A Renewal Congregation

Christ the King Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has a proud history in the Harvey Park neighborhood of Southwest Denver dating back to its founding in 1956. The congregation was originally rooted in the rapid growth of the neighborhood in the late 1950’s. After 60 years of ministry, in 2016, Christ the King began a process of intentional renewal in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Synod of the ELCA, and Abiding Hope Church in Littleton.

As a renewal congregation, Christ the King is learning again to root its identity in God’s mission: drawing all things into intimate relationship with God, one another and the whole of creation, so that all people and the creation itself may experience authentic life with hope and purpose. Christ the King has embraced the idea that the church does not exist for itself, but that it exists to live out God’s call to love God, and love and serve the community that it lives in.

We believe that the good news of God, held in the life, ministry, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus, brings hope to the world as it is embodied and lived out through communities of faith today and throughout time. Such hope creates purpose as individuals and communities discover how they are called to claim their gifts and utilize them for loving and serving those we encounter each day.

Faith for our congregation is not only about head knowledge or believing the right things. Faith is about trusting the ways of life that Jesus modeled for his disciples and world, and discerning together how we are called to follow in the way of Jesus in our daily lives, both individually and as a community.

To love, live and give like Jesus means to radically include, accept, invite and engage people from all ages, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, political affiliations, religions, or communities. In doing so, we honor our differences as unique human beings, created by God, and we allow God to break-down divisions between people and communities in our world. This value of radical inclusion is most fully lived out in our worship, where God’s vision for a humanity gathered in love is experienced in all that we do. The radical inclusion experienced in our worship then flows from there throughout our congregational culture.

For service to be authentic, there must be continually deepening relationships being built between individuals and communities. The relationship building process incorporates seeing others through the heart of Jesus: listening deeply to the stories of people’s lives, seeing the realities of our communities and feeling the depths of the pains and joys that exist around us. Therefore, our service is always relational. We must first focus on seeing and understanding where God is already present in the lives of others and our community before acting. And second, we must have ways to integrate and process how we are serving others, so that the experiences of service can help inform our own identity and purpose, as well as allowing for further reflection and contemplation which will again inform and guide our ongoing service. Relational service draws us out of ourselves and our own comfort zones, and allows the Spirit to guide us into new relationships and ways of life which produce life for all.

God’s love is limitless and endless, and is a constant presence in our lives and the world. While we might be finite beings, our spiritual journey involves becoming more and more aware of God’s infinite love in us and for the world. As we grow in our awareness, we are called to channel and express God’s love and compassion to others as Children of God. We strive to meet others where they are, accompanying them in their life journey. Our call is to live God’s infinite compassion in every aspect of our lives, joining together with the whole church in allowing it to be transformational for us and for all people. This includes building relationships, shared life experiences, and challenging one another to be all that God created us to be.

When we recognize and celebrate that everything in life is given from God’s abundant life and grace, we cannot help but want to share those gifts with the world. Generosity is not just a practice but it is also a mindset, of recognizing the abundance of resources God has provided for us in ourselves, our families and our world. We are called to share everything that we are, our time, talents, passions, gifts and possessions with God for the sake of the world. In sharing ourselves with others, we find that generosity is a way of life that creates life in, with and around us, filling us with joy, peace and love, that continues to flow through us.

The Greek word for church or congregation in the bible is ekklesia. This term was also used to connote any political assembly of citizens in ancient Greece. Whereas these political assemblies were often restricted only to limited male citizens, the church was an alternative community made up of men, women and children, rich and poor, slaves and free, Jews and gentiles. To be the church means to be a genuine community that develops organic relationships across the spectrum of life experience, living into God’s vision where all are gathered in intimate relationship with God, one other and the creation. In our community development, we seek to live into communal ways of life which empower and free all people to participate fully as God created them, utilizing their gifts and talents for the sake of ministry and service. While forming genuine community is not easy, it is the call of the church, and it is in and through the relationships which make up the community that we experience life, connection, hope and purpose.