Center for Spiritual Living Colorado Springs sits on Flintridge Drive on the north side of the city, in a sacred space that has been part of the Pikes Peak region for six decades. The community marked its sixtieth anniversary in 2026 with a Denim and Diamonds celebration, honoring the people, stories and spiritual foundation that have shaped its journey. As a member of the global Centers for Spiritual Living family, the Colorado Springs center teaches the Science of Mind philosophy, the practical New Thought tradition developed by Dr. Ernest Holmes in the early twentieth century. Its message is simple and far-reaching: there is one unifying Power, every person is a unique expression of that Power, and by shifting our thinking we can move beyond struggle into more joyful, meaningful, love-centered lives.
The Sunday Celebration
Sunday is the heart of the week at CSLCS. Visitors begin in the sanctuary at 9:00 a.m. with a quiet morning meditation, a brief time to ground the body and open the heart before the service begins. The doors then open fully at 9:30 a.m. for the Sunday Celebration, a service designed to be powerful and uplifting no matter where someone is on their spiritual path.
A typical Sunday moves from music into message. Ken Janzen, the music minister, and the CSLCS band open the gathering with songs that set a contemplative and hopeful tone. The senior minister or a guest speaker then offers a practical, heart-centered talk rooted in Science of Mind principles. Recent Sunday themes have included Radical Embodiment, Inhabiting the Inner, Collaborative Energy and Environment, Alchemizing Anger, Fierce Clarity, Resurrection Consciousness, Choosing Joy, and the Edge of the Known. Each message is recorded and added to a video archive that stretches across the year, and a podcast version strips the service down to the talk itself for those who want spiritual nourishment on the go.
For those who cannot be in the room, the service is livestreamed on Facebook every Sunday morning. Visitors can also step into the sanctuary after the service for a Community Visioning Meditation on the first Sunday of every month, when a practitioner guides the congregation through visualization and affirmative prayer to capture CSLCS's highest expression for the weeks ahead.
Rev. Michelle Arellano and the Spiritual Leadership
Reverend Michelle Arellano serves as the Spiritual Leader and Senior Minister of Center for Spiritual Living Colorado Springs. An ordained minister, spiritual teacher and transformational leader, she brings more than twenty years of executive and spiritual leadership experience in nonprofit organizations, community development and spiritual communities. Her previous roles include Executive Director and Co-Spiritual Director for Centers for Spiritual Living, President and CEO of multiple Boys and Girls Clubs organizations, and Executive Director of OHRA, where she led significant organizational growth and major fundraising campaigns.
At the heart of Reverend Michelle's ministry is a commitment to creating inclusive, loving and empowering communities where people can deepen their connection to Spirit, discover new possibilities and live from their highest good. She was formally installed as Senior Minister in a ceremony on Saturday, August 8, 2026, an event described as the beginning of a shared covenant between minister and congregation, rooted in mutual support, growth and thriving.
The Leadership Council works alongside her to carry out the center's sacred mission. Stephanie Hull serves as President, Andrea Swett as Vice President, Mitch Morgan as Treasurer and Kathy Ometer as Member At Large. The Council upholds the center's ethical integrity, organizational health and financial security while articulating a vision of infinite possibility to the community it serves.
Science of Mind at the Core
The teachings of Center for Spiritual Living are grounded in Dr. Ernest Holmes's 1927 book, The Science of Mind, which synthesized the common truths found across the world's spiritual paths. The center embraces a positive, modern approach to spirituality that draws on universal truths in science, philosophy and religion, viewing religion as a source of wisdom for revealing truth about the forces that shape the universe.
At the heart of the teaching is the conviction that we are all co-creators with the Divine. By shifting our thinking, we can move beyond struggle and create more joyful, meaningful experiences. The center offers spiritual tools, practices and a welcoming community to support personal growth and a more fulfilling, love-centered life. Members are encouraged to release limiting beliefs and discover greater freedom, joy, purpose and fulfillment in everyday life.
Reverend Michelle's own welcome letter captures the spirit: whoever you are and wherever you are on your path, you are welcome at CSLCS. The community is open, inclusive and affirming, embracing people of all backgrounds, beliefs, identities and life experiences, whether they join in person or online.
Practitioners and Spiritual Support
Practitioners at Center for Spiritual Living Colorado Springs provide spiritual support through prayer, meditation, visioning and spiritual counseling. They honor diversity through loving kindness and strive to know, reveal and live the perfection of the Divine. Anyone in the community can request a practitioner through the center's online prayer request form, choosing to be connected with a specific practitioner or allowing the center to match them with someone available.
The current practitioner team includes Lyn Iannazzo, Debora Ireland-Young, Jeanette Keter, Michael Keter, Connie Martin, Marcia Orr, Renee Perkins, Andrea Swett, Joe Witherow and Maria-Linda Yost, all credentialed as Registered Science of Mind Practitioners (RScP). They are available for one-on-one spiritual mind treatment, affirmative prayer and ongoing spiritual companionship. Practitioners also lead the monthly Community Visioning Meditation and the Labyrinth Meditation on the first Wednesday of each month.
