months of reliable tenancy — showing up, packing out, leaving nothing disrupted — did the school permit them to move childcare into classrooms.
While affluent northern suburbs require a white-collar tech strategy, Greenfield has found unexpected receptivity among South King County’s second- and third-generation immigrant families.
“Maybe they came looking for answers, a better life, better education … and have been left still longing,” Greenfield said.
To anchor his team amidst the exhausting weekly routine of packing trailers, Greenfield utilizes a symbolic corporate ritual: a daily phone alarm that rings at 2:06 p.m., a nod to Seattle’s 206 area code.
“It was an easy early rally cry,” Greenfield said. “It is a daily reminder that what we’re doing matters.”
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