Several prominent churches in Colorado Springs have undergone changes in recent times. Here are a few.

Zeal Church opens second location in mall across town from first

The Rev. Brandon Cormier is becoming intimately familiar with the drive between Chapel Hills and The Citadel malls.

It’s a 19-and-a-half-minute trip from one shopping center to the other on a Sunday morning for Zeal Church’s lead pastor and co-founder with his wife, Octavia.

The lag time is precious for Cormier, as he regroups and prays about the remaining worship services ahead of him that day.

After founding Zeal in September 2020 and relocating from an events center to a permanent space at The Citadel in June 2024, the Cormiers opened a second Zeal location last weekend at Chapel Hills Mall. Nearly 800 people flocked to the inaugural services.

People are hungry for the couple’s multi-ethnic, multi-generational congregation with a focus on revival, prayer and biblical teaching, said Cormier, a graduate of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.

So it’s not a burden for Cormier to preach at the northern Chapel Hills at 8 a.m., then travel across town to The Citadel in southeast Colorado Springs to lead 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. services. The 10 a.m. service at Chapel Hills is a recording of the first one.

“I don’t know if you’d call it serendipity” – or maybe divine intervention – “that we’re at the other mall, too,” Cormier said.

After considering 21 locations over six and half months for its expansion, the 22^nd possibility was just right. The new Briargate branch occupies two storefront units near the AMC Theaters at Chapel Hills Mall.

Owned by the same company but run by different managers, mall leaders were familiar with what Zeal Church has done for the area surrounding The Citadel, Cormier said. Before the church moved into the southeast neighborhood, crimes like auto theft, car-jackings, home break-ins and shootings had been common.

Now, “the fear has been redirected,” Cormier said.

With a food pantry, monthly prayer walks, programs for children and teens, a kids’ special-needs space and a growing congregation that is drawing 1,900 people to two Sunday services, Zeal is leaving a positive impression, its pastor said.

“The first Saturday of every month, we pray over different neighborhoods. We ask for God’s love to be poured out and for Jesus to walk over the city,” Cormier said. “For the most part, the reception is positive. Most people aren’t going to turn down prayer.”

Church-goers to The Citadel site also patronize mall businesses, do caroling and free gift wrapping at Christmas, and last summer baptized more than 100 people in the shopping center’s food court.

Cormier proudly shows off an award Zeal received last year for allowing law enforcement to use for daytime training its 100,000-square-foot space at The Citadel, which was formerly the main floor of a Macy’s department store.

“People are interested in churches that are serving the community,” he said. “We are meeting tangible needs – we’re not here to make a name, we’re here to make a difference.”

Bear Creek Christian Church: New name, new location, same pioneering spirit

First Christian Church at Platte and Cascade avenues in Colorado Springs is no more.

Although its downtown home since 1935 and name are history, the congregationally governed Disciples of Christ affiliate has become Bear Creek Christian Church and is preparing to construct a new worship center.

“It’s an exciting time; for us to be a vibrant and viable community we need to grow,” said the Rev. Monica Banks, senior pastor.

Declining membership and financial support and the need for a new boiler and roof and other maintenance on its Great Depression-era church led members to vote 73-5 in 2023 to sell its building at 16 E. Platte Ave.

That property is now Woodmen Valley Chapel – Downtown Campus, and the new Bear Creek Christian Church has found a new home.

After holding services at First United Methodist Church for eight months of last year, Bear Creek Christian Church bought a three-story office building at 1380 S. 21st St., on the city’s west side. In recent years, the building housed an insurance agency, a cheese shop and a florist and greenhouse.

Surrounded by the Bear Creek neighborhood and Gold Hill Mesa master-planned community, and with a retail and corporate center planned nearby, the church is poised to replenish the ranks, Banks said.

From its heyday a few decades ago of up to 300 congregants, Bear Creek today has 50 to 60 active members, she said, which reflects a 12% increase since vacating its Gothic-style building.

“Typically, a Disciples of Christ church hovers between 175 and 225; I’d really love over the course of the next three to four  years if we could get to 150 active members,” Banks said. “Right now, it’s really keeping the flock intact and preserving unity within our congregation because they’ve had a lot of change.”

Banks began leading the church in April 2024. This year will be the third space where the congregation has worshipped Easter since she arrived.

Plans are progressing to erect a church with a sanctuary and classroom on the new property where an old warehouse was razed last year. Church leaders submitted building plans last week, according to Banks.

The goal is to break ground by summer and – barring any holdups and a nine- to 11-month construction period – occupy the new worship center by Christmas 2027.

While the transformation has been hard for many members, the fresh name and a contemporary worship space with movable seating on the horizon, the faith community is being re-energized, Banks said.

She believes the Bear Creek name embodies the congregation that emphasizes being open and affirming to LGBTQ+ people.

The new space also more aptly fits the congregation in size and layout and “in a way we can serve the community much better,” Banks said.