Youth and Family Ministry
The Youth and Family Ministry is a vibrant, nurturing space where young people can explore spiritual principles, mindfulness and creativity. The program lays the foundation of Science of Mind teachings and fosters personal growth, inclusivity and love in an uplifting environment where families can deepen their spiritual journey together.
Children begin their Sunday morning upstairs in the sanctuary with their parents for the first part of the service, then are blessed by the congregation and invited downstairs for their own Sunday Celebration. Cassandra Lees, the Youth Family Ministry Lead Teacher, writes a monthly newsletter that walks families through the month's theme with weekly lessons, at-home spiritual practices and family reflections.
Recent themes have included What If, Divine Doubt, Taking Flight and Free to Be Me. Each week explores a different facet of the theme, from Imagination as the Seed of Transformation to I Am a Unique Expression of Spirit. Families are invited to gather in the evening, share what they noticed during the day, and close with a simple affirmation spoken together. The program also hosts seasonal events including a back-to-school supply drive in partnership with the United Court of the Pikes Peak Empire and regular participation in Colorado Springs Pride Fest.
Volunteers are a major part of what makes the program thrive, with a team that includes dedicated teachers and teenage aides. Anyone who feels called to serve is welcome to apply, and background checks are required for those who work with children.
Gracious Giving and Community Outreach
Since 2023, the Gracious Giving program has been the heart of CSLCS's outward-facing work. Every Sunday, the center selects one community-nominated nonprofit organization to receive a donation of one hundred dollars. Members can nominate an organization at any time, and the community votes for the weekly recipient. The center has also committed to sharing ten percent of all Sunday donations back into the wider community.
Across the past few years, Gracious Giving has supported an impressive range of organizations, from the Farmlink Project and the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region to TESSA of Colorado Springs, CASA of the Pikes Peak Region, Inside Out Youth Services, the Salvation Army, NAMI Colorado Springs, Westside Cares, Partners in Housing, Reclaiming Hope, the Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity, the Wounded Warrior Project, the National Mill Dog Rescue, the International Rescue Committee, Food to Power, Dream Centers Mary's Home, the Southern Poverty Law Center and many more. The list includes organizations serving people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, foster families, the unhoused, veterans, first responders, animals, and the arts.
Alongside the weekly giving, the center hosts seasonal drives. The third annual Back to School Supply Drive runs from July 1 to August 31, gathering backpacks, notebooks, folders, pens, pencils and other essentials, with a twenty-five dollar monetary donation enough to fill a backpack for a student in need. Each fall, the Undie Fundie partners with Westside Cares to collect new, packaged underwear for neighbors in the community. Members can drop donations in the collection basket in Celebration Hall.
Courses and Educational Opportunities
Education is one of the center's four main resource engines, alongside people, Sunday services and sacred space. CSLCS offers two tracks of classes: Life Courses, which are short and accessible, and Certificated Courses, which form a deeper structured path of study. Every course weaves the practical tools of Science of Mind into daily life, with classes facilitated by ordained ministers, practitioners and experienced teachers.
Among the Life Courses, Spiritual Living: Spiritual Principles and Practices is a five-week class meeting Thursday evenings, facilitated by Reverend Michelle and teaching assistant Andrea Swett. The Four Agreements, based on the book by Don Miguel Ruiz, is a four-week exploration of self-limiting beliefs facilitated by Michael Keter, RScP. The Anatomy of Peace Book Study takes a four to six week journey through the Arbinger Institute's work on resolving conflict.
Certificated Courses are the heart of the structured curriculum. Beyond Limits is the nine-week prerequisite, introducing the basics of Science of Mind and the center's core teachings. Foundations is an eight-week alternative entry point. From there, students can take Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life, Mental Equivalents, The Power of Your Word, Exploring Roots, and Visioning. Each class meets weekly over six to ten weeks, with tuition generally around two hundred and fifty dollars and a certificate of completion awarded at the end. Reverend Christine Renée Monks, Reverend Sally Bartholomew and the practitioner team serve as facilitators for the program.
At the advanced level, Advanced Consciousness Studies (ACS) is a three-term, twenty-seven-week series designed for dedicated students. Term 3 of ACS launched in March 2026, meeting Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and facilitated by Reverend Michelle and Connie Martin, RScP. ACS requires the completion of three foundational certificated courses plus two electives.
The Power of Conscious Living Foundations Class is another signature offering, a six-week certificated class offered both in person and online, facilitated by Reverend Michelle Arellano, with the required text A New Design for Living by Ernest Holmes and Willis H. Kinnear. The upcoming cohort meets from August 27 to October 1.
