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The Well Longmont to Begin Offering Services at St. Stephens Church

The Well Longmont will begin offering non-denominational religious services at the Old St. Stephens Church on Main St. beginning Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 10 a.m. The Old St.
The Well
(Sergio R. Angeles/Longmont Observer)

This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

The Well Longmont will begin offering non-denominational religious services at the Old St. Stephens Church on Main St. beginning Sunday, August 26, 2018 at 10 a.m.

The Old St. Stephens Church last held a service in 1971 before being sold; it was later bought by the St. Vrain Historical Society in 1976, according to Visit Longmont. The Well Longmont has contracted to pay a use fee to the St. Vrain Historical Society to hold services at Old St. Stephens Church.

The Longmont Observer spoke with Phillip Woods, lead pastor at The Well Longmont, to learn more about The Well Longmont Church.

"The Well" is in reference to John, Chapter 4, when "Jesus meets a woman at the well. It's kind of a depiction of how Jesus addresses and cared for someone who's very marginalized," stated Woods.

The woman "was of an ethnicity that was marginalized and she had a background that would cause her to be marginalized. And what did Jesus do? He cared for her, he offered her hope, he loved her. And really that's what we want to be as a church. We want to say 'Hey, we want everybody, no matter your background, your ethnicity, your socio-economic status, to feel welcomed and loved here and we want to be a place that offers hope'," said Woods.

When asked if The Well Longmont has had any difficulties getting St. Stephens church ready for use, given it is a historic building, Woods said that it has "taken longer than anticipated."

Woods stated that he started the planning and zoning process last October so that the St. Stephens church was up to today's code standards. Part of that process included making it ADA compliant by adding a ramp to the building and building a second bathroom that is handicap accessible.

While at La Vita Bella one afternoon, Woods saw the Old St. Stephens Church and wondered if there was "anything going on in it?"

"It's a great size for start-up and great location. And we thought this is a beautiful building that, to be able to restore it, to have a church back in a church building and restore that, it seems like a beautiful thing as well."

"One of our core values is to be in the city and for the city," said Woods. "We want to be here to serve our city and make it a better place to be."

Woods stated that although The Well Longmont is an independent church and entity, it has "a partner relationship with The Well Boulder."

"We are looking to share some things," with The Well Boulder, "that really can kind of be consuming to the start-up that really take them away from the whole purpose of the organization or the whole purpose of the church."

The Well Boulder was established seven years ago and their "heart and passion is starting helping other churches startup," said Woods.

The Well Longmont is the third church that The Well Boulder has helped start up. To date, The Well Boulder has planted The Table in Lafayette and Gospel Life Church in Broomfield.