The church describes itself as “a community rooted in love, grounded in justice, and committed to showing up for our neighbors,” worshipping Sundays at 10 a.m. under Pastor Beth Estock. From February through April it hosts free Monday night community dinners with local chefs, volunteers and more than 25 community partners; the congregation reports serving more than 2,500 meals in three months, which it says feeds more than a third of the town.
The church’s land acknowledgement states that the ground it worships on “was once the homeland of the Nez Perce” and recognizes their past and present relationship to it. Its pages say the church bell has called people to this spot for over a century; the founding date and building history are still being collected. Meal and attendance figures are the congregation’s own counts.
The congregation says “we built The Place in 2014 to do all the good we can in supporting the Joseph Community through health and healing ministries,” offering the building and its commercial kitchen to community and fitness groups, families and new food businesses for a fee or donation with a refundable deposit; “no alcoholic beverages or smoking/vaping are permitted in the church or on church property.” It describes the Magic Garden, begun with Joseph Charter School in 2010, as “the first school/community garden project in Wallowa County,” yielding three to four tons of food a year for the schools, food bank and volunteers. Other work it lists: a Children’s Christmas Store where children through fifth grade buy family gifts for fifty cents each, supported by United Women of Faith; a Blessing Box of free food and a free library at Main and 3rd Street; infant clothing each December for babies born at the county hospital; twelve filled school backpacks with Building Healthy Families; and hygiene kits and cleaning buckets for disaster relief. On the third Sunday of each month it holds an intergenerational “Godly Play” worship followed by a potluck, in a sanctuary it says “holds more than a century of prayer and praise.” The church states that “God’s love embraces all people, regardless of race, economic circumstances, gender identity, or sexual orientation.” The Oregon-Idaho Conference directory lists the church with a 10:00 a.m. service all year and a post office box in Joseph; neither it nor the church’s pages give a founding year, and the 2016 state registration date is a filing date.
Through time
The Magic Garden partnership with Joseph Charter School began, by the church’s account.
The congregation built The Place, its community building, by its own account.
