A Church on a Mission on Tudor Road
Set on Tudor Road on the north side of Colorado Springs, St. Michael's Episcopal Church is a parish that has spent nearly seven decades growing from a borrowed storefront into a program-sized community with a year-round slate of worship, formation, and service. The church describes its purpose in a single phrase that appears throughout its materials: a church on a mission to make Christ known within and beyond our walls. In practical terms, that mission has produced more than 160 ministries, a livestreamed Sunday service watched across the country, a permanent home for one of the world's rare illuminated Bibles, and a community center that distributes food and runs a clinic in neighboring Manitou Springs.
The parish belongs to the Diocese of Colorado and the worldwide Anglican Communion, and it identifies itself openly as welcoming and affirming. Members and visitors, the parish teaches, are received "regardless of your background or age, history or lifestyle, race or ethnicity, gender identity, LGBTQIA+, relationship status or political affiliation." Clergy and lay leaders describe the community as a place where seekers journey together and where the sacraments of the Episcopal Church are open to all.
Three Sunday Services, a Livestream, and the Sign of the Cross
Sunday is the center of the week at St. Michael's. The 8:00 AM Holy Eucharist is a quiet, said service that draws those who prefer an early, contemplative liturgy. From September through May, the 9:15 AM hour is dedicated to Education for All Ages: Children's Sunday School gathers in the Children's Chapel, youth and adult classes meet throughout the building, and the Rector's Episcopal Essentials class offers a four-week introduction to the Anglican tradition for those preparing for confirmation or simply curious. A 9:15 AM Sunday Forum, with clergy-led conversations and outside speakers, runs in the sanctuary during the same hour and is also livestreamed.
The 10:30 AM Choral Holy Eucharist is the congregation's flagship service. The Seraphim Choir leads music from the loft, the Saint John's Bible is displayed near the entrance, the Children's Chapel sends its young worshippers out before the readings and welcomes them back during the peace, and an American Sign Language interpreter is on hand for the deaf and hard of hearing community. The service is livestreamed every Sunday on YouTube and Facebook, and recorded services remain available afterward. After each Sunday service, a coffee hour in the gathering space offers time to meet newcomers, catch up with longtime members, and learn about upcoming ministries.
Wednesday at noon brings a Healing Service in the chapel, a brief and pastoral complement to the Sunday liturgies. Together these services form a rhythm of word, sacrament, and prayer that anchors the week for many in the parish.
A Sacred Text in the Foyer: The Saint John's Bible Heritage Edition
One of the most distinctive features of St. Michael's is a permanent exhibit that greets visitors as they enter: Heritage Edition CXLI of The Saint John's Bible, a seven-volume, handwritten, illuminated manuscript completed in 2011. It is the first handwritten illuminated Bible in English commissioned in more than five hundred years, the work of calligrapher Donald Jackson, who was Senior Scribe to Queen Elizabeth II, and a team of seven artists who labored for over a decade on its 1,150 pages. The Heritage Edition, limited to 299 sets, is the only full-scale fine-art reproduction in the world.
On September 29, 2023, St. Michael's dedicated its seven volumes in memory of the Rev. Melissa Kean. Visitors can arrange a guided visit with a trained docent, or stop in during public viewing hours on weekdays. The Bible is integrated into parish life in ways both small and large: it is featured in Lenten study, in pilgrimage programs, and in the church's role as a regional destination for groups interested in sacred art and the visual history of Scripture.
The Well: A Prayer Room, a Labyrinth, and Five Spiritual Directors
St. Michael's has built a quieter, contemplative ministry under the name "The Well." At its center is a Prayer Room in the main building, designed around a tree labyrinth created by artist Missy Isely Poltrock. The room is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and hosts many of the parish's prayer practices, including Centering Prayer each Wednesday morning, with optional instruction from 10:15 to 10:30 and silent practice from 10:30 to 11:30. A short Compline service meets by Zoom on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and a Friday Evening Online Prayer Group gathers at 7:00 PM for fifteen minutes of song, scripture, and prayer drawn from the Book of Common Prayer.
