Although the future of Washington Cathedral in Redmond is still up in the air, members of the church community are not too worried.

The church’s property at 12300 Woodinville-Redmond Road N.E. was recently put on the market after leaders spent more than a year in negotiations with lenders.

While Washington Cathedral’s buildings and property are up for sale, Rey Diaz, Washington Cathedral’s lead pastor, stressed that they are not selling the church.

“The church is the people,” he said. “We’re going to be strong…We feel that God still has a plan for us.”

HIT BY THE RECESSION

Diaz said the sale comes after the church tried to refinance its mortgage on the property, which includes the main church and the smaller chapel. Washington Cathedral had started a building plan on its property with projections based on growth. Diaz said they initially had a lot of momentum and “things were going great,” but the projections made in 2006 ended up being too low and then the recession hit.

Despite the church’s healthy finances and membership, Diaz said the bank they were working with also struggled once the recession hit and could not offer them a refinancing option.

“The only option was to put our property on the market,” he said.

Diaz said the 15-acre piece of property is very valuable and they hope the sale will help pay off their debt, which adds up to about $15 million.

For potential buyers, there are two options for the property sale. The first is the entire 15 acres and both buildings for $24 million.

Diaz said the leftover money after the debt is paid could be used as a nest egg for a new location or for rent if the new buyer ends up leasing the buildings back to them.

The second option is to divide the property and sell 10 acres and the large building as one portion and for Washington Cathedral to keep the remaining five acres and the smaller building. The sale from the second option would amount to about $18 million.

“We don’t know what the future holds for us,” Diaz said, explaining that there has been a lot of interest and the potential buyers each want something different. “All these groups have a different take on it.”

‘IT’S OUR FAMILY’

Diaz acknowledged that a property sale as large as theirs is complex and will take a while, so in the meantime, they are continuing on as usual.

Church leadership announced the sale to the congregation in March, and while members were initially sad, Doug Sutten said there has been a growing spirit of unity and togetherness in the church, as well.

“We’re happy to embrace where we go next,” said Sutten, who is a member of the Washington Cathedral congregation and sits on the church’s board of directors.

Sutten’s wife Jeanne Sutten was also sad when she first heard news of the sale and admitted that she did not want to move if it came to that. But after a while, she said she remembered that miracles happen and she knows God will lead them to greater things. Now Jeanne has a “go with the flow” attitude toward the sale.

The Suttens have been with Washington Cathedral since it began almost 30 years ago and their adult children grew up in the church. Now that their children have children of their own, Jeanne said most of them have come back to Washington Cathedral. One of their daughters even drives from Monroe, so geography is not much of an issue for them.

“It’s our family,” Jeanne said about the congregation.

BEYOND THE CONGREGATION

This family Jeanne mentioned expands beyond the Washington Cathedral congregation as the campus is also home to a number of other congregations as part of a meta-church concept thought up by founder Tim White.

Through the meta-church, Washington Cathedral hosts six additional congregations: Hispanic, Korean, Native American, Egyptian Coptic, Brazilian and Pacific Islander.

Diaz said while they “all believe a bit differently,” all of these cultures serve God. He said it is what he thinks heaven would be like: all different cultures in one place.

Wanderson Godoi is pastor of The Vine, the Brazilian congregation that meets at Washington Cathedral, and said his church began in a community cabana at an apartment complex in Woodinville. So joining the Redmond campus has allowed The Vine to grow.

“To be here for us is very good,” Godoi said. “We love to be here…It’s not all because of the building. It’s because of their hearts (to welcome us).”

In addition to religious service, Washington Cathedral also offers a number of fitness activities such as yoga, water aerobics, swimming lessons, open swims, boot camp and cross fit through the Fitness and Faith Northwest program.

Fitness classes coordinator Debi Raines said the classes they offer are Christ centered but not everyone who attends is part of the church and all activities are open to the public.

“It’s all positive,” she said about the classes. “It’s all uplifting.”

She added that some people who attend the fitness classes begin to attend church service.

If Washington Cathedral moves, Diaz said they will find a way to continue with the classes through renting a gym or pool when needed. He added that when the church started, they didn’t have a building and services were held at the old Lake Washington High School.

“We had no buildings of our own,” he said, adding that they offered fitness classes back then, as well.

Diaz said if they end up moving, they want to stay in the area as they are serving other needs in the community such as help with addiction, divorce, outreach to the homeless and more.

“We feel that we’re meeting needs here,” he said.

Diaz added that in the case of a move, Washington Cathedral will work with the other congregations and organizations in finding a new location.

“We feel we’re a family,” he said.