Church Should Feel Like Relief
If church has ever felt like pressure, pretense, or a place you had to hide who you are—
we want you to know: it doesn’t have to be like that.
St. Paul’s is a community in motion. Queer-led. Justice-minded. Spiritually open. We’re learning how to practice faith with integrity, honesty, and care.
You don’t need to believe everything we do.
You don’t need to have it all figured out.
If you’re aching for something sacred—and real—this might be your place to exhale.
How You Show Up Does.
You’ve heard “all are welcome” before—
only to find out they didn’t mean you.
We’ve been there too. That’s why our commitments aren’t just aspirational.
They shape our worship, our leadership, and how we show up in the world.
Radical Welcome
Belonging isn’t earned here. It’s assumed.
We’re queer-led, spiritually diverse, and committed to community without prerequisites.
No creeds. No tests. Just room for you—whoever you are, whatever you believe (or don’t).
Brave Questions
We don’t fear doubt—we make room for it.
At St. Paul’s, questions aren’t problems to solve.
They’re how we grow in faith, wrestle with meaning, and stay open to the Spirit.
Justice is Discipleship
Following Jesus means confronting what harms and building what heals.
That’s why we show up for racial equity, LGBTQ+ rights, housing access, and climate justice.
Discipleship isn’t about attendance. It’s about liberation.
Spiritual Integrity
We practice a faith that aligns with our values, our language, and our lives.
That means no forced creeds, no going through the motions—just honest worship and sacred questions.
Shared Leadership
The Spirit speaks through many voices.
At St. Paul’s, leadership is shared—queer leaders, lay leaders, neighbors co-creating worship, care, and decision-making. Faith was never meant to be solitary. We lead together.
Sacred Rhythm
We find God in the rhythm, not the performance.
Our worship isn’t flashy. It’s spacious—prayer, silence, scripture, and music that hold room for awe, honesty, and healing.
What We Actually Believe (No Hidden Agenda. No Fine Print.)
We don’t expect you to believe everything we do. Honestly, we’d worry if you did.
What matters here is that our beliefs make love bigger—not smaller. They shape how we live, how we welcome, and how we practice justice and joy.
These aren’t answers carved in stone. They’re starting points—honest truths we return to as we grow into a more human, more hopeful, more healing community.
Belonging Comes Before Belief
You don’t have to have it all figured out to be part of this community.
We believe God’s love meets us before we’re ready—before certainty, before answers, before agreement.
You belong here whether your faith is strong, shaky, shifting, or somewhere between.
Justice Is What Love Looks Like in Public
We don’t separate faith from the world we live in.
To follow Jesus is to challenge what harms and work for what heals—especially alongside those most impacted by injustice.
Our theology isn’t private. It shows up in how we protest, vote, give, serve, and love.
God Is Love, Not Control
We believe God’s nature is love—expansive, liberating, and endlessly patient.
Not a cosmic puppeteer. Not a gatekeeper. Not a bully with a Bible.
Love doesn’t coerce. It heals, frees, and makes room for us to become.
Jesus Shows Us What God Is Like
We see God most clearly in Jesus—his compassion, his courage, his challenge to unjust power.
He welcomed outcasts, told the truth, and loved without fear.
If it doesn’t look like Jesus, we don’t call it divine.
The Bible Points Beyond Itself
We take scripture seriously—not literally.
It’s a sacred library: poetry, history, letters, stories—written by many, across centuries, in search of God.
We read it with curiosity, context, and courage—trusting it can still speak, but never alone.
The Spirit Moves Through Questions
We believe doubt isn’t dangerous—it’s holy.
The Spirit shows up in our wondering, our wrestling, and our refusal to settle for easy answers.
We ask big questions here, and we trust God is big enough to hold them.
Grace Is the Ground We Walk On
We’re here because of grace—not because we earned it, proved it, or prayed the right way.
Grace means every day is a chance to begin again—with each other, with God, with ourselves.
It’s not just a doctrine. It’s the way we move.
Faith Is a Practice, Not a Performance
We don’t show up to impress—we show up to grow.
Faith takes time, tension, and intention. It’s more about presence than polish.
You don’t have to get it right. You just have to keep showing up.
This Isn’t the Church We Were. It’s the Church We’re Becoming.
Since our earliest days, St. Paul’s United Methodist Church has been a community shaped by welcome, service, and spiritual courage.
We held our first worship service in 1964 at Southern Hills Junior High—led by Rev. William O. Byrd, an associate pastor from our mother church, First Methodist of Boulder. Just months later, we broke ground at the corner of Gillaspie Drive and Grinnell Avenue, and by 1966, our sanctuary was consecrated—a space built with joy, hope, and a vision for connection.
Over the decades, we’ve been led by pastors and laypeople who helped deepen our calling: to follow Jesus, love our neighbors, and make space for every seeker, skeptic, and soul-stirred wanderer. Leaders like Rev. Ed Paup (later a bishop), Rev. Ken Kendrick, Rev. Patricia Westlake, and Rev. Dr. Scott Schiesswohl each carried the story forward in faithful and distinct ways.
Today, under the leadership of Rev. Elizabeth Burg, St. Paul’s is a queer-led, justice-seeking, spiritually curious congregation where questions are welcome and belonging doesn’t require belief.
We celebrate diversity in sexuality, gender identity, race, and spiritual experience. We name our pronouns from the front. We partner with local organizers to support our unhoused neighbors and show up for equity in our schools, streets, and systems.
This is a community in motion. Rooted in the gospel, open to the new, and committed to becoming a church that truly lives the love it preaches.
Join us—we’re still writing the story.
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