Choir, Sacred Arts and the Sound of the Center
Music is woven into almost every gathering at CSLCS. The CSLCS choir helps create the sacred atmosphere of Sunday service, offering music that opens hearts and supports the message of the day. The choir welcomes singers of all experience levels with no auditions required, only a willingness to learn, collaborate and show up with an open spirit.
The choir typically gathers three times a month. The first Thursday of each month brings a Zoom rehearsal from 7:00 to 8:30 a.m. The second Sunday offers an in-person rehearsal in the morning. The third Sunday is the performance during service. In 2026, the spring schedule has included Zoom rehearsals on February 26, April 2 and April 30, with in-person rehearsals on March 8, April 12 and May 10.
Beyond the choir, the Sacred Arts Ministry gathers after Sunday service several times a year to celebrate creativity as a form of spiritual practice. Recent gatherings have featured Ken Jensen, Jos Anemaet and Reverend Michelle Arellano sharing their talents in a potluck setting. Ken Janzen also serves as the music minister and accompanies services on piano, and live piano music is a regular feature of community dinners like the annual Abundance Celebration Dinner.
Weekly Rhythms Beyond Sunday
The center's life extends well beyond Sunday morning. Monday through Saturday offer their own opportunities to gather, learn, pray and play.
Wednesday afternoons bring the Women's Book Study: The Joyous Body, a six-week exploration of Clarissa Pinkola Estés's book on the Wise Woman Archetype, meeting from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. The study is free, facilitated by Reverend Michelle and Lisa Rice, and open to anyone who wants to dig into the book with reflection, story and shared questions.
Wednesday evenings include Women of Wonder at 5:00 p.m. in Room 224, a weekly time to breathe, find community, offer and receive support, and remember the truth that we are whole, perfect and complete exactly as we are. At 6:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month, the Labyrinth Meditation invites members to walk the outdoor Labyrinth of Love, weather permitting, or to gather in the sanctuary during the colder months, with practitioners guiding the way toward transformation, spiritual guidance, mindfulness and a deepening connection to the Divine.
Thursday mornings are reserved for the online choir rehearsal on the first Thursday of the month, and Saturday mornings bring The Freedom Path, a monthly eleven-step practice on the first Saturday from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Room 114, facilitated by Renee Perkins, RScP. The Freedom Path is described as a sacred space where unconditional love and open-hearted sharing is available for anyone seeking freedom from limiting beliefs, old habits or dependencies that no longer serve them, using prayer, meditation, ageless wisdom and spiritual practice to deepen the conscious connection with God.
Sundays also offer their own evening rhythm. From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., CSLCS members and friends gather at Carefree Bingo, 3440 N. Carefree Circle on the city's east side, for Bingo Night. The center is always looking for new volunteers and players to join the table.
Coffee with the Minister, held periodically on Wednesday mornings at 10:00 a.m., offers a relaxed time to pour a cup, pull up a chair and connect with Reverend Michelle and one another. Members can bring a question, an idea, something on their heart, or simply themselves.
Getting Involved and Joining the Community
CSLCS is built on the idea that the community thrives when hearts and hands come together in service and purpose. The Sacred Service Application is the doorway for anyone who wants to volunteer, whether to help with Sunday services, the Youth and Family Ministry, special events, or the many programs that keep the center running. Background checks are required for those who work with children and youth.
For those ready to make a deeper commitment, the New Member Orientation offers a welcoming and informative gathering to explore what it means to be an active member of the spiritual community. The orientation covers the benefits, commitments and shared values of membership, as well as the many ways to participate, serve and grow alongside others on the path.
The center's Leadership Council, practitioners, music minister, operations manager, youth and family team and many volunteers all work together to keep the doors open. The business office is open Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and Tuesday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The building is closed on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, though many programs and gatherings still take place outside those hours.
Giving, Watching and Staying Connected
Donations to CSLCS can be made in several ways. Members can give a one-time donation through the center's online portal, pledge a recurring gift as a Sustaining Giver, send a check to the Flintridge Drive address, or text Commands to 719-259-1701 to receive a link for mobile giving. Ten percent of every Sunday donation flows back into the wider community through the Gracious Giving program.
Those who want to follow along at home have several options. The Sunday service is livestreamed on Facebook each week. The video archive of every Sunday message for the current year is posted on the Experience CSLCS page, and a podcast version of each talk is available for download or streaming. The Midweek Uplift newsletter arrives by email every Wednesday with updates, weekly guest artists, upcoming events and more.
Center for Spiritual Living Colorado Springs is more than a place to attend on a Sunday morning. It is a sixty-year-old community of seekers, practitioners, teachers, musicians, families and friends who gather around the conviction that consciousness shapes experience, that we are each a unique expression of one God, and that by changing our thinking we can change our lives. Whether someone is looking for a Sunday home, a place to grow through study, a community to serve with, or simply a quiet space to sit in meditation, the doors on Flintridge Drive are open.