Wellshire Presbyterian Church stands on the west side of South Colorado Boulevard in southeast Denver, between Yale and Dartmouth, where it has anchored the University Hills neighborhood for decades. The community gathers for worship on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am and 11:00 am, with both services livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube, and it reaches out into the wider city through schools, nonprofit partners, refugee families, and a Saturday farmers market in its north parking lot.
Sunday Worship at 9 and 11
Two Sunday services share a single program of Word, Sacrament, and music. The 9:00 am service mixes the depth of Presbyterian liturgy with modern melodies and instrumentation, joining hymns and contemporary songs under the leadership of the Confluence Contemporary Worship Band with a rhythm section, piano, and a quartet of lead singers. The 11:00 am service keeps the traditional shape of Presbyterian worship at its clearest, with the Sanctuary Choir singing anthems and the Casavant pipe organ carrying the congregation through hymns. Scripture texts are taken from the New Revised Standard Version and chosen by the pastor preaching that morning. Communion is observed on the first Sunday of each month, and the 11:00 am liturgy is accompanied by a printed bulletin while the 9:00 am does not use one. Both services are available online (livestreamed on YouTube and on Facebook), with the broadcast starting about five minutes before the music begins and recordings remaining available afterward.
A Congregation Between Pastors
Rev. Dr. Kimberly L. Clayton serves as Transitional Senior Pastor, having begun the role on January 5, 2026, after serving in similar capacities at four other churches in New York City, Atlanta, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Louisville, Kentucky, and thirteen years at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, where she directed Contextual Education. Joining her on the clergy team are Rev. Katie Robb, Associate Pastor since 2014 and a Denver native who walks alongside families through memorial services and grief, and Rev. Kiersten Hill, Associate Pastor since 2023, who came through Wellshire's youth and young adult ministry before her ordination and now serves on Denver Presbytery's Visionary Leadership Commission. Rev. Julia Fenn oversees adult Christian education, the Soul Care group, and family ministries, including support groups for parents of neurodiverse children. The day-to-day operations are run by Director of Operations Scott Campbell, with Communications Coordinator Megan Kalan and Church Administrator Martha Harmon Pardee keeping the systems moving.
The Casavant Organ and a Full Music Ministry
Music has shaped Wellshire's worship for generations. The pipe organ in the sanctuary was built and installed in 1979 by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, and its tones anchor the 11:00 am service under the hands of Wil Smith, Associate Director of Music and Organist since 2021, who also leads keyboards at the 9:00 am service with the Confluence band and guides an evening youth worship gathering. Christine Gaudreau, Director of Music and Worship Arts since 2018, also directs the Sanctuary Choir, the Wellshire Orchestra, the Middle School Choir, and the Children's Choir, and curates the Music at Wellshire concert series.
The Sanctuary Choir, an adult ensemble of about seventy-five music titles a year plus major choral works with orchestra and organ, rehearses Wednesdays at 7:00 pm. The Celebration Singers, a smaller choral group that sings contemporary repertoire under Wil Smith's direction, rehearses Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. The Celebration Ringers handbell choir performs about once a month, with high school students welcome alongside the adults, and is coordinated by Sue Boarman. Children's Music meets at 10:05 am Sundays and is now a full music education experience with instruments in the mix, while Youth Music gathers at 4:15 pm Sundays for sixth through twelfth graders.
Children and Parents Day Out
Allison McQueen, a lifelong Wellshire member who holds a bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Colorado and a master's in Special Education from the University of Colorado Denver, has directed Children's Ministries since 2022. Her team runs nursery care for infants through preschoolers (six weeks through pre-kindergarten), Sunday school for kindergarten through fifth grade, and the children who remain upstairs for worship on first-Sunday Communion. Children join worship with their families and follow a dedicated children's message with their teachers downstairs, while activity bags and fidgets are available at the entrance for whoever needs them. A family-friendly area near the sound booth holds materials for younger worshipers.
For older children, Club 45 gathers fourth and fifth graders once a month on Sunday evenings for fellowship, discussion, and service projects. Summer Vacation Bible School, called WPC Kids, runs for rising kindergartners through rising sixth graders with art, music, games, and acts of service. The Parents Day Out weekday preschool program, housed on the church campus and led by Director Liz Van Kooten, follows a play-based early-childhood model with published themes, classes, and tuition. Parents of neurodiverse children find specialized support groups here, and the children's ministry staff plans Biblically based lesson plans with inclusion in mind.
Youth, College, and Young Adults
On Sunday evenings, middle schoolers gather from 4:30 to 6:00 pm and high schoolers from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, with a shared 5:30 to 6:00 pm window for All Youth Worship, a time of song and prayer that brings the two groups together. Trips and overnights include SALT, a five-to-seven-day summer service and learning trip for incoming ninth graders through recent graduates, a Middle School Overnight at the church, a Winter Retreat in partnership with Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, and the Easter Vigil overnight that includes the annual Sunrise Service at Red Rocks Amphitheater. The youth ministry also maintains a reading list focused on racial justice, books by Angie Thomas, Bryan Stevenson, Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, and others.