The Well is also home to a Spiritual Direction program staffed by five trained directors, Margie Arms, Sue Cooper Caruthers, Stacy Cowell, Phyllis Delaney, and Dr. Todd Spencer, who together bring decades of experience to one-on-one and group work. Parishioners can also serve as prayer partners through the Sages and Sprouts program, in which adults and children are paired to pray for one another at church each week. Labyrinths are available to print and trace with a finger at home or in the Prayer Room.
Music That Fills the Nave
Music at St. Michael's is shaped by a deep respect for Episcopal tradition and an openness to contemporary expression. Amalia Dobbins, Director of Music since 2020, leads the Seraphim Choir, the parish's adult choir that sings at the 10:30 AM Sunday service and rehearses on Thursday evenings during the program year. Daniel Foster serves as Associate Director of Music, Organist, and Bell Choir Director, overseeing both a handbell ensemble that rehearses on Sunday afternoons and a busy schedule of soloists, instrumentalists, and visiting musicians.
The church's pipe organ, installed in 2003 by Wilson and Associates of Colorado Springs and dedicated in 2004, is regarded as one of the flagship instruments in the state. A 2022 restoration project replaced its aging control system with a state-of-the-art OPUS II console built by John Grunow. Periodically, singers and instrumentalists from St. Michael's join collaborative Masterworks performances with other ensembles, including a John Rutter Requiem and a Fauré Requiem with the Royal Gorge Symphony. The Cherub Choir invites elementary-aged children to sing the opening hymn and lead service music several times a year.
Formation for Every Age and Stage
Formation is woven into nearly every day of the week. The Rector's Bible Study meets Tuesday mornings in the Green Room to explore the upcoming Sunday's Gospel. The Wednesday Bible Study gathers at 12:30 PM in the downstairs Chapel to read and discuss Holy Scripture, a coed group open to beginners and longtime students alike. Celtic Spirituality discussion groups meet on Thursday evenings by Zoom and Friday mornings in person, reading and praying through a chosen book on the Celtic Christian tradition, an early, nature-affirming practice from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales that emphasizes God's presence in everyday life. There are also seasonal offerings on aging well, finding meaning in later life, and a Lenten tradition of Wednesday soup suppers followed by presentations and discussion.
For those preparing for confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church, Episcopal Essentials offers a four-week introduction to Scripture, tradition, sacraments, and the Book of Common Prayer. Adult confirmation is paired with a bishop's visit; youth confirmation is supported by mentors and a separate formation process for those fifteen and older. Lay Eucharistic Visitors are trained to bring communion to those who cannot attend services in person, an extension of Sunday worship into homes, hospitals, and care facilities.
Children, Youth, and Families
Children's ministry at St. Michael's begins in the nursery, a large, paid-staffed space that opens at 7:45 AM on Sundays and stays available through noon. During the 10:30 service, an age-appropriate Children's Chapel gathers young worshippers just before the readings and returns them to their families during the peace. Sunday School classes for preschool and elementary children meet at 9:15 AM during the program year, and a Family Sunday School meets once a month to let parents and children learn together.
Middle and high school youth meet on Wednesday evenings, middle school from 5:30 to 6:45 PM and high school from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, with shared meals, fellowship, and faith formation. Sunday morning classes for youth run from 9:15 to 10:10 AM. A high school Youth Council gives older students a structured way to develop leadership and service. The parish's BeYou program partners with ten other LGBTQ+ affirming youth groups in Colorado Springs to gather quarterly for worship, a meal, and fun, rotating among downtown churches. Bailey Bachynski, Director of Children, Youth, and Young Adult Ministries, oversees all of this work, and a weekly e-news keeps families informed.
Young Adults in the Pikes Peak Region
St. Michael's is a hub for a wider network of young adult ministry. The 20s and 30s group meets monthly for fellowship, often at local restaurants. A 40s and 50s group gathers roughly every two months for those between the younger and older brackets. Theology on Tap meets on the second Friday of each month at Goat Patch Brewing for conversation led by rotating faith leaders, and St. Michael's is a partner in Gather: Pikes Peak, a regional young adult community that meets twice a month at First Lutheran Church and welcomes people of all races, faith backgrounds, genders, and sexualities. For college students no longer in Colorado Springs, the youth groups send finals care packages twice a year to remind them they have a home at St. Michael's.