“We looked at 20 properties around the city, and this one seemed to be connected to the neighborhoods, and we felt the goal to reimagine the church as a community church and a place where people would want to be,” she said. “I feel like it’s been a transition, but I feel like people have embraced the change.”

The congregation purchased the building for $1.3 million in February 2025, according to county records.

The new church will have in its lobby a space for memorializing the old church with an artistic shadowbox that members of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Albququere commissioned as a gift. That church purchased First Christian’s historic pipe organ that had been in its location on Platte Avenue for its use.

The artwork and half a pew from the old church will be on display “to hold onto that sacred place of our faith community,” Banks said.  “Certainly, people miss it and have grieved and are moving forward.”

New Catholic shrine expects thousands of worshippers

The first Easter services at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Divine Redeemer, are expected to draw large crowds, as parishioners from two churches that combined last year unite for holy week observances.

The former Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and Divine Redeemer Catholic Church and School merged last year, and the new community was dedicated as a diocesan-wide shrine on June 15, 2025. Shrines are considered an appropriate place for pilgrimages, devotions and prayer for all the faithful.

Since 1984, Our Lady of Guadalupe had been located at 2715 E. Pikes Peak Ave., catering to Spanish-speaking Catholics in culture and worship.

However, “Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish had outgrown its existing building some years ago,” said Veronica Ambuul, spokeswoman for the Colorado Springs Catholic diocese.

At the time of its consolidation with Divine Redeemer, Our Lady of Guadalupe had about 1,500 families registered, she said. Together, the new shrine has more than 2,000 families on the rolls.

Divine Redeemer School, on the church campus at 901 N. Logan Ave., closed after the academic year ended last year due to declining enrollment that led to decreased revenue.

The school is being repurposed for use for ancillary ministries such as free food distribution, English as a Second Language classes, children’s programs and other activities.

The community held its first Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration in December, also to a large reception.

The Easter season of rebirth has infused new energy in the community, Ambuul said.

“It is a lot of firsts,” she said.

With the recent promotion of the former bishop of the Diocese of Colorado Springs to the Archdiocese of Denver, local Catholic churches are in a holding pattern for big decision-making, Ambuul said.

As a result, the old Our Lady of Guadalupe building has not yet been listed for sale, she said. The property has a market value of about $2.2 million, according to the county assessor’s office.

In the interim, the Rev. Kyle Ingles, who had been vicar general, has been elected by local clergy as the diocesan administrator until the Pope names a new bishop. The timeframe on that decision is unknown, officials have said.

Other Catholic churches in the diocese also are growing, Ambuul noted. There were 328 converts preparing for baptism this Easter season, compared with 206 last year, she said. The diocese also had 272 candidates for full communion with the Catholic church, compared with 159 last year.

“The growth is similar to what other dioceses are reporting nationwide,” Ambuul said.

New Life branch drops affiliation, forms new church

The downtown branch of New Life Church has disaffiliated with the evangelical megachurch’s headquarters in northern Colorado Springs and has been renamed the Communion of Saints Church.

Lead Pastor Jason R. Jackson said the church remains cordial with New Life but is no longer under its network and is operating independently. The split took effect on Nov. 16.

The congregation of Communion of Saints is now fully autonomous, said Becca Bishop, director of communications for New Life.

“They felt led to journey forward as their own church, which has been completely blessed and supported by New Life,” she said.

Communion of Saints, which is non-denominational and described as evangelical, charismatic and liturgical, averages about 750 attendees at its weekly worship service, Jackson said. Services are held at 9:30 a.m. at Palmer High School. The office at 332 N. Tejon St., continues to function.

“We just celebrated 14 years together as a congregation on Palm Sunday,” he said. “We remain committed to downtown and are actively looking for a permanent home for our congregation to contribute to our city’s common good.”

The change came a few months after New Life Church, founded in 1984 by Ted Haggard, lost the second pastor in its history.

Brady Boyd resigned as senior pastor last June. He had taken over at New Life as Haggard’s successor in 2007, after Haggard faced accusations of sexual misconduct and drug use.

Boyd’s departure stemmed from allegations made in court documents in Texas that Boyd knew of sexual misconduct by his supervising pastor decades ago, which Boyd denied.

Boyd launched on March 21 at an events center in Colorado Springs what seems to be a fledgling new church under Psalm 68 Ministries, a nonprofit he created after leaving New Life.

The new name of the former New Life Downtown, Communion of Saints, reflects people being made holy in Jesus, Jackson said in a YouTube video. “We’re becoming more like Jesus; it happens in communion with God and his people, the church.”

As part of the church’s model, some members host meal groups in their homes, which they mention in the video. Testimonials they give include how the church feels like a home and how they appreciate the community aspect of congregants, which has helped them form close relationships with other members.

In addition to its primary northern church on Voyager Parkway, New Life Church continues to offer East and Midtown congregations in El Paso County.

Midtown merged with Austin Bluffs Community Church three years ago, where it holds services at 5090 Austin Bluffs Parkway.

Chinese-speaking and Spanish-speaking groups also offer worship services under the New Life umbrella.