The Rainier Avenue Free Methodist Church is nestled in the heart of the Rainier Valley, a one-by-seven mile community of 40,000 people in southeast Seattle. The church was born out of the 1904 Annual Conference of the Free Methodist Church in Everett, Washington. Rev. E.L. Smith pastored the new Hillman City Free Methodist Church, as it was called back then, with 14 charter members in the home of F.L. Delong. By the fall of 1904, a frame church building was constructed at the corner of Rainier Avenue South and South Juneau Street. On November 6, the first service was held in the building.

Today we celebrate the 100 year history of ministry in the Rainier Valley, where some 40 percent of its residents were born outside the United States; some 45 percent speak a language other than English at home; some 100 different languages are spoken. "Quite literally, the 'whole world' has found its way to the doorsteps of our historic 100-year-old church," says Paul Olver, pastor of Rainier Avenue Church. "Of the 325 who make up our extended ministry, 40 percent are Asian and Pacific Islander (Lao, Mien, Khmu, Samoan); 20 percent African American, Hispanic, African, etc.; 40 percent Caucasian." Over the years, the church has adapted to its changing neighborhood. Fully 75 percent of members reside in the Rainier Valley, nearly half of them involved in 15 action teams providing needed services (meals, transportation, babysitting, etc.) to those within the church's ministry network.