New Wineskins
by Rev Gary Gardell, Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, Spokane, WA
Just south of I-90 in Spokane, WA sits a building with huge granite pillars and thick oak doors that looks like a courthouse. When it was built, it was modeled after a similar, larger one in New York City that is long gone. The cornerstone in Spokane says, “Temple Immanuel,” and the date is given on two calendars, 5680 and 1920. There is another date significant in the building’s history: since 1967 it has been the meeting place of Plymouth Congregational Church. In 2014 God poured some new wine in this old wineskin and now on Sundays three churches share the spacious rooms of this former synagogue that morphed into a church. Only a Sovereign Director could have orchestrated the events leading to this.
In the five years that Gary and Kim Gardell had been serving Plymouth, discussions were held about sharing the building’s ample space. For one year, a contemporary church hoping to plant in the area, rented offices and held an early morning discipleship group in the basement. Then an appointment for coffee with the husband of a young woman Kim had taught in AWANA years before led to an inquiry from another church looking for a place to meet. At the time however, it seemed there was “no room in the inn” for an additional group. Coffee was part of a different discussion between two guys who had loaded airline customers’ bags together in college. One of the guys was the church leader searching for a home for his church, Soma, and his friend was leading the discipleship group meeting in the basement at Plymouth. The discipleship group was not growing as expected and it seemed God was leading them to target another area. This revelation led to more meetings (and coffee) between Soma and Plymouth.
After a long and intense period of discussion, Plymouth was divided about whether to allow another group to share the facility. Sides were taken as a meeting to vote on the issue was set. God clearly directed circumstances regarding the outcome and it passed by two votes. (Lest you think our leadership needs counseling, there was a significant group of active non-members, not eligible to cast ballots, who were very much in favor of the proposal to share.)
On March 1, 2014 Soma Communities-Spokane began to move into Plymouth’s building. They had previously been meeting in a downtown church and were delighted to have safe parking and clean Sunday school rooms. A joint work team cleaned closets and rearranged the basement into a worship space. Worship schedules were adjusted and both groups began to meet on Sunday mornings. Within a few months of inviting Soma to worship at Plymouth, a PCA church planter also inquired about using the space and Presbyterian worship began to be held at 5PM each Sunday.
There have been issues to work out, but each week the pastors of three very diverse churches meet to discuss, pray, and figure out how to work together. In early 2015 Plymouth and Soma teamed up to update the basement by remodeling it with new carpet and paint. At Christmas and Easter joint services were held and we partnered on cooking and delivering meals to shut-ins.
What is God doing in Spokane? We are not sure of the future but we are certain that He is pleased to see His building used nearly to capacity each week. The pastors are blessed to be able to meet and pray in the unity that the Gospel brings and to work together to consider how to better witness to the community with the synergy of three groups united in Christ. 250 people now share the costs of operating and maintaining a large, old building.
After one year God is moving the PCA church out to a school where they can worship in the morning and already inquiry has come to from yet another group to utilize the space in the vacated time slot! God keeps reminding us that Plymouth is His building and He has plans to use it to spread the gospel of Christ in Spokane.
