Holy Trinity to install vicar

Tucked away in the West Central neighborhood of Spokane, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 1832 W. Dean Ave., is preparing for a brighter future.

The church, which opened in 1895, has endured much upheaval over the past 12 years.

In 1995 at least 80 percent of the church’s members felt the Episcopal Church had become too liberal, converted to Antiochean Orthodox and formed St. Nicholas Orthodox Church.

The Holy Trinity congregation dwindled even more after that, and contributions to the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane dried up.

To revitalize Holy Trinity, the diocese decided to change its status from parish, which is a financially independent entity, to a mission, which is subsidized by the diocese, and assign a vicar to serve it.

The Rev. Paul Lebens-Englund will be installed as vicar in a ceremony Sunday at 2 p.m.

Lebens-Englund, 32, has high hopes for Holy Trinity. He says he feels a calling to serve the church, which had just three members when he first walked through its doors.

“I had never been here until about three months ago,” he said.

A native of Yakima, Lebens-Englund is a 1997 graduate of Evergreen State College in Olympia and a 2004 graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, Calif. Married to his wife, Erica, since 1999, the couple has two sons, Isaac, 6, and Owen, 2.

Lebens-Englund has been curate, or one who works to cure souls, of Spokane’s Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist since June 2004 and still will devote half his time to St. John’s.

Lebens-Englund says he wants to make Holy Trinity the hub of the West Central neighborhood, reconnecting with outreach programs such as Our Place Ministries, which has been tied closely to the church for years, as well as the Christ Clinic, Christ Kitchen and Anna Ogden Hall.

He has been known to mow the church lawn in his collar. He said one of the church’s neighbors, Kris Christensen, saw him mowing one day and walked over to visit. Now she works for the church.

“I really felt called to this (church),” Lebens-Englund said. “I’m just not a cathedral guy.”

He says he’s excited the Episcopal Church is talking about things that are hot-button issues, such as women’s ordination and human sexuality.

“It really matters that we talk about tough stuff,” he said.

Lebens-Englund says he wants to gather all people into the church and wants to think about not only who is there at church but also who is missing. He says he wants to make the church “a place for all people, keeping God in the center of it.”

Some younger churchgoers have helped him set up a blog. He posts his thoughts about spiritual topics as well as social topics. Links are included to outreach programs, other bloggers and some of the programs of the Episcopal Diocese.

Recently, Lebens-Englund attended an Episcopal priests’ wellness conference in North Carolina, and he came back realizing he needs to find something he likes to do in his free time and then make sure he takes time to do it.

He is determined to start golfing this summer – it’s something at which, he says, he is very unskilled.

And he plays the drums and is looking for a rock ‘n’ roll band to join.

With the addition of Lebens-Englund, the Holy Trinity congregation has started to grow. He says the average Sunday morning service sees about 15 to 20 congregants; Sunday evening services are attended by about 15 to 25 people.