We’ve seen a significant increase over the past few months in our partnership and involvement with other local churches here in the Platt Park neighborhood. We wanted to share with you some of the details of what those partnerships look like so you can a) know about it, b) pray about it, and c) share other collaborations you know about or would like to see happen!
Bloom Church
Beyond sharing space at 1801 S. Logan St., this year Hope and Bloom Church are uniting during Lent and Holy Week in a few significant ways.
During the 5 Sundays of Lent (2/18 – 3/18) the preachers from both churches will be speaking from the same passages from the Psalms. While the preachers and message shapes of the Hope’s and Bloom’s sermons will be different, the preachers in both churches will be emphasizing coming into the presence of God through prayer in a way that goes beyond dutiful ritualistic prayer and into the mysterious realm of intimately relating with God in days of gladness and darkness, being fully known by God, and growing in our knowledge and experience of Him.
Bloom will be hosting three special services and they have invited us to join them. These services are Ash Wednesday (2/14), Maundy Thursday (3/29) and Good Friday (3/30). All services begin at 7:00 pm.
On Easter morning, we will unite to host 2 resurrection services. The first will be at 9 am downstairs in the Reception Hall and the second will be upstairs at 11 am in the Sanctuary. The two Easter morning services will be identical, and they will be facilitated by staff and volunteers from both communities. Childcare will be provided at both services.
Bloom is also joining in with our annual Egg Hunt this year. In addition to opening up the event to their congregation, Bloom will also be helping out with all the volunteer effort it takes to make this popular neighborhood event a success!
First CRC & Platt Park Church
For the third consecutive year, we are partnering together with Platt Park Church and First Christian Reformed Church for summer camp. This is truly a joint effort from beginning to end: planning, leadership, providing financial resources for scholarships, hosting Eagle Lake counselors, and volunteering the week of camp. We also come together to pray for the campers and the Eagle Lake staff, invite families and kids we know, and follow up with campers who don’t already have a home church.
New Denver Church
In December, three of the adult volunteers transitioned out of Youth Ministry after faithfully serving for about three years. As the team has gotten smaller, Arik, Leah, Allison and Tricia have been praying for God to provide other adult volunteers to come alongside them. Simultaneously, New Denver Church, (NDC) whose lead pastor, Norton Herbst, is a longtime friend of Hope, has been praying for and seeking out another local church to partner with in Youth Ministry. NDC has a smaller number of teenagers than a youth group typically needs to have a critical mass. Their prayer request was to find an established youth ministry in another church of similar values where they could have 2-10 teens and 2-3 adult volunteers join and support.
After a few weeks of conversations between the leaderships of both churches, we have agreed that this is a good fit and a mutual answer to prayer. For the last few weeks at youth group, the adults and teens from NDC have joined us and we’ve had great, God-honoring experiences. We are thankful for the openness of behalf of the teens at Hope and for the support and patience from the parents.
Fellowship Denver
With Fellowship Denver moving into Platt Park in what was previously a motorcycle store at 1990 S. Broadway, Dean has begun building a relationship with their teaching pastor, Dave Morlan. Their times together have included learning about each church’s history and vision, praying, walking together through the neighborhood, and discussing possible ways to join forces in the future.
Denver House of Prayer
In light of our desire to steward this beautiful building, we are excited to now have a third church meeting on our campus Wednesday nights. The church is called Denver House of Prayer (DHOP) and is a new church plant that was started by Rev. Carl and Amy Joseph, alongside a core team of others.
Dwell Life
An unexpected new friendship is forming with Chad and Annette Smith (and their three children) who are friends of the Walker family and planting a church while living in Platt Park. Some of you may have met this warm and joyful family as they have worshiped with us on Sunday mornings a few times in the past year or so. Dean reconnected last month with Chad at a gathering at the Walker’s home, and then recently met at Steam where Chad shared an amazing story of how God has clearly led him and his family from the east coast into Platt Park to love neighbors and join in what God is doing in our community. Keep your eyes open as the Smiths are proactively serving in our city and are open (as are we) to partnering together as God leads in the days ahead.
. . . and many others
We are probably missing other partnerships and collaborations in this list! If there is anything you’d like to add, please leave a comment below.