Mission Celebration Community Church

History
In 1998, a handful of people on a mission from God set out to create a place where people could come home to Him again or for the first time. Our purpose was to establish a thriving evangelical church in the heart of urban east Denver. With the help of our God and friends who caught our vision, we have succeeded. Ten years of worship, hospitality, learning, service, and storytelling have turned a sleepy parcel of land into a place teeming with life. Celebration Community Church is a loving, honest, intergenerational church that is a fun place for you, your friends, and family to get serious about God.

In early 2005, we began to seek God’s leading for the future. To this end we embarked on a strategic planning process which is still in process. Here are some early insights:

Mission Statement:
The mission of Celebration Community Church is to create a life-giving, life-changing, missional, mentoring community for people in need of grace.

Purpose Statement:
Celebration Community Church is an Evangelical Presbyterian Church with a heart for the city.

Though we draw folks from around the metro area, we feel strategically located to reach out to the diverse neighborhoods along Colorado Blvd in east Denver. We are people in need of grace: hungry, thirsty, teachable, but no better than anyone else. We feel uniquely qualified and passionate about opening our arms to people wherever they are in their spiritual journey.

Purposes Defined:
We are traveling companions to people in need of grace as they awaken, learn, serve, struggle, surrender, and love through Jesus. We work hard to create a community each of us can…

Awaken to the Father’s Love and come home to Him.
Learn the basics of the Bible and the Christian life.
Serve the Lord and others while discovering our unique mission and calling.
Struggle with God and the people and situations we experience.
Surrender: Rediscover the heart of God and recognize the needs of others.
Love: Reflect God and relate to people in ways that inspire and instruct.

Vision for the Future: Envision a lush and beautiful park.
People sit on blankets and park benches while children play in our community playground. Friends and neighbors hang-out, listen to music, play ultimate Frisbee, and engage in conversation. In the center of this urban Eden is a building that resembles a cross between the downtown Denver Library and a Catholic mission. Rising above neighboring homes, in the shadows of the high rise apartments, Celebration Community Church and School of Mentoring is a life-giving, life-changing center of spiritual renewal. Children, youth, and adults walk, drive, or take the light rail and buses to participate in classes, events, groups, and mentoring over coffee. The emphasis is on progress on our individual spiritual journey in the community of an honest, loving wisdom culture. Newbies and sages walk the grounds and leaders are born and raised up. All around the city, new churches are sprouting up as a result of this life-giving, mentoring community to the glory of God and the joy of many in Denver.

Values: The Celebration way (how we operate when we’re at our best) calls for:

Honesty – Keep it H.D.R. (Heavy, deep, and real) with no B.S. (beautiful sayings)
Love – The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Integrity – What leaders do when they meet will become the culture of the church.
Urban Heart – We seek to build bridges to the people and needs of the city
Informality – You may come as you are, no dress code
Humor – We are a youth group for grownups. We don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Festivity – Feasts and banquets are biblical.
Relationship – Community is our middle name.
Storytelling – There is power in personal experience.
Warmth – We welcome people home to God.
Depth – Scratch just below the surface and you’ll discover pain and complexity.
Ethnicity – We break down barriers that keep people of color or socio-economic diversity out.

More…
Our motto, “a fun place to get serious about God”, provides a quick glimpse into both our purpose and our style. We are a sound, biblically based church that is earnest about helping people to find their way back to God and to develop an intimate, loving relationship with Jesus. We do so in a fun, relaxed way so that all can find joy and growth in their faith. While we may be relaxed in approach, we are not relaxed in our commitment to our Lord. Our congregation is a mix of mature believers, young believers, and seekers.

The church started as a home Bible study/fellowship in the summer 1998, and we began Sunday morning worship services at our present location (near I-25 and Colorado Blvd in Denver) in the fall of that year. From just a handful of initial attendees, we have experienced some exciting growth over the past several years. Currently, our average attendance is just a bit over 200 persons each Sunday. About a third of this attendance are kids high school age and younger.

About Celebration...
Mission Statement
What We Believe
Why we call ourselves "the party church"
Who is on Staff
Membership Covenant
Local ministries
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Mailbag