A new edition of Work of Faith, Labor of Love: A Spiritual History of The Firs is being written and your help is needed. Please read this letter from author, Katherine Jeffery and contact her for details.
Dear Friends of The Firs,
I am writing to introduce myself as the writer of Work of Faith, Labor of Love: A Spiritual History
of The Firs, published in 1980 — and to seek your prayer and help as I commence the task of
updating and revising that book, at nearly 45 years distance, for a new audience.
My personal connection with The Firs began as a young Firwood camper in the early 1960s,
when my family lived in Vancouver. I attended Junior, Junior High, and High School camps
every summer until I ‘aged out’ and then spent several summers as a CIT and counselor. I also
attended conferences on the main grounds and retreats on Mount Baker. My parents, Ron and
Dorothy Brown, counted Grant and Bernice Whipple among their dearest friends and served
many years, as you now do, on the board and council. The Firs was like a second home to me
and I absorbed, I think, more of its spiritual ethos than I can readily acknowledge from those I
came to know and love as a child and young adult.
At some point, while I was studying at Regent College in Vancouver, it was suggested (likely as a
result of conversation between my parents and the Whipples) that I consider writing a new
history of The Firs (itself a revision and update of The Firs of The Lord). Part of the task was to
embed the local and personal history of the Whipple family within the larger context of 19 th and
20 th century spiritual movements which give The Firs its unique character. It was challenging
but wonderful project, and I have always been grateful to have been entrusted with it.
I have not lived in the Pacific northwest since 1982, and have not visited The Firs in almost as
many years, sadly. It was thus a great surprise when I was first contacted about a possible
revision and expansion of Work of Faith….
I’m honored, needless to say, and also filled with holy trepidation! I am now in my 70s rather
than my 20s, with a little less energy than I once had. And because of my geographic distance (I
live in central Texas) as well as four decades of not being proximate to the day-to-day ministry
of The Firs, I am very much depending on you all to help me update this story in a faithful and
factual and edifying manner.
I hope to fly out to Bellingham in early November and to meet you in person. In the meantime,
though, I would be enormously grateful for any thoughts you might have about issues or
themes you’d like me to address and any personal anecdotes or testimonies about the role of
The Firs in your own lives. I am guessing that the major challenge of writing this “update” may
be to reflect on the way The Firs has navigated the cultural, political, and even religious
upheavals of the last four decades (including increasing government intrusion) without
sacrificing its core identity.
Blessing you in advance for your prayerful assistance,
Katherine Jeffrey
Please feel free to correspond with Katherine via email at kb_jeffrey@hotmail.com or mail a letter to
The Firs, 4605 Cable St., Bellingham, WA 98229