The First 10 Years of Khesed (formerly spelled Kessid)…
Khesed Church (formerly spelled Kessid) was started from scratch without any outside support or resources. With only a handful of families we prayed and sought the Holy Spirit’s guidance. He impressed upon us that if we based everything we did in God’s Khesed love, scripture, and the Spirit’s leading, that we would be building a God-honoring ministry.
So a launch plan was develoved, God provided the funds we needed, and we continued to base our ministry upon the values of love, Scripture, and Spirit.
After a successful soft launch, we officially opened our doors at The Firstenburg Center In Vancouver, Washington on October 4, 2009. Over the years we moved to several locations including a health club, Endeavour Elementary School, and Clark College. Throughout this time we had been diligently looking for a permanent church home, but we couldn’t find the right fit.
We continued to faithfully set up and tear down our services weekly, a feat that would eventually grow to take over 140 volunteers every weekend.
God’s Amazing Provision
In 2017 We held a baptism service at Main Street Church. Little did we know they had been praying about giving their building away to the next generation. Through much prayer, meeting, and promptings of the Holy Spirit, their congregation unanimously voted “Yes” to become part of Khesed and gift their building to us! Along with a wonderfu new church family, Khesed was given a debt-free church building with over 30,000 sq. ft. in Uptown Vancouver! After an extensive remodel, we began to hold in-person services in our new church home, Khesed Uptown, 111 W 28th St., Vancouver, WA 98660.
Then, in January of 2020, Khesed was approached by another church family here in Clark County, Columbia Christian Church, located across from Columbia River High School.
Through the Holy Spirit’s leading we were excited to announce a merge with another church family and the new location of Khesed Columbia 907 NW 99th St. Vancouver, WA 98665!
Khesed runs weekly services out of both locations with live teaching, including online live stream. To learn more about our Uptown Campus click here, and to learn more about our Columbia Campus, click here.
Kessid to Khesed – What Does it Mean?
Khesed is a transliteration of a Hebrew word which is defined as ‘A Steadfast, Merciful or Loyal Love.’ In Hebrew the word looks like the image. When we bring it into our language, we do two things: first, we have to translate it (translation aims to express the sense or meaning of words or text in another language), and then we have to transliterate it (transliteration aims to produce the phonetic sound of the dialect; words like ‘Angel’ and ‘Baptize’ are transliterations of ancient Greek words meaning, they are written to sound like the original text sounded, and not necessarily to express its meaning).
At first we decided on the transliteration of Kessid, but a few years back, a more recent transliteration piqued our interest. This version sounded much closer to the original Hebrew – so we changed the spelling Kessid to Khesed. Please check out the Bible Project video about this very special word!
Scripture + Spirit + Story
Over the last 5 years, it seemed God was gently guiding us into an additional expression to “Scripture + Spirit.” The word “Story” represents the inner work of understanding why and how we operate the way we do. So much of God’s transformational work is actively moving within this incredibly special place of “Story.” This ‘Story of You’ is known as our testimony and is the single-most valuable witness to the transformative work of God in our lives and for the sake of others. And so, Khesed’s full expression has come to be “Scripture, Spirit, and Story.”
Our Mission
Churches throughout the ages have all had the same general mandate, to reflect and introduce Jesus. In order to reflect Jesus, we must become like Jesus. True transformation happens through living out the love of Christ within His story, His scripture, and His spirit.
We believe here at Khesed, that we are a people being called into this transformational living, for transformation is God’s way of bringing wholeness and healing to the lives of His people.
(Vs) Ephesians 4:21b, 24 “…the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Therefore, our mission at Khesed is…
LIVING THE story of LOVE THROUGH scripture AND spirit.
To learn more about our Beliefs and Values please visit their home pages!