History

Founding what became Columbine Unitarian Universalist Church was initially an idea of Denver’s First Universalist Church. To commemorate their 100th birthday in 1991, they decided they wanted to make Unitarian Universalism more accessible in the southwest metro area. They formed a committee with two other area UU churches, Jefferson Unitarian Church and First Unitarian Church, and in 1992 the new church became a reality. Columbine UU began with about a dozen people, meeting every other Sunday evening in a YMCA building at Coal Mine Avenue and Webster Street in Jefferson County. In addition to Sunday worship we also started providing religious education for both children and adults.

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Within a few months we found a building to lease just up the road on Coal Mine Avenue, starting services there in September 1992 with about 60 adult members and almost as many children. The building wasn’t much, having been built as the basement for a much bigger building, but we called it “The Bunker” and settled in. Our religious education program grew, our membership expanded, and we added social and social action activities to our programs. We were busy, active, and growing as a congregation.

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In fact, we grew so much that in November 1997 we purchased and moved into a bigger location, the one we are in now. At our current location we have several religious education rooms, a good sized sanctuary, offices for both the minister and the office administrator, and a fully functioning kitchen.

 

We have continued to improve and expand all of our programs in the over 25 years since that move. We have regular religious education (now called faith development) classes for all, from pre-kindergarten through high school as well as adult education classes. We also have a number of social opportunities for adults and families including all-church and small group events. We have greatly expanded our social action activities in several directions: supporting equality measures for women, racial equality, LGBTQ+ people and the economically disadvantaged; working with other churches of various denominations for immigration and gun violence reform; and donating our entire Sunday morning collection once a month to a local organization performing community outreach work.