The Two Creeks Pulpit Since the 1920s
Mountair Christian Church has stood in Lakewood's Two Creeks neighborhood for more than a century, gathering every Sunday at 10:15 am at 1390 Benton Street. The church describes itself as an intimate, urban, inter-generational, multicultural and multilingual community on the journey of discipleship, an active presence in a part of Jefferson County shaped as much by its neighborhoods as by its main roads. Old-timers in the Two Creeks area still know the slope by the name Mount Air, which was how the neighborhood was known before the present church building went up.
Roots in the Restoration Movement
Mountair's story begins in the early 1920s, when a Denver suburb mission was sponsored by Central Christian Church of Denver. By 1926 the group was recognized as a congregation. Members first met at Mount Air School, then in the late 1920s bought land at Ames Street and 14th on the northeast corner of what is today Lakewood and built their original building. In 1951 the lot on Benton Street was acquired and the present church home constructed. The work of faith, the leadership writes, has always been carried out in the inner being through the outer expression of faith in Jesus, and that relationship with God and others is still the conduit for peace, the Shalom of the gospel.
The congregation is a product of an American religious movement called the Restoration Movement, the nineteenth-century effort to recover a single, visible church from a fragmented Protestant landscape. Two themes sit at the heart of that heritage: the Lord's Supper, called the Table, as the symbolic place of unity, and baptism as the sign of the spiritual journey that connects the body of Christ. The movement adopted the saying, "In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity," a phrase with seventeenth-century roots that Mountair still carries. Today's leaders carry that conviction forward by accepting that interpretation of Scripture, of society, of culture and of politics is shaped by each person's life journey, and by holding that unity can still hold across all of that difference, because, as they put it, the Spirit of God brings the body together.
Reach, Equip, Serve
Three words shape the life of the church: REACH, EQUIP (TEACH), and SERVE. Members reach outward to their neighborhood and beyond, gather to teach and learn the principles of the Christian faith, and then take that formation into service of the community as a whole. The leadership calls this an incarnational expression of faith, and the phrase "This is the Spirit of community" travels with it. Reaching, equipping and serving are not separate departments at Mountair but a single rhythm that flows from the sanctuary into the food pantry, the clothing closet, the women's table and the men's gathering.
Sunday Worship and Virtual Access
Sunday worship begins at 10:15 am on the Benton Street campus. A virtual option through Zoom is open to anyone who joins from home, and a recording of the most recent service is shared online so members who are traveling or unwell can keep up. The service continues the Restoration Movement's twin emphases on the Lord's Table and on baptism as a public step of faith.
Tuesdays: A Pantry and a Closet
Every Tuesday morning at 9:30 am the Benton Street building opens as a food pantry and clothing closet. The team serves anyone in need, with no requirements and no paperwork. The pantry has become a steady touchpoint for Two Creeks and the surrounding blocks, drawing volunteers from the congregation and partners from neighborhood organizations, local businesses, the arts district and the City of Lakewood. Outreach at Mountair is built on collaboration, and the building itself is one of the ways the church meets the needs of the surrounding neighborhood.
Wednesdays: Circle of Grace and the Men's Gathering
Wednesday mornings at 10:00 am are set aside for Circle of Grace, a women's group that meets on the Benton Street campus. The hour centers on Scripture, conversation and mutual support through the questions of daily life, with a focus on spiritual growth and the long journey of discipleship. Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm belong to the Men's Gathering, an hour of study, reflection and fellowship that, like Circle of Grace, intentionally sends participants back out into the service of their neighbors, their families and their workplaces.
An Inclusive, Multi-Generational Congregation
Mountair calls itself part of a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world and intentionally welcomes members from varied cultural, societal and religious backgrounds. Three convictions anchor the teaching. Scripture is the mysterious revelation of God through its word, and a source of insight for daily life. Jesus the Christ is the Son of the Creator God, the ultimate teacher, preacher and prophet who also came as a human being. And the Holy Spirit, a power beyond the individual self, guides and informs the journey of faith. The church holds that unity is not uniformity; what unites members across their differences is the mystery of the Spirit of God working in and through the body. Inclusion at Mountair is described as multi-faceted: an inter-generational engagement, an intercultural conversation, and a multilingual, multicultural and inter-societal expression.
Pastoral Leadership and the Benton Street Building
Lead Pastor Rev. Ruben Rodriguez oversees ministry and preaching, working alongside Jamie Vigil in worship planning. The church operates under a congregational model in covenant with a regional body and a national expression, a structure that allows each local body to shape its own theology and practice while remaining tied to the wider movement. The office can be reached at 303-237-5526 or office@mountaircc.org. The Benton Street building, the church's home since 1951, hosts worship, weekly small groups and Tuesday outreach under one roof, and the congregation continues to look forward as it shapes the next chapter of its history in the Two Creeks neighborhood. The door is open, and the invitation remains the one the church has offered for a hundred years: come all, come as you are.