Bethany Presbyterian dedicates land for future resident housing & church campus

By Cassy Benefield | FāVS News Reporter

About 70 people showed up for Bethany Presbyterian Church’s land dedication ceremony Sunday (Sept. 28). Under a rare 85-degree fall day, attendees lined up their camping chairs to sit and listen to speakers discuss the history of the land the church is on and the plans for its future. 

They learned how 40 members of the existing church arrived at their decision to create a new Bethany Church Campus. This will include Bethany Village, a future community of 22 housing units for refugees and formerly homeless families, and Bethany Commons, a gathering space with a kitchen, offices and a large commons space to be shared by Bethany Presbyterian, the residents and the surrounding community.

“We are so grateful for Bethany’s willingness to go out ahead of others and try things that haven’t been done before,” said Katie Stark, Presbytery of the Inland Northwest’s missional expeditor, after she shared how Bethany’s example of stewarding their land for others is what Jesus Christ calls them to do at the ceremony. 

Bethany’s original idea

The idea behind this church campus began to grow when Bethany Presbyterian Church relocated to 2607 S. Ray Street on the South Hill in 2011 after they bought the building and the land. They had an entire top floor they weren’t using except for storage, and they thought the space could serve the community better, said the Rev. Heather Tadlock of her time pastoring Bethany.

“We began to have some conversation about how might we do something with that top floor,” Tadlock said, after the ceremony finished. She said they began asking, “how might we be able to service others with that space?”

Then on Jan. 2, 2022, plans were set in motion unexpectedly. As a result of an overloaded circuit in the sanctuary, a fire was set in motion that caused extensive damage to the whole building.

“Some congregations might have taken that opportunity to turn inward and to say, ‘How are we going to recover? How are we going to rebuild? What about us?’ And that’s not what this church did,” Tadlock said, adding she is “so proud” she got to be a part of those initial conversations to watch what “God is doing.”

“My heart is full,” she said. “We believe when hearts are open and seeking faithfulness, ways will be made clear. … And look what is happening, right? It is incredible.”

Pressing ahead

Sharon Smith, the land dedication’s event coordinator, a Bethany church member and a ReBuilding Team member, agrees. She said, after “licking their wounds for about six months” following the fire, the church began to press ahead and make plans for the future.

According to the church’s online project plan, the project’s mission statement, frames the whole project. 

It reads, “Through our faith journey, we strive to integrate an inspirational, flexible, and adaptable church and housing community that demonstrates radical hospitality for our residents, immigrants, refugees, and community.”

Smith also discusses this in an online video about their future campus that was recently produced by Presbyterian Church USA, the denomination’s national body, and is featured on Bethany Presbyterian’s website.

The ceremony provided the church an opportunity to show gratitude for the first nations’ owners. Organizers invited LaRae Wiley (Colville Confederate Tribe) — a co-founder and the executive director of the Salish School of Spokane — to sing “An Honoring of the Land Dedication Song” sung in Salish at the ceremony’s opening.

One of the local dignitaries there to speak represented one of the first donors to the over $12 million project. Spokane City Council President Besty Wilkerson emotionally shared with the crowd how God puts people in places for reasons and people don’t always know what they are. She said she was honored to be a part of the City Council when Bethany asked for housing funds, to which Spokane gave their project just over $3 million in federal and city funds.

Serving the people

“The people that are going to be helped here are just as important in God’s eyesight as the members of Bethany. God loves us all,” Wilkerson said before committing to attending the first church service on the new property. “Bethany, my heart swells with joy for you today in celebrating and honoring this land again. The city is proud to partner with you to make this happen.”

Other speakers at the ceremony included the Rev. Sandy Brown, who is currently serving as Bethany’s interim pastor, and Brian Thompson-Royer, Bethany church member and ReBuilding Team member. There were also representatives of Thrive International (Director Saw Garry), Family Promise (CEO Joe Ader) and Proclaim Liberty (Board President Brian Grow). 

Just shy of about $2 million, Bethany’s building project team estimates the demolition of the building to happen by December, the construction to begin by July 2026 and the first residents to move in by Easter 2027. Smith and the rest of the team also strongly believes Washington State will come through with the remaining $2 million but are not 100% sure, she said.

Near the conclusion of the ceremony, each member received a “remembrance” object passed out by the children. It was a half-dollar sized clay, coin-like image of a dove flying out of a fire handmade by Kerri Rodkey, a Bethany member and ReBuilding Team member. 

Rodkey said the token could be used to remind those in the audience to remember Bethany by prayer or thought. She described its symbolism as representing fire on one side with a dove, representing the Holy Spirit or wisdom, flying out of the fire on the other side — a picture of Bethany’s journey from their past into their near future.

“It’s something that you can just hold on to in your pocket, pick it up every now and again and feel that dove and know that the Holy Spirit is leading us toward peace, toward love and toward compassion for our neighbors,” Rodkey said.