The Rev. Gretchen M. Rehberg has been elected as the ninth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane.
She was elected this weekend at the Diocese’ 52nd Annual Convention, which was held in Lewiston, Idaho.
According to a press release, Rehberg was among four finalists and will be starting the work of of bishop-elect in February pending the required consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction and standing committees of the Episcopal Church, will be ordained and consecrated as bishop in March 2017 in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. She will succeed Rev. James (Jim) Waggoner, Jr. who was consecrated the eighth bishop of the diocese in 2000.
Rehberg has served as the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Lewiston, since 2006. She is the chair of the Commission on Ministry, a Canon for Regional Mission, and a trainer for the College for Congregational Development in the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane. In these ministries she has combined her passion for equipping people for ministry and assisting congregations in becoming more faithful, healthy, and effective communities of faith. She has a M.Div. from General Seminary, a D. Min. from Wesley Seminary, and Ph.D. in Chemistry. Previously she was a professor of organic chemistry, and served her community as an EMT/firefighter, according to a press release.
“I am incredibly humbled and honored to be elected Bishop of our diocese. Only one person is elected bishop, but the work is all of ours,” she said in the press release. “I look forward to building on what we have to move forward into the future. I am convinced that with the diocese working together in partnership with God and one another we can take the next faithful step forward in following Jesus, in loving God and loving our neighbor and in being creative and compelling witnesses to Jesus Christ here in the Diocese of Spokane. ”
She is the 59th woman to be elected bishop in the Anglican Communion and the first in the Diocese of Spokane.