Mental Health as a Spiritual Practice
Few Episcopal parishes have built a mental health program as visible as St. Michael's. David Galvan serves as the parish's Mental Health Trainer-in-Residence, a partnership that brings Youth Mental Health First Aid, Teen Mental Health First Aid, Question Persuade Refer (QPR) suicide prevention training, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) training, and Soul Shop workshops onto the church campus and into the wider Colorado Springs community. Galvan, named 2023 Mental Health Instructor of the Year by Colorado's Council for Behavioral Health, has trained more than 1,500 individuals on the Front Range.
Two ongoing groups meet in the church: Embracing Hope, a faith-based support group for people navigating depression that combines psychoeducation with spiritual encouragement, and Emmaus Road, a peer support group for those who have lost a loved one to suicide that meets on the first and third Saturday mornings of each month. The pastoral care team also curates a long list of local and national mental health resources and a Helping Hands directory of more than 250 El Paso County services for those in need. Clergy provide up to three private counseling sessions at no charge and can help with referrals thereafter.
St. Andrew's Community Center in Manitou Springs
One of the most ambitious recent chapters at St. Michael's is its reimagining of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Manitou Springs as a community center. For more than a century, St. Andrew's had been a place of worship and service in the small mountain town next to Colorado Springs. As attendance declined, the Bishop of Colorado and the Diocese blessed a new vision: in 2025, St. Michael's helped transition the historic building into the St. Andrew's Community Center, a hub for food, health care, and gathering space that continues a century of ministry in a new form.
Today, the Community Center operates a free market pantry with senior shopping hours and a free community meal on Wednesday afternoons, a curbside pantry on Fridays, and space for a free medical and mental health clinic, free haircuts, and other services. The work is coordinated by Community Coordinator Marianne Rommerdahl and supported by a Friends of St. Andrew's group that welcomes volunteers, partners, and donors.
Outreach Partners and Seasonal Drives
St. Michael's is structured for outward service. Each year, the Outreach Committee directs substantial giving to local partners, with the church reporting that roughly fifteen percent of its annual budget supports outreach through the diocese, community partners, and disaster response. Active partners include Academy School District 20 Family Resource Center, Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, Family Life Services, Hope is Alive, Inside Out Youth Services, Kairos (a prison ministry), Laundry Love, Mercy's Gate, Partners in Housing, Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army Family Hope Center, Spiritual Journey at the Pueblo youth prison, the Springs Food Pantry, TESSA, and West Side Cares.
Seasonal drives knit the parish together throughout the year: a back-to-school backpack and supplies drive in summer, a hat glove and mitten collection in the fall, Thanksgiving meals, a canned food and toy collection at the Christmas Light Festival, and a Lenten 40 Days of Giving campaign in the spring. An annual outreach grant process, with applications due each January, invites partner organizations to apply for funding and parish volunteers to deepen relationships with the work. Ellen Dickerman serves as Outreach Coordinator.
Dignity, Affirming Ministries, and Racial Reconciliation
St. Michael's has built a sustained set of ministries around inclusion and justice. The Dignity and Affirming ministries include Pikes Peak Pride participation each June, BeYou for LGBTQ+ youth, Gather: Pikes Peak for young adults, and Sacred Ground, a film-based dialogue series on race and racism developed by the Episcopal Church. The parish launched multiple Sacred Ground dialogue circles in 2020 in collaboration with two other local Episcopal churches, drawing participants from thirteen congregations. Two foundational books, Howard Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited and Debbie Irving's Waking Up White, accompany the work.
Deacon Gary Darress is a Third Order Franciscan and an active member of Kairos prison ministry at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility in Canon City. Creation Justice is a parallel track: the parish has run a Sacred Water program, a Sacred Air program on climate and energy, and a Sacred Land program on food and farming, and participates in the Great American Cleanup each spring along an adopted section of the Santa Fe Trail.
Pastoral Care, Prayer Shawls, and the Caring Freezer
Pastoral care at St. Michael's is shared between clergy and laity. Care Teams are action-driven groups that walk alongside members in seasons of transition, illness, or loss. The Prayer Shawl Ministry knits and crochets shawls that are blessed by the congregation and delivered to those in need of comfort. The Caring Freezer, a ministry of the church kitchen, stocks casseroles, soups, and stews for parishioners facing a temporary crisis; clergy can connect members in need with the freezer and accept home-cooked meals labeled with serving sizes and reheating notes.
