Washougal-based ministry reaches out

Pastor James Austin describes The Outpost, the Camas Church of the Nazarene's Washougal-based ministry outreach program, by referring to the famous proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." "That's what keeps me up at night -- how can we partner with people or give them the tools and skills they need to not just make it through another day but really start building a life for themselves?" Austin said. "Helping people means not just, 'Here, this will get you through today,' but like, 'Let's take three or four steps back, look at the bigger picture and look at what you need.' I think the pandemic has exposed that in a lot of us, that we're surviving, but we're not really living. And with all of the public tension and anger and hatred and othering and all of that kind of stuff, we're obviously a little short on the tools we need to really thrive." Austin hopes The Outpost, a loose partnership between ministries, churches, community members and other organizations, can provide people with those tools. The Outpost operates out of the former Washougal Church of the Nazarene building, at 573 30th St., providing space for groups in need of a location to hold their activities and events. "We're a third-party entity, kind of an 'Island of Misfit Toys,'" Austin said. "The Outpost is kind of a shotgun approach (asking,) 'How can we help one another?' We wouldn't necessarily be the ones to buy food for people who need food. We're not going to provide rental assistance for people who need housing. We don't have those resources. But we do know there are incredible organizations here that do have financial resources and volunteer bases, and we want to try to put a face to them and be available and open to whoever can use the space." Church leaders are working to reorganize The Outpost as a secular nonprofit organization, at which point the Camas church will assume ownership of the Washougal building, according to Austin. "We're hoping that will open up funding revenues, grants and different ways to partner with the community that aren't tied to religious functions," he said. "The Washougal Church of the Nazarene hasn't been dissolved, so it technically still is a legal entity even though it's not functioning. Once we get a new organization registered, then we'll dissolve the Washougal church and the Camas church will absorb the building and The Outpost will be off and running on a different level, a more professional level than this loosey-goosey (approach)." After the Washougal church closed in 2017, then-Camas Church of the Nazarene pastor Joe Crosby talked with his superiors about the future of the Washougal building. They wondered if they should sell the building or try to start a new church. Crosby considered opening "a compassionate ministry/outreach center," but when that plan failed to come to fruition, the building remained vacant. Then, Washougal residents Amy Smith, Pam Clark and Michele Gregson saw an opportunity, Austin said. "There was a leadership void, a vision void, and they're go-getters," he said of Smith, Clark and Gregson. "They're always moving and shaking. I would say they're still the wind underneath the wings of this whole thing." The three women had identified a need for a local space for organizations to come together to help the community, and when the Washougal church closed, "we all were very clear in what the future could hold with that building, and we just started running with it," Smith said. A single mother who has been "on the receiving end of outreach in this community," Smith said she knew East Clark County residents in need had fewer options and resources than their neighbors in the Vancouver area. "There are very few true Camas-Washougal (options)," Smith said. "I remember this town caring and loving its own community, and I think we need to fight to get back to that. To get there, it starts at the roots. It starts with those who need us the most." Several organizations - including a local Alcoholics Anonymous group, a Girls Scouts troop and Bible study groups - met at The Outpost in 2021, and Austin anticipates that a local Young Life group will regularly gather at the former Washougal church in early 2022. In addition, RAD Outreach, a community group based out of Camas' Radiant Church, uses The Outpost as its "event center," Gregson said. "We had our Christmas Day dinner there in 2019, and this year we were able to host our back-to-school event, where local families were able to come and get a free haircut, backpacks, school supplies and lunch," Gregson said. "We also handed out 40 Thanksgiving food boxes, and food and gifts to 45 families that we adopted. We look forward to partnering with The Outpost in 2022 for many events to come for our community." But The Outpost's "most consistent partnership," according to Austin, is with Family Promise of Clark County, a nonprofit organization that assists children and their families affected by homelessness. "We are very happy to be a partner with them," Austin said. "I totally believe in their mission and want to support them as much as possible." Austin is also trying to bring a Vancouver-based mental health organization to The Outpost to help pair individuals with counselors and provide scholarships for those in need of mental health counseling services. "Washougal has a huge need for some of that, so (I'm hoping) we can help them build their service by giving them an outlet so they don't have to pay for rent or buy a building," Austin said. "I feel pretty passionately about counseling and good mental health care, so that's something I wanted to initiate." In addition to welcoming more groups and organizations to The Outpost, Austin would like to use the building to host events, such as concerts, meetings and banquets. The building's kitchen could theoretically "become a coffee shop ... or something like that," he said. Austin also hopes to provide more youth activities so The Outpost can become "an emotionally safe indoor space for young people." "We're definitely still in the building phase," Austin said. "I wish we had an ironclad mission statement, but we don't. There's actually quite a bit going on, but it's very 'loosey goosey' because we don't really have the structure and organization. There's a lot of possibilities, and we're kind of in that listening phase and trying to figure out how this can best serve Washougal. It's messy and slow and painful, but I'd rather spend my days doing that messy, painful, long, slow work than just putting (bandages) on things." The work may be messy, painful, long and slow, but it also fills Austin with optimism and compassion, qualities that he hopes to pass on to the people of East Clark County. "I feel like any group can fight with any group right now over any issue. It's so painful," he said. "So to see people from different traditions, backgrounds, emphases, skillsets and passions set some of those things aside and say, 'We're going to do this for Washougal. The people are better than this. They deserve more than this. We're going to come together and make this happen,' gives me hope that (despite) everything that we've seen in the last two or three years, we're going to make it. And in a tiny, little way, the people who get to work at The Outpost get to be a part of that story, not the story of fighting and anger and all of that. We get to help pave the way toward unity and partnership and fellowship and relationship."

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