On Mission in Spokane

When the Holy Spirit moves it can truly be an amazing thing to witness. We had a experience toward the end of 2020 that was really a spectacular thing to behold. In the middle of a global pandemic we were actively planting two mission parishes in the city of Spokane, Wa. The way that these two plants (St. Nicholas and St. Aidan’s) started to take place was a miracle in of itself but what happened next was astounding. We were put in touch with the seller of a church building in South Spokane, blocks from where one of our planters lived with his family. Our planter (Dn. Carter Stepper) says this is a church they regularly passed by and often prayed for it to become a place they could worship in and serve their community from. The woman who owned the building was the widow of a long time pastor, they had purchased the building when he was still alive (it had not been used as a church for quite a while) and had made some plans for the property. After he passed the building had sat and she was unable to fulfill the plans that they had made. When she found out that we were interested in it being a church again she was filled with excitement and worked with us to make it possible for us to purchase the property. Her generosity was inspiring and as a result we have a church building that can operate as a hub of mission and service for a community in south Spokane and house worship services for St. Aidan’s and St. Nicholas Anglican Church. While the long term goal is for St. Nicholas to discern where God will have them establish themselves long term, in the short term both of these mission parishes will have a place to hold public services. Along with holding worship services, we hope to develop a community garden, we intend to paint the building and bring back the joy of this beautiful property to the neighborhood once again, we will also establish this property as a place where God’s redeeming love is found in the service of others as the people of God witness to His kingdom through acts of love and service in their neighborhood.