Project location: Renton, WA
Project type: New Church.
Area: 10,640 sq ft
Construction Cost: ~$3,000,000
At the edge of Renton, Washington—where filtered light recalls the stillness of Pacific Northwest forests—Living Hope Lutheran Church was imagined as more than a building. It was conceived as a shared place of reverence and daily life, where worship and community, seniors and congregants, weekday rhythms and Sunday awe quietly coexist.
Living Hope Lutheran Church emerged from the formal merger of Cross and Crown Lutheran and Nativity Lutheran congregations. Facing the realities common to many faith communities in the region, Nativity Lutheran made a decisive and mission-driven choice: to sell its aging property to Wesley Choice Senior Living and reinvest resources into ministry rather than maintenance.
The vision was bold and forward-looking. Within the new Wesley Spring Glen senior living community, a dedicated church presence would be established—10,640 square feet of worship, fellowship, and administrative space—designed with a modest $3 million budget. The church would retain its own identity, offices, meeting rooms, kitchen, and fellowship areas, while sharing select spaces, including the worship nave, bistro, and theater, with the senior living community.
Inspired by the materials and atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, the project sought to create a sacred environment that felt timeless, warm, and deeply human.
The Challenges Beneath the Vision
The challenges were real and layered.
First, the financial reality: selling land, demolishing a long-held church, and trusting a shared future required courage and clarity of mission.
Second, the shared-use complexity: a worship space would serve two distinct communities—reverent and sacred on weekends, functional and communal during the week.
Third, the question of identity: how could a church remain unmistakably itself—spiritually, symbolically, and operationally—while embedded within a larger senior living development?
The risk was not merely architectural. It was existential.
The wood cladding of the church walls is acoustical and is inspired from the Northwest forest backdrop of the church site.
The turning point came through design.
The sanctuary was envisioned as an inspiring, acoustically sound worship space that draws the eye—and the spirit—upward. High north-facing windows wash the nave with soft, natural light, creating moments of reverence and awe. Wood paneling and wood ceilings set over gypsum board wrap the space in warmth, echoing the forests beyond and grounding worshippers in a profound sense of place.
Lighting was treated as a spiritual and architectural layer. Natural light is complemented by carefully composed artificial illumination—spotlights, chandeliers, wall sconces, and cove lighting—working together to create a mood that is both visually engaging and spiritually uplifting. This layered approach allows the space to transition gracefully between sacred worship and weekday community use without losing its sense of dignity or meaning.
Externally, the church asserts its presence. Slot windows puncture the façade with purpose and rhythm, while a carved wood cross stands in quiet contrast against the fiber-cement panels of the surrounding senior living community—distinct, recognizable, and reverent without being imposing.
A Shared Yet Sacred Result
The result is a church that embodies its mission:
“All are welcome here.”
Living Hope Lutheran Church is designed as a place of grace—welcoming, warm, and grounded in Scripture and Sacrament. It preserves independence through a separate entrance, private offices, meeting rooms, kitchen, and fellowship spaces, while embracing shared life through intentional overlap with the senior living community.
The interior palette—warm cherry wood tones, beiges, and fall-inspired browns and oranges—reinforces a sense of hospitality and belonging. Inside, the space lifts hearts toward God; outside, it speaks quietly of faith rooted in community.
The story of Living Hope Lutheran Church stands as a compelling example of stewardship, adaptability, and hope—where architecture becomes a vessel for mission, and where faith finds new life not by holding onto land, but by opening doors.