By Dan Holly

The building at 5115 S. Freya Street in Spokane, Washington, came into being through a massive miscalculation and could have become a 3,600-square-foot white elephant. But through extraordinary generosity and a few twists and turns, the building has, in the estimation of several involved in the saga, done a lot of good for the community.

It was built in 2014 for Origin Church. The church at the time had only about 25 members, so there was plenty of room for growth – but that growth never came. In fact, the church shrank, especially after the retirement of its pastor. Julie Banks, a member of the church board at that time, remembered, “We got to a point when it was just the same 12 people coming to church on Sunday, and it was just very sad.”

It was clear that the vision with which the church was born would not be realized. Rev. Dr. Scott Kinder-Pyle, who became the interim pastor, recalls that church leaders discussed selling the building, but after many hours of deliberation decided to do something radical – give it away. Rev. Kinder-Pyle describes the decision as “a movement of the Holy Spirit.”

But they did not give it to another church; instead, they gave it to a journalism organization – Spokane Faith & Values, an online publication covering religion and ethics. The church’s affinity for the journalism organization stemmed from shared values and goals. Origin was an ecumenical church that sought to bring Christians together; Spokane Faith & Values (or FāVS) aims to “articulate faith and nonfaith practices in the Inland Northwest in which divisions are healed and communities connected.”

“I had come to know Tracy Simmons [FāVS’ executive director] and I contributed some poems and essays to their website,” Rev. Kinder-Pyle recalled. “I had thought about helping other religious organizations any number of times. But we obviously thought that because their values aligned with ours, they would be especially good to help. Their goals were a little different – their organization is chiefly concerned with journalism. But they were also concerned with building a community of faith.”

Simmons still remembers getting the call when Rev. Kinder-Pyle offered the building. “I was completely surprised,” she said. The church even gave FāVS $50,000 for start-up costs and taxes. “So they gave us, like, a year’s worth of funding to kind of get it off the ground, as well as the building itself.”

The donations included three acres of land.

The unusual decision to give away a church and land was surprisingly well received. The congregation’s vote was unanimous, Banks recalled.

The only pushback, Rev. Kinder-Pyle said, came from the nationwide organization that Origin Church was part of. “They were a little bit tweaked that we had given away so much.”

But even they came around, he said. Representatives from the organization attended their final service and “they were glad for us,” Rev. Kinder-Pyle said.

The building was enormously helpful to FāVS. “[Previously], we were doing Coffee Talks where we would take a topic that was getting traction on our website and bring people together for a community conversation. We would have these at different coffee houses, but we outgrew them all,” Simmons said. With their new home on Freya Street, they could host the conversations comfortably.

Ultimately, though, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the Coffee Talks and FāVS was forced to sell the building and land. But the $900,000 that they received from the sale was a great help in propelling the organization forward, Simmons said. The organization has ramped up to 22 reporters and six staff members. And they have built up an online community to replace the physical space they had in the church, she said.

FāVS ended up selling the building to a dentist – a fact that disappointed Rev. Kinder-Pyle, although he understood the necessity of the sale.

“I still feel good about how we helped [FāVS],” he said. “They’re doing well and they have had an impact not only here but throughout the Northwest.”

Rev. Kinder-Pyle landed on his feet. He is now interim pastor at Northwood Presbyterian Church in Spokane. Julie Banks, the former Origin Church board member, is a member of FāVS’ board.

And that old church building has come full circle – it’s now a church again. Cornerstone South Church leased the building from that dentist and opened in 2017. Luxury housing was built on the land next to it, Cornerstone Pastor Aaron Mayo said. But he added: “The church building itself is still standing.”