Church Planting Update: Why Boulder?
We get that question often and the answer is simple. Jesus. The most recent NAMB reports on Boulder, Colorado suggest that 0.8% of the population are professing believers in Jesus Christ. That’s roughly 850 people in the city limits of Boulder. To read a report on city demographics is one thing, the reality, we hoped, would be different.
A few months ago, I met with a pastor in Boulder who has been there for a few decades. I asked him if the reality of Boulder matched the on-paper statistics. He looked at me and said the reality so often feels worse. He said people are so content without Jesus. He said the county doesn’t make it easy on new churches especially. And told me in the last 15 years 40 churches have tried to plant and only 3 remain!
He was, however, ECSTATIC that we were praying and hoping to plant in Boulder. There is a good, good work happening in Boulder. But, there is a huge need for laborers in the harvest.
Someone asked, “If it is such a hard place to reach, why Boulder? Why not go somewhere easier?” A nineteenth century pastor said this to his hurting congregation after a mining disaster left many dead and his town was feeling the weight of death…
“If Sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth [of our work], and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”
So, why Boulder? The love of Jesus. There are lost people in the city of Boulder. People who do not know that Jesus loves them. People who are dead and dying with no real hope. No lasting purpose. No serious joy. No Jesus.
But how? I have been praying and thinking about planting in Boulder for about seven years now. And my question has been the same since day one, “What might God do if we simply asked him to do it?”
It may be God sends us and a team to Boulder for a year to till the ground and we have to leave. It may be God sends us for a few years to water and maybe see some fruit. It may be that God allows us to stay in Boulder for decades. But regardless of what God’s gracious plan is, PRAISE GOD, and you better believe we are going to be on our knees begging that God would do what only he can do!
So, right now, the strategy is simply ask. Specifically, we are asking for these three milestones before we move to Boulder:
1. 30 Core Team members
2. 3 Pastor/Elders (planting churches in plurality)
3. The financial ability for our family to move to Boulder
Would you join us in prayer? Pray that Jesus would be made known, and people would come to know and love him in the city of Boulder. Pray God would send more church plants. Pray for the churches there now faithfully making disciples and preaching the word. Pray for CU. Pray for Boulder.
In addition, if you’ve thought at all about ministry and church community in Boulder, Colorado or God’s Spirit is prompting you in some way, we’d love to see you for a vision and prayer gathering at Mountain View Community Church on Sunday, May 25th.
Thank you for joining us and our future team in prayer!
In Christ,
Calder and Amanda
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
Calder Marriott is currently a Crossway Church Planting Resident with Mountain View Community Church in Fort Collins, Colorado.