Episcopal Church: Local named bishop of Spokane Diocese

Rev. Gretchen Rehberg

A former Pullman resident and 1982 graduate of Pullman High School has been named bishop of the Spokane Diocese of the Episcopal Church

The Rev. Gretchen Rehberg currently serves as pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Lewiston where she has been for 10 years. She was elected bishop of the Diocese of Spokane at a convention in Lewiston Oct. 15.

The position was opened with the announced retirement of the current bishop, James Waggoner, Jr. Rehberg was one of four finalists for the position.

Rehberg said the process for electing a new bishop starts with a “discernment process” where members are asked who would be a good fit based on the needs, challenges and gifts, among other things.

“They then create a profile based on that, and they nominate folks who they think would fit that profile,” she said. “It got down to four names that way.”

Rehberg said she spent the morning of the election praying with the other finalists.

“You don’t campaign,” she said. “Any of the nominees would be good. The work is everybody’s.”

Rehberg said the Spokane Diocese includes 40 communities throughout in central and eastern Washington, northern Idaho and into Montana.

“There will be a lot of travel,” she said. “I love the idea of being out and traveling and being with a variety of congregations.”

Rehberg said she grew up on a small farm outside of Pullman. The daughter of Margaret and the late Wallace Rehberg, she wanted to “see the world” when she graduated from high school, and she moved to Tennessee to study chemistry at Sewanee: The University of the South. She earned her BA in chemistry there, and then she went on to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Minnesota.

She then accepted a teaching post at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and taught there prior to studying at General Theological Seminary in New York. She went on to earn her doctorate in church leadership from Westley Theological Seminary.

During her college years, she worked for her university’s ambulance service as an EMT, and her first position out of seminary was as a fire department chaplain in Pennsylvania.

She was still attending seminary on Sept. 11, 2001, and she was one of several volunteers who responded to the World Trade Center in New York. She helped to treat and care for survivors at the scene and at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City. Due to the exposure from the debris at the scene, she developed a lung condition and can no longer work as a firefighter or EMT. She said the lung disease is “under control.”

Rehberg said she is excited for her new position. During her years in ministry, she said she has learned to view people differently.

“One of the greatest dangers people have is to see people as problems to be fixed,” she said. “People are not problems to be solved.”

She said her work includes helping people to work together with honor, support and respect.

“The job is to work with people and help them find solutions that already exist,” she commented. “Offer people the love of God. How are we offering people the love of God in real and concrete ways?”

Rehberg is set to take on her new role starting Feb. 1.