I've been a regular attender here for most of the past 6 years. I think Pastor Ken is excellent…read moreand the youth ministries have been good to my girls. My parents became members shortly after moving to St. Helens a few years ago, so are real encouragers when it comes to my attendance! I have made many good connections at Grace. Buzz Cliffe is a retired Pastor and has been my Bible class leader for a couple of years now. Ruth Paulson is the Choir Director and has made my recent experience in choir really enjoyable - I loved participating in the Christmas Cantata. Dave Galceran was the former Youth Pastor and is now the Director of Pacific Camps. My kids love him! There are many more people I have met over the last few years who I really enjoy knowing and who help encourage me to walk in faith.

FANTASTIC experience !! We are from Thurston and were up for the weekend to do some Spring…read moremaintenance on our boat. We searched for a church and chose Branches after researching it on their website and found that their beliefs, values, and mission statement were right in line with our own. We arrived a few minutes early for the 10:30 service and found a intimate setting packed with a lot of very friendly people. GREAT VIBE !! The energy was awesome and the worship was fun and heartfelt. The pastor, Daniel, is a young and vibrant who spoke with passion and sincerity. His message was spot on and authentic. It reverberated with both my wife and I and we left feeling like we could apply it to our lives and walk with Christ. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and are happy that we have a church away from home that is awesome.

Having attended this church a few times years back, I was excited to be back in town and resume my…read moreattendance! I remember being impressed by the guest speaker, and the sheer amount of people in attendance, especially for a quaint little town! Walking in a few minutes late, I was first struck by the sparseness of the audience; a mere fraction of a fraction of the congregation I remember. Maybe thirty people. I asked a very nice blonde girl, apparently a regular, where everybody was. "This is actually one of our big Sundays" she said with a smile. The main speaker, Brian, proceeded to deliver the most inexplicably narcissistic and skewed "teaching" I'd ever heard. After 25 minutes, he ended his self-righteous rhetoric stating, with arms outstretched, "every place I go is better because I'm there." People cheered. But without even the slightest hint of context or reference to scripture, this struck me as the most prideful thing I'd ever heard. It's difficult to excuse a message with the equivocal ambiguity of a fortune cookie, devoid of any scriptural basis. And with attendance plummeting from several hundreds to a couple dozen within the last couple years alone, one has to ask: what is leadership doing to alienate so many people?

This church has a nice little cemetery where my grandfather and many of my relatives and family…read morefriends are buried. The land was generously donated to them by our friends who own the adjacent property. The guy who maintains the cemetery is super nice too, and he seems to know exactly who's where. He's awesome. The current pastor on the other hand... he presided over the funeral of a family friend who passed away, and I swear to god he was drunk or something. His excuse was a printer malfunction, but come on, as a pastor you should be good at public speaking. I do a lot of public speaking myself, and it's not that hard, especially if you're doing it on a weekly basis. This guy clearly barely knew the deceased, couldn't come up with anything generic either, just kind of mumbled and stumbled through the service, going off topic. Let's just say eloquence is not one of his virtues.

I LOVE this church! I have been attending for 20 years now and am proud to call it my church home…read more Pastor Mike teaches solid, Bible-based sermons that are packed full of history and relevant references. He takes extra time to research not only the Bible, but also dives into the Hebrew meaning of the words, and even adds some geography and archeology once in a while. I sincerely appreciate Mike's dedication to the Scripture and his powerful sermons. The staff at our church strive to make anyone who attends our church feel welcome and loved. I recommend it to everyone!

I am interested in what Elaine W. is speaking off. I just moved back to Portland from LA finishing…read moreup my degree in ministry. I attended a lot of churches in the Portland area and found Columbia Foursquare the only one that I actually got fed in. I loved the objective teaching on charismatics in conjunction to scripture. There is some rich scripture teaching and valid discipleship when it comes to the growth of the church. Wondering what is considered healthy criticism and what is slander and venting of a hothead. I agree that pastors make mistakes and find themselves at times being unfaithful. There is, however, a better way to vent. I don't de-validate what Elaine W. is saying. This most likely did happen. I was not there being in LA earlier this year. There is a better way to vent though. Elaine W. needs to make sure she is not a poison in the flock.