Mars Hill, a church that started in Ballard and now has campuses all around the Seattle area, is moving its Bellevue campus to the John Danz building in downtown Bellevue.

Campus Pastor Chris Swan said that the Bellevue campus is within $100,000 of raising the money they need to secure the lease of the building. The church hopes to have its first service at the location in February 2011.

According to Tim Smith, Worship Pastor at the Mars Hill Bellevue campus, the Bellevue church sometimes houses close to 1,300 members on Sunday mornings at its current location, Eastside Christian School.

The decision to set up in such an urban location is one of the things that makes Mars Hill unusual in today’s Christian community. Mars Hill staff said that they choose cities because it is important for churches to be a part of modern culture and change.

“Culture shifts happen in the cities and then move out to the suburbs,” said Swan. “Wouldn’t it be great if the church was on the front end, rather than the back end of those changes?”

“We think that God has a heart for cities and a lot of churches have really missed a great opportunity by retreating from the urban setting rather than engaging with what is going on there,” said Smith in agreement with Swan.

Mars Hill staff also said that they hope to become a part of the downtown community by taking the time to meet the needs they find.

“I think what is important is really thinking about the community that you are in and looking for their needs,” said Thomas Hurst, Campus Operations Director at the Mars Hill Bellevue campus. “We want to engage the community where they are at.”

“We don’t want to be a drain or come in and take over, we want to see what is going on in the city and see if we can be a blessing or contribute,” Smith said.

Swan said that those needs could include focusing on the workforce in downtown Bellevue.

“I think that people in this modern day need things like parenting advice, relationship assistance, maybe some counseling,” said Swan. “Even during the day, we would love to offer that stuff up freely to the downtown workforce.”

Both Smith and Swan also mentioned the possibility of using the space for venues like the Bellevue Jazz Festival and conferences for corporations in the area. They also said that they hope the church will benefit local business by bringing more people to the community.

“Local business may experience a different surge on a Sunday, when you have a couple thousand people coming downtown to eat, to shop, to hopefully bless the local business,” he said.

Mars Hill hopes to launch another campus on the Eastside sometime in 2012, and possibly a new one each year thereafter for the next few years.

“We are seeing a diversifying of Bellevue like it never has before. there are a lot of people that have never heard the gospel and don’t know what Christianity is about,” Swan said. “We want to come and help serve and equip the Christian population on the Eastside.”

Kirsten Smith is an intern with the Bellevue Reporter. She is a student at Northwestern University in Illinois.