Posted 157 days ago

Quest Church in Seattle, WA

Quest Church in Seattle is an innovative multicultural church plant in Seattle that reaches out to their community in creative ways with both word and deed mission. It started in 2000 as a coffee shop called Q Café, and recently merged with Interbay Covenant Church, which was next door. Pastor Eugene Cho raises important questions on his blog “Beauty and Depravity” about everything from race and racialization to the recent crisis in Burma. Eugene will be speaking at our conference next February.

Profile by Pastor Eugene Cho

How did Quest Church start?

My wife and I, after wrestling with some “soul issues” felt called and compelled to plant a church. Quest was birthed in 2001 with hopes of being an urban, multiethnic, and missional church.

Describe the church in terms of demographics—attendance, age range and ethnicity.

Quest is six years old. We average about 450-500 people on a given Sunday with approximately half involved in smaller groups throughout the city. Last year, the average age was 24 for women and 26 for men. It is likely one of the youngest churches in Seattle. Presently, Quest is about 55% Anglo, 35% Asian, and 10% other Beautiful People.

By your standards, how successful do you feel you have been in creating multicultural community?

We are a multiethnic church and by the standards of many, it is seen as a “successful” church. By our leadership’s standards, we’ve done some good things but failed in others. In short, we’re committed and have a long way to go.

What’s the biggest struggle in or opposition to maintaining the multiethnicity of your church?

The biggest struggle in maintaining the multiethnicity of our church is the simple growth of our church as an institution. With whatever the commitment may be, the growth of church makes it more difficult to pursue. Intentionality is key. Also, much of our growth has come from our immediate location in the city of Seattle which is about 85% Anglo.

Describe the local and global missions of Quest.

Locally

Our work as a community presence through Q Café.
Through the Café, we also host an Art Gallery and Music Venue
Monthly Homeless Distribution and Outreach
Working on having our community groups be a presence in their respective neighborhoods. For example, one of our groups planted trees in their neighborhood last year
Planting a church in Bellingham, WA
Partnering with a Burmese/Karen refugee church plant in Kent, WA

Globally

We work with a Seattle NGO that works on the border of Thailand and Burma.
We work with a hospital in Goma, Congo, and a village in Tanzania.
Missionaries in Russia, Central Asia, and we are sending another missionary to China next year.

Thirty percent of our church budget is allocated to Church Planting, Global Presence, and Community Development.

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