Monday Mission Fields: Falcon, Colorado

Are you feeling your church planting oats? Ready to head to a field that will challenge your abilities in evangelism, discipleship and fund raising? Want to see a church planted, established, and grow alongside a town? Want to be a missions pioneer? Have I got the field for you.

Introducing Falcon, Colorado! Don't be fooled by the wide open spaces and the 2,700 population. Falcon sits on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, and with the Springs overflowing with economic development and population growth (in spite of their best efforts to limit it), Falcon is picking up the overflow. Falcon's population is growing so rapidly that few can imagine where the 2010 census figure will be. Couple that with the proximity to Colorado Springs and Peyton, and you have a vast field to work.

Falcon is not a place for the faint-of-heart church planter. These days it seems that every church planter and their mothers are heading to the Springs metro area, and many are landing in Falcon. So, one of your obstacles is that many of the doors you knock on will have already been knocked on several times. Couple that with the fact that Coloradoans don't like to be bothered, and you have some evangelical barriers. That's the first challenge.

The second challenge is meeting space. Every school in Falcon has a new church plant meeting in it. One is a Presbyterian. One is an SBC. One is a non-denominational, and so on. Storefront space is also limited. While you will be able to get started by holding meetings in a home, the fact is that eventually you'll have to move out into a public venue. This is going to require some creativity. Either (a) you'll have to see about using a school, but holding worship at a non traditional time, or (b) you'll have to pony up and rent a store front (which is expensive and hard to come by in a growing economy), (c) live in an apartment community and use the community room (I'm unsure of the availability) or (d) purchase land and begin the building process (I hope deputation went well.)

In most cases, I shy away from building new facilities, especially in markets like Brownwood where vacant church buildings are plentiful and rented space comes cheap. However, Falcon is unique. Not only are rented venues hard to come by and expensive, but with the town still being built and established, perhaps a hearty building progam is not a bad way to go. Prime real estate is still available, and building now could pave the way for your church to be the cornerstone of Falcon tomorrow.

Building and facilities are only half the battle, though. Before you even get to the point where you are presenting plans to a regional planning and zoning board, you have to have a congregation. Springs area residents are professional people. They work hard, are organized, and have little tolerance for those who do not have their act together. You must be organized and professional, and take your calling very seriously. Furthermore, you have to be able to present the Gospel in a way that no one has before (which shouldn't be all that difficult when you look at what some churches are calling the Gospel these days).

So, if you are feeling up to a difficult field where ministry is expensive, other religions are active, and evangelism is distracted by lots of outside noises, Falcon is for you. But, hey! There are upsides. The Springs area has lots of ways to rest and relax, from traveling up Pike's Peak, to the Imagination Station at Focus on the Family (for the kids of course) to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, R&R is never more than 30 minutes away.