Wellshire supports college students through prayer, the Secret Saints program that pairs members with students, and a long-running connection to The Foundation, an ecumenical campus ministry at the University of Denver. Young Adults, designed for twenty- and thirty-somethings, hosts small groups, fellowship, and service gatherings, with Kiersten Hill as the staff liaison.
Adult Faith Formation Between the Two Services
Between the 9:00 and 11:00 services, Sunday Conversations fills the 10:00 am hour with parallel classes. Recent offerings have included Bible Deep Dive with Rev. Dick Klaver, an unhurried exploration of the Gospel of Mark; Pixar Parables, a viewing-and-discussion series open to fourth graders through adults; and Everyday Spirituality, a six-session series on time-honored spiritual practices led by Diane Hogue. Childcare for birth through fifth grade is available during this hour, with check-in at Rooms 109 and 111.
Thursdays at 1:00 pm, Soul Care meets on Zoom, a study that nurtures emotional and spiritual roots together. The weekly Men's Bible Study gathers on Wednesdays from 6:30 to 7:30 am in Room 208 and at 8:00 am on Zoom. The Wellshire Knitters meet Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30 am in Room 207, knitting prayer shawls for those in need. A First Sunday Book Study led by Cindy Cederburg and Martha Turner gathers monthly with a light supper to read and discuss justice-oriented books together.
Matthew 25: Six Task Forces in Mission
A coordinating committee at Wellshire, guided by the Matthew 25 verse "just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me," organizes the congregation's outreach into six task forces. The Hunger Task Force leads a Christmas Food Box assembly and delivery, and supports school snack funds, the LOVVE Project, MetroCaring, and Senior Support Services. The Diversity Task Force hosts Movies with Meaning film nights and other programs that educate, celebrate difference, and challenge bias. The Education Task Force supplies classroom volunteers at Schmitt Elementary and raises post-graduate scholarships for students at two Colorado High School Charter campuses. The Homeless Task Force works with Habitat for Humanity, Family HomeStead, and Urban Peak, the youth homelessness agency. Immigrant Advocates accompany refugee families through English language learning, job search, and even driver's ed. Global Mission partners with the Zimbabwe Mission Partnership, the Lomagundi Clinic Mission Partnership in Zimbabwe, and PC(USA) Mission Coworkers in Guatemala and the Philippines.
Deacons, Care, and the Kendall Memorial Library
Deacons serve communion, including for homebound members, and keep an eye on the parking lots and arrivals, while also visiting assisted-living friends, delivering flowers, and maintaining connections across the congregation. Twice a year they host a Pancake Breakfast. The Care Team maintains a network of phone calls, cards, prayers, and visits to keep a big church feeling small. The Wellshire Knitters craft prayer shawls for those in need, and the Sewing Fellowship stitches the baptism quilts presented to children at their baptisms. Centus Counseling, a licensed counseling service staffed by Mollie Byington, maintains office space at the church and offers personal and family counseling to Wellshire members and the surrounding community.
The Kendall Memorial Library, founded in 1965 in memory of the Kendall family and especially Mary Lou Kendall, who served Wellshire as a Sunday school teacher, holds a large and growing collection of secular and spiritual books for adults and children. The library opens weekdays from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm and Sundays from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, with a smaller book cart in the Narthex between services for browsing on Sunday mornings.
The University Hills Farmers Market
The University Hills Farmers Market sets up in the church's north parking lot every Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, running from early May through late October. It brings live music, prepared food, and drinks to the corner of Colorado Boulevard, and draws neighbors into conversation under the open sky.
What to Wear, Where to Park, and How to Connect
Wellshire is comfortable: business casual is the norm, with three-piece suits and jeans-with-t-shirts equally at home. Three parking lots sit on the east, west, and north sides of the building, with accessible parking spaces in each, and visitors are welcome to use the residential streets west of the building as long as driveways are kept clear (a parking map is available for new visitors). The church uses Realm, an online community and giving platform with both a web interface and a mobile app called Realm Connect, as its member directory and event sign-up hub.
Giving and the Endowment
Stewardship is woven into the church's work. Online giving through Realm accepts recurring gifts by bank account or credit card; ACH withdrawals are available by form; appreciated securities are handled through Gill Capital Partners; and IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions are welcome. The Wellshire Endowment, managed by the Texas Presbyterian Foundation, sustains the ministry beyond any single generation through bequests, charitable trusts, beneficiary designations, donor-advised funds, and outright gifts of stock.
Wellshire Presbyterian Church names its mission as seeking, embracing, and nurturing disciples within an inclusive community of hope, called by Jesus to worship God and serve its neighbors, and the doors at 2999 South Colorado Boulevard open each Sunday morning to anyone looking for a place inside a long-running, ever-renewing congregation.