The Making of a Place

The Making of a Place – Rev. Lauren Boyd

In 1942, a small group of Methodists felt called to start a worshipping community in the Montclair neighborhood of East Denver. They planted seeds in this neighborhood and grew. In 1948, they dedicated their building at the corner of 12^thand Newport as the home of Montclair Methodist Church. As the neighborhood grew, so did the church community until they needed more space and built a new sanctuary and fellowship hall. They dedicated this addition in 1960. The 60s were the heyday of this community. There were over 500 people worshipping on a Sunday morning and no doubt attending classes during the week with the famous Wednesday night suppers and beloved Pixie Preschool where neighborhood children were raised.

As much as a place can be made by the people and buildings we place on it, it can be unmade. The last thirty odd years, the church community began to decline. As the building aged, so did the congregation. In the last decade or more, many of the neighbors didn’t know it was a Methodist church any longer, only seeing the Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist congregation come and go multiple times throughout the week. The bushes grew over the lampposts and the one sign that had the church’s name on it. The place, the congregation, the church building was forgotten by the community.

Before we started Be3 United Methodist Dinner Church, we talked and dreamt of a shiny new place in the desirable Stapleton neighborhood – where we could have a storefront and could encounter all the neighbors in that area. Some new churches don’t have a physical building. They pay rent, but don’t have the overhead of a large church. We didn’t want the overhead, but we did want a place for people to know that was always their church – their safe haven. The pull of the historic mid-century mod church at 12^th and Newport continued to call to us. We asked the conference if we could begin a new worshipping community in this place that had been unmade – could we remake a place? We were given the approval, but it was a doubtful one. Not many thought rehabbing this place would be fruitful.

The place itself had been cared for, but not updated since the addition in 1960. There was so much to do to bring it back to life. As we birthed a new worshipping community, we attempted to resuscitate the old building wondering if maybe we should have just moved into a shiny new place in Stapleton. We stayed put though, feeling the history of the place and the people who filled it and the neighborhood that found its heart in it. As we clean out old rooms, pull out well-used shag carpet, we invite the new and old neighbors into this once forgotten place. As they walk through we hear stories from the old neighbors and how magical the place is to the new ones.

God called us to this place for this time. God called us to plant seeds and roots and see what will grow as this place is remade once again into a community hub for East Denver. Be3 has 17 members and 25 attendees on an average Thursday night. Be3 has 10-15 children who would rather be at church than almost anywhere else. Some of them say, “I was having a rough day, but then I remembered Be3 is tomorrow and I felt so much better.” We have young families from Stapleton and Park Hill. We have several folks from the Montclair neighborhood. We have a few beloveds who drive a long way to be a part of this community. We tell everyone who will listen about Be3 and how awesome the food and the community are. We hope and pray it will continue to grow in numbers as it is growing the hearts and souls of its current attenders.

As we searched and questioned how to make/remake a place that would support the community and be what God called it and us to be, we created something new inside of something old. We call this community hub Newport Street Retreat as it houses Be3 UMC worshipping community, mico-businesses that are doing good things in our community, coworkers who are looking for community instead of the isolation of their homes or coffee shops, yoga practitioners who seek balance in their lives, local events and workshops, four beehives for tons of bees, a soon to be garden for food to be tended and grow for Be3 as well as neighbors and those in need all the while being the community that God is calling us to be now!

God is calling us to reach out beyond the Methodist circles of people interested and willing to attend a weekly worship service and a unique one at that, to reach out to those who are the Nones and the Dones and Catholics and Jewish and Hindu and Muslim. This place is being remade as a place for everyone who is seeking goodness to come be a part. Our sign out front says, “Good Humans Welcome.” If you are a good human, wanting to do good things in the world, we are the place to be. We are making a place for God’s people to plant and grow and flourish, to try and fail and rework and regroup and feel loved and supported all the while. We hope some will feel a pull to come be a part of our worshipping community. We know not all will and that is ok. We will continue to love and minister to each and every one of them knowing that God is a part of all of it!

God made this earth for all of us. We are called now to make a place for God to dwell in our lives and in our souls. We are called to make a place "where peace can dwell. With God's help, we can pick up the pieces of an old and dying world, and we can make them new. We can make places where beauty and peace can take root, flourish, and grow." (quote by Christie Purifoy) It's so scary to plant and water and tend and not know what if anything will grow. We have been planting for two years and continue to plant and tend. We invite you to be a part of of it - to make this place yours too.

Come bring your laptop and sit at a dinner table in our sanctuary. Come sit in our cafe area and have something to eat. Come take a yoga class and then sit and chat with me for longer than you intended. Come help us plant our garden boxes and tend them - get your hands in the dirt. I hear it's good for us. Come be nourished. Come be well fed.