About The Creede Community Church

click for details...
Theology & Worship    Education    Missions    Property w/ photos

The Creede Community Church (CCC) was established in the early days of the City of Creede, when silver worth millions was being brought out of the surrounding mountains. On August 5, 1894, a group of citizens lead by W. T. Patchell filed an affidavit for incorporation of the Creede Congregational Church.

Stories are told of children going into the bars of Creede, of which there were many, to collect money to build and furnish the church. Regardless of the source, the townspeople recognized the need for a “church house”, and the cornerstone was laid on May 30, 1905. The sanctuary was in service the following winter, and our beautiful building, which has since become affectionately known as “The Red Church”, was finally dedicated on June 30, 1912.

Average attendance in regular worship services varies from 30 in the winter to over 100 in the summer, with recent winter attendance being 43. The averages have grown, albeit slowly, over the past ten years, but the seasonal variation is consistent and results from of our congregation being made up of three distinct groups.

• Year-rounders – full time Creede residents
• Summer residents – people who are active in the church each summer and feel that CCC is their “other” church home. A number of summer residents have dual memberships with a home church and CCC.
• Local non-members – who attend and claim the CCC as their church.

Theology and Worship

Our congregation feels that a Bible-based sermon is central to our weekly worship experience, and we appreciate a preaching style that is informal, understandable, enthusiastic, warm and heartfelt. Humor, where appropriate, is welcome. We are eager to hear sermons that relate daily life to Christian values and ethics.

The hymnal currently being used in worship is The Worshiping Church, and the pew bible is the New International Version.

Our normal schedule of worship is to have Sunday school at 9:30 and worship at 11 am.

Christian Education

Christian education is the core of a strong church. Through our children and youth programs, CCC hopes to improve the church experience of these younger congregants and prepare them to continue their Christian lives as adults.

Currently, CCC provides Sunday School for ages 3 – 12, with a curriculum based on the Bible Quest program. Five or more children regularly attend Sunday School.

Bi-weekly youth programs, based on a curriculum from Group Publishing, are held year round for students in grades 7 – 12.

The nursery, though not really an educational program, is available Sunday mornings during the worship service.

Mission and Outreach

Creede Community Church is known for reaching out, not just to those in the community, but also to any who are in need. Being a very small church, the CCC emphasizes the “community” part of its name by focusing on local mission and outreach activities.

The CCC is the sponsoring organization of the Ladies Aid, a group of women, not all CCC members, who raise money for the church, make toiletry bags for a local homeless shelter, prepare meals for the sick and bereaved, and keep up the church facilities. The Ladies Aid also sponsors a series of bazaars in the summer months that provide a portion of the CCC’s budget.

The CCC recently built an addition to the sanctuary, known as the Fellowship Hall. This facility is available at no charge to organizations such as the Boy Scouts, 4-H, Creede Schools, the Rebekahs, Creede/Mineral Arts and Recreation, the Creede Catholic Church, Trinidad State Junior College and the Creede Historical Society. Further, the CCC youth group, Sunday school classes and the adult Bible study use the facilities, and the sanctuary is sometimes used by outside groups for music programs.

The church has been used by the Creede Day Care Center in an emergency. Church facilities are open to virtually any group who needs or wants to use them.

In addition, CCC administers a program known as Helping Hands. This program collects and disburses emergency funds for those in need. Helping Hands also makes available food to those who need it, and the congregation of CCC is encouraged to bring food donations weekly to augment this food bank.

Buildings and Property

Our beautiful and unique red brick church and Fellowship Hall are built on 10,000 square feet of land at the corner of 4th and Main Streets. The sanctuary, which seats up to 150, has many beautiful stained glass windows and an impressive steeple and bell tower.

Fellowship Hall, completed in 2000, is approximately 2,700 square feet, includes a full kitchen, and is connected via corridor to the sanctuary. Used for Sunday school and church meetings, Fellowship Hall is also a meeting place for many community organizations.

The church parsonage, located across the street from the sanctuary, is a log home built in the early 1960’s.