Faith, Love, and Hope

The Firs, established in 1921 as a modest annual gathering of friends and supporters of the China Inland Mission, grew by the 1950s into a multifaceted camp and conference ministry with three exceptional recreational properties near Bellingham, Washington. This book recounts the origins and early growth of The Firs, through a complex weave of relationships with pastoral, lay, and missionary leaders, as it pursued a countercultural identity as a "work of faith and labor of love" whose primary focus was "helping people believe." It then chronicles the last half-century of The Firs' "endurance in hope"--through myriad challenges of suburban encroachment, bureaucratic regulation, cultural upheaval, international tension, enticements to mission drift, technological "noise," and even pandemic lockdowns, ultimately resulting in an unequivocal re-centering on its historic identity and mission. Its special focus is now child and youth evangelism, through premier camp experiences on Lake Whatcom and atop nearby Mount Baker, and year-round mentoring and discipleship for young Christian leaders. This is a bracing narrative of the fidelity of one pioneering family and those who carried forward their vision for a distinctive Christian ministry in the Pacific Northwest. Above all, it is a story of God's faithfulness from generation to generation.