Funerals at St. Michael's follow the Book of Common Prayer, with the clergy, music, and Flower and Funeral Guilds walking families through planning. The parish encourages members to preplan funerals and to make use of the Memorial Garden and Columbarium dedicated in 2005, an outdoor space that includes a Memorial Plaza for services and engraved pavers purchased in memory of loved ones. A Memorial Garden and Columbarium membership includes interment space and a brass identification plaque.
From the Camino to Cairo: Pilgrimage as a Spiritual Practice
Under Rector Matt Holcombe, pilgrimage has become a recurring rhythm at St. Michael's. Parishioners have walked the Camino de Santiago on both the French and Portuguese Ways, toured the Holy Land, traced the footsteps of Paul through Turkey and Greece, walked the pilgrimage churches of Italy, and traveled to the Saint John's Bible at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Two trips are open for registration in 2027: an Egypt pilgrimage in January that includes a Nile cruise and the pyramids of Giza, and a Scotland and Ireland Celtic Heritage pilgrimage in April that visits Iona, Edinburgh, the Giant's Causeway, the Cliffs of Moher, and Dublin. Holcombe and Vicki Hesse lead a Celtic spirituality conversation that flows naturally from the parish's ongoing attention to thin places and the legacy of Celtic Christianity.
Marriage, Baptism, and the Sacraments
St. Michael's celebrates the seven sacraments of the Episcopal Church with both reverence and welcome. Baptisms are scheduled in advance with the clergy and include a preparation class for parents and godparents; upcoming baptism dates include the Easter Vigil and several Sundays throughout the year. Holy Matrimony is open to all legally marriable adults, including LGBTQ+ couples, and requires pre-marital counseling with the priest or a chosen mental health professional.
Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation are offered as three distinct rites for those making a mature commitment to Christ. The clergy are available for private confession by appointment, and corporate confession is part of most Sunday services. Unction, the anointing of the sick, is available for healing of spirit, mind, and body. Those discerning a call to ordained ministry are mentored through the diocesan process.
Fellowship, Food, and the Hallway Art Gallery
The parish life team, led by Director of Parish Life Jennie Wandfluh, keeps the social calendar moving. Coffee hour follows each Sunday service, a Cookie Ministry keeps the upstairs kitchen freezer stocked for receptions, and Supper Club places members in rotating groups for shared meals in homes. The BBQ Ministry cooks for parish gatherings and outreach events, the 20s and 30s, 40s and 50s, and SMASH (St. Michael's Active Senior Happenings) groups plan outings for their members, and Wednesday Walkers take to Colorado's trails together. Caregiver Support, Creating Space (crafts and fellowship on the fourth Saturday of each month), and People Who Read book club round out the social fabric.
The Hallway Art Gallery, located in the main corridor of the church building, hosts two-month rotating exhibits of local artists; thirty percent of every sale supports the parish's outreach partners, and the remaining seventy percent returns to the artist. A new Parishioner and Member Exhibit space is being added alongside the main gallery. The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and on Sundays from 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
A Legacy, a Light Festival, and Six Decades of Growth
St. Michael's is approaching seventy years of ministry in Colorado Springs. The parish's St. Michael's Legacy program invites members to include the church in wills, retirement plans, and life insurance policies, with the St. Michael's Endowment Fund investing gifts to fund capital projects and long-term ministry. Each December, the church grounds are transformed for the Christmas Light Festival, a walk-through experience of more than 100,000 lights with s'mores, hot chocolate, a light maze, and a Santa mailbox, with all canned goods and toy donations going to local outreach partners.
From its origins in 1957, when Grace and St. Stephen's Church sponsored a satellite chapel that first gathered in a store on North Nevada Avenue, through fires, moves, building expansions in 1962, 1996, and beyond, to the audio-video system installed during the 2020 pandemic and the Saint John's Bible dedicated in 2023, the parish has remained a steady presence on Tudor Road. Today, with hundreds of ministries, a livestreamed service that reaches viewers across the country, a community center in Manitou Springs, and a calendar that runs from sunrise Bible studies to Saturday evening prayer, St. Michael's continues to live into the simple charge that frames its life: a church on a mission to make Christ known within and beyond its walls.