Kent church throwing Block Party to build, celebrate community

Kent Lutheran Church will host a Block Party downtown featuring about 17 organizations as a way to build and celebrate community.

The free event open to all goes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23 at Kent Lutheran Church, 336 Second Ave. S. Free food and musical entertainment are part of the lineup.

When Pastor Tormod Svensson started his job in October 2023 at Kent Lutheran, a church press release described him as having a heart for social justice and a goal of reaching out to the unchurched and the marginalized. This Block Party is certainly part of that outreach.

“With the way the world is right now, the political climate and so forth, it’s very divided,” Svensson said in an Aug. 8 phone interview about the reasons for an event to build and celebrate community. “Another reason is we wanted to invite community organizations, especially including folks who are kind of attacked now in many ways. … LGBTQ communities, immigrant and refugee organizations.”

The invited groups include Kent-based United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance (UTOPIA) Washington, a nonprofit led by and for queer and trans Pacific Islanders; UBUMWE (which means unity), a Kent-based nonprofit that empowers and promote the well-being of immigrant and refugees families headed by single parents; and Seattle PLFAG, a support group for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.

Other groups include the Kent Police Department; Kent-based Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority; Kent Youth and Family Services; African American Leadership Forum of Greater Seattle; South County Rotary; Kent Downtown Partnership; Holy Spirit Catholic Church; Peer Kent, which provides peer emotional support and development services to those impacted by addiction and/or mental health; Sons of Norway; and Narcotics Anonymous.

Musical guests include the Harmony Kings, an a capella barbershop-style group; the Duane George Music Project, featuring the singing cowboy of love songs; and Sean Haley, director of music and organist at Kent Lutheran.

“The main reason for this is let’s be a catalyst in building community relationships and networks and have fun doing that,” Svensson said.

Activities will be both outside and inside the church. A portion of West Saar Street will be closed to traffic for the block party.

Svensson said the church and the block party are in support of immigrants and refugees, who are facing uncertain times with the Trump administration’s emphasis on deportation through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“We are part of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and part of the Northwest Washington Synod, and the leadership at our local and national levels certainly are speaking against the unfair treatment that we see and the discrimination we see,” Svensson said.

Kent Lutheran offers free community meals for the unhoused on Monday and Thursday evenings, which draws immigrants and refugees.

“We have posted in several languages that these are your rights if ICE shows up,” Svensson said.

While ICE hasn’t shown up at the church, Svensson said he’s aware of the ICE arrests of 17 people in May at a Kent business and the many incidents across the nation.

“We will do whatever we can to stand up against unfair treatment of immigrants,” Svensson said.

Svensson said he appreciated the joint statement by Kent Mayor Dana Ralph and Police Chief Rafael Padilla in January that Kent Police would not be involved in arrests or turning in immigrants despite an executive order signed by President Donald Trump. Padilla said the city would continue to follow state law about immigration.

“I appreciate the overall attitude of the state of Washington that every person deserves respect and fair treatment,” Svensson said.

Svensson said the block party also is a way for people to get to know Kent Lutheran Church better.

“We want to be able to build relationships in the community, not just with the organizations invited, but with people in the community to get to know who we are,” he said. “The world is struggling with Christian nationalists, but we want people to know there’s a different way to live out faith. We support those who are struggling to walk together with people.”

Kent Lutheran Church, 336 Second Ave. S. COURTESY PHOTO, Kent Lutheran Church