Our Beliefs
Envision Community Church is an independent progressive Christian church with roots in evangelical traditions of worship.
While making plenty of room for people with a wide spectrum of spiritual beliefs, the teaching of Envision Community Church is grounded in the life and teaching of Jesus, as expressed in the Apostle’s Creed.
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
Our Ethos
Married, divorced, and single here, it’s one family that mingles here.
Conservative and liberal here, we’ve all got to give a little here
Big and small here, there is room for us all here.
Doubt and believe here, we all can receive here.
LGBTQ+ and straight here, there’s no hate here.
Woman, nonbinary, and man here, everyone can here.
Whatever your race here, for all of us grace here.
In imitation of the ridiculous love Almighty God has for each of us and all of us,
let us live and love without labels.
Ethos copyright: Mark Tidd, Highlands Church Denver. Used with permission.
As a community, we are committed to living relationally according to the values of the below ethos, which is spoken at the beginning of each service. This ethos comes from our sister church, Highlands Church in Denver.
Our Name
Envision Community Church is the church formerly known as Left Hand Church. As a church committed to racial reconciliation, it was our original intent for our name to honor Chief Nawath, translated Left Hand, after whom Left Hand Creek and Left Hand Canyon are named. Chief Nawath, was a leader of the Southern Arapaho people in what is now called the Boulder Valley. Chief Nawath lived from 1825 to 1864. Even though their land was protected by treaty from white intruders, during the Colorado Gold Rush, Chief Nawath welcomed prospectors into their territory. Despite his generosity he was among those slaughtered by the Third Colorado Cavalry in the infamous Sand Creek Massacre.
We originally chose the name Left Hand Community Church, because our location is on the south side of Longmont, Colorado. Left Hand Canyon is midway between Lyons and Boulder, and is the origin of the 34-mile long Left Hand Creek, which joins the St. Vrain River on the south side of Longmont. Our name is grounded in this area where our church community is centered; as is Left Hand Creek, Left Hand Canyon and many local establishments. We wanted to honor both the land and the incredible man for whom these places are named.
In our thorough social and spiritual work towards understanding our privilege and our responsibility to the community, we now realize that despite good intentions our original name was a cultural appropriation. Respecting and honoring diversity is a foundational pillar of our ethos and church community, and we went through a process of examination and education and changed our name to Envision Community Church in early 2023.
We continue this process of self-examination and understanding of what it means to be a supportive community partner to the Southern Arapaho nation.
Background
In 2016 the leaders at Highlands Church in Denver began to consider planting a daughter congregation north of Denver. Denver Community Church and Forefront Church in Brooklyn, New York joined the endeavor and assisted Envision Community Church with finances and leadership for the first three years of the church’s life. Envision Community Church was started in January of 2018. The church continues to be a sister congregation of all three founding church partners.