“Let’s see what happens when churches and other people of faith work together with community leaders for the common good,” said Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich during a live radio segment to former pastor and Spokane Valley Council member Ian Robertson.
The pastor decided to take him up on his challenge.
Over the past eight months, Robertson has been hard at work to make that vision a success. He held a Faith Summit at Whitworth University last September to launch the Christian Service Team, and since then has been developing a five-year plan to dig into four system problems in Spokane County — at-risk youth, neighborhood safety and security, homelessness, and wellness/health inequity. In that time, more than 80 congregations have said they want to be a part of the effort.
The process of building out the Christian Service Team is taking time, but Robertson says it’s because they want to get it right. Their process, says Robertson, is to research, motivate, train, and mobilize congregations around these issues. Currently, the ream is still in the research and motivate phase.
Robertson said the four system problems were chosen because most of them were “no brainers.” He also noted that the issues are interconnected and the success in one area will help another.
At this point, Robertson said he had identified five-year goals for two of the issue areas. He would like to see 75 percent of blocks in Spokane County have a neighborhood watch captain and have an emergency preparedness plan. He would also like to make sure there’s some form of after school program associated with 75 percent of schools. In regard to the latter goal around after school programs, he stated that the goal wasn’t to duplicate the work being done by others, but rather to research what is already out there and fill in gaps.
“Churches have resources,” he says, “including prayer, people, leaders, time, money, technology, and facilities. The Christian Service Team is empowering churches to do good work and coordinate that work.”
Developing a goal around health inequity has been especially challenging, as it’s such a massive area, but one integral to the long term growth of Spokane. Robertson referenced the groundbreaking report put out by the Spokane County Regional Health District in 2012, particularly the section that showed vast life-expectancy differences between communities. Some communities saw a 12-year life-expectancy difference, he said. On health inequity work, a Seventh-day Adventist congregation has already developed a toolbox of resources that the Christian Service Team is helping spread.
Knezovich, for his part, has stayed involved in the guiding of the effort. He joins the police, health department, unions, and numerous other community organizations joining at the table.
As the CST continues to get off the ground, Robertson reflected that the diverse group shares a goal. “It’s not about creed, it’s about deed.”
