I reported last week that Sammamish elders were talking to Mars Hill Bellevue (Bellevue Church in January 2015) about merging. According to this City posting by Bellevue elder Jamie Skelton, the decision to merge has been made.
From Pastor Jason Skelton:
Mars Hill Family,
Over the last two weeks, we’ve announced on Sundays that Mars Hill Church will be coming to a close at the end of 2014. Its last act will be to plant new independent churches. Bellevue will be moving forward as an independent church, with hope to retain the best of Mars Hill Church and grow in areas where God is calling us to change, mature, and grow.
We are also excited to announce that after much prayer, our friends from the Sammamish church will be joining us. Together, we’ll have one church on the Eastside. Many of you know we planted Sammamish out of this Bellevue church and we’re excited to reconnect with old friends, worship together as a larger family and join together on mission for Jesus on the Eastside.
Your elders are currently praying about how to best structure and lead this church moving forward. We need your ideas, suggestions, and prayer as we consider this. Over the past several weeks we’ve met with many leaders and volunteers to share some direction and learn more about questions that you may have.
If you want to learn more about this new effort, please join us this Sunday, November 16th at 12:30p for our Eastside Vision Meeting. We’ll be sharing details as they become available on vision, structure, location, and also provide outlets for feedback and questions.
We look forward to seeing you this Sunday
On Behalf of the Bellevue Elders,
Pastor Jason Skelton
If my email inbox is any indication, this will not be a welcome announcement to many at Sammamish.