The Places
The people of South Evangelical Presbyterian Fellowship met for our first worship service at the Denver Christian High School gym on Sunday, September 30, 1979.
As I recall, one of the main scriptures referenced that Sunday was:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43;18-19 NIV
In 1984, at the request of the neighborhood around the high school, we moved to Englewood High School, where we stayed until 1990, when we moved to Flood Middle school. We had purchased the strip mall in the 6500 block of South Broadway, but had to wait until parts of the largest vacant area of 6560 was remodeled to provide staff offices, a nursery area and classrooms for the children.
Again this scripture was part of the first worship service:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43;18-19 NIV
Our current Worship Center had been a large open store that had closed years before we bought the mall; it looked like a warehouse. We separated the Fellowship area from the Worship area with ceiling high curtains; the stage was a platform that backed up to the curtains; the sound booth was in the middle; and there were folding chairs all around, plus some bleachers at the back.
For the third time this scripture was part of the first worship service:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43;18-19 NIV
The current Worship Center was originally remodeled in 2005 and has undergone a number of physical changes in the last 20 years, though the basic shape has remained the same.
The People
One of the great memories that many of us had of being at Denver Christian High School was setting up the gym early each Sunday morning and taking the chairs and extra equipment down afterwards. It was work, but we had so much fun working together that it almost seemed like play.
At that time we had groups called “Mini Parishes”, which were led by elders or staff. Each Mini Parish included a mixture of couples, families with children, and singles, of all ages. We had a calendar and each Mini Parish group would sign up for a month to be responsible for set-up of the gym and tear down. It was a good way for people to contribute to making our Sunday worship happen. Many lifelong friendships were built during the time we worked together then.
Opportunities
“For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” Isaiah 43;19 NLT
Sunday we heard about various changes happening which will provide opportunities for you to become involved in building relationships as you join in building our South Fellowship community.
Pray about where Jesus might be calling you to become involved.
by Carolyn Schmitt
