We are commanded to love our neighbor: this must mean that we can.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
Mission
We cultivate love of neighbors and neighborhoods to see our faith rooted in place.
Vision
See followers of the Way of Jesus take spiritual and social responsibility for every neighbor and every neighborhood in our city.
Problem & Possibility
The critical problems of loneliness, isolation, and divisiveness we experience in our culture comes from our faith being disintegrated from our place.
The possibility is people following the Way of Jesus loving their neighbors and neighborhoods with a faith that is rooted and integrated in place.
Values
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Our theological foundation is our lives are lived in response to the eternal and extravagant grace of God. We believe grace is the defining characteristic of God toward us.
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Our work is rooted in the historic Christian faith as expressed in the Apostles Creed. We believe Jesus is the embodiment of God’s grace. Jesus is both the way God comes to us and the way we come to God.
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Our priority of place grounds us in how we live an integrated life. We follow the Way of Jesus in living incarnationally.
We believe we are called to take both spiritual and social responsibility for our neighbors and neighborhoods.
We intentionality invest our work and life into our neighbors, schools, local businesses, and civic governments.
Structure
The Sacred Grace is structured as a both a nonprofit organization and community of faith.
The Sacred Grace is structured as a “nest nonprofit” to provide the leadership and support for initiatives and communities who are committed to loving their neighbors and neighborhoods.
Staff
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Operations Director
Becky is a beloved child, a wife, a mom, and a grammy. She uses her talents in organization, attention to detail, problem-solving, and creativity to care for her family, operate many aspects of The Sacred Grace, and to love her Lakewood neighbors well.
Becky was born and raised in Colorado, a graduate from Colorado School of Mines, and an avid crafter.
Why do you work for The Sacred Grace?
I love being a part of work that helps people recognize the value of being rooted and encourages growth in relationship with God and neighbors.
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Communications Director
Driven by a passion for creative problem-solving, Katie is captivated by the challenge to simplify complex issues. Katie believes that Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbor is the clearest and simplest path to expanding heaven on earth. She experiences deep joy when she can align others gifts, resources, and frameworks to cultivate understanding, catalyze transformation, and create beauty.
Katie and her husband Christoph live in Grand Junction with their dogs Quasi and Habibti who they adopted while living in Baghdad, Iraq.
Why do you work with The Sacred Grace?
I love that the work we do inspires imagination for a world deeply in love with their neighbors.
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Executive Director
Jared is a concierge for the Kingdom. His deep joy is connecting individuals, organizations, and ideas. He has served as clergy in Denver for over 30 years. He has served on various faith, civic, and nonprofit advisory boards in the city of Denver.
Jared, and his daughter Kenna, live with Amos, their beloved Caviler King Charles Spaniel in the Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood, walking distance from The Bull & Bush, the best pub in Denver.
Why do you you work for The Sacred Grace?
It is an incredible gift to lead an organization with mission is to help people cultivate love of their neighbors and neighborhoods.
Board of Trustees
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Artist and Pastor, Kaleidoscope
Kay has been pastoring people and speaking about life with Jesus for almost four decades, although she’s not old enough for that to actually be true. Kay paints abstract expressionist and figurative acrylic paintings. She loves to read and sew, watches too much football (or any sport really) and drinks a lot of coffee.
Kay's been married to David, the best guy in the universe (might be biased) for 37 years. They have 4 kids plus 2 bonus ones (their spouses) and the cutest grandbabies ever. Kay and David have 3 dogs: two standard poodles, George Strait and Willie Nelson and an adorably neurotic toy sized, Winnie the Poodle.
Why do you serve on the Board of Trustees for The Sacred Grace?
When Jesus said to love our neighbors, I believe He meant those in our actual physical proximity: the people in our own homes/workplaces and around them. And as our modern lives have become more physically disconnected it's become more of a challenge. That's why this work is so important to me, helping us reconnect our theology to our geography and the people who inhabit those spaces.
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Manager of Payor Partnerships, DaVita
Minkyu is an active CPA with experience working at EY and currently work in Strategy and Analytics for DaVita. My wife and I have lived in Englewood since getting married in 2018 and I have previously served on the City of Englewood Budget Advisory Board.
I moved from South Korea to the U.S. when I was 10 and my wife grew up in Kansas. Both of our families live relatively far away so investing and building relationships in our neighborhood is part of how we create family and community.
Why do you serve on the Board of Trustees for The Sacred Grace?
We strive to build meaningful relationships with our neighbors through consistency and availability. Despite feeling as though our lives are busy, we try to show up in consistent times to places like the park to meet other families and hear about their lives. We hope our small yet consistent acts of kindness that show our neighbors the love of Christ.
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Strategic Partnerships and Philanthropy Officer, Mile High Ministres
Jill grew up in Littleton, Colorado as a fifth-generation resident of the Denver area. Jill’s faith story was formed at Columbine Catholic Church (now St. Frances Cabrini) and through Young Life during her youth.
Jill is married with three children and works with Mile High Ministries on strategic partnerships. She has experience in government, business and non-profit sectors.
Why do you serve on the Board of Trustees for The Sacred Grace?
I am aligned with the mission of The Sacred Grace because I believe that knowing and being known is the way of and to Jesus. Physical proximity to others invites that like nothing else.
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Chief Executive Officer, Morrow
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Chief Executive Officer, Matchstick
Alli started at Matchstick as a Staffing Consultant and loved joining individuals and companies at the critical inflection point of hiring. Now as CEO, she strategically guides the people and processes within the organization.
Alli and her husband, Chris, live in Centennial with their four adventurous kiddos. As a family, you can find the Horsts playing outside, reading, or enjoying an alfresco meal with neighbors & friends. Alli's favorite conversation topics are the next book on her to-be-read list, birds, and favorite Trader Joe's meal hacks.
Why do you serve on the Board of Trustees for The Sacred Grace?
I believe in investing in my place and in loving my neighbor but I've struggled to understand what that looks like in my daily habits. From the first event I attended, I realized I had been hungry for the work of The Sacred Grace. It connected the dots between this core belief and activities like the carpool line at school or my grocery run.
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Executive Director, Downtown Development for Evansville, Indiana
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Executive Director, The Sacred Grace
Jared is a concierge for the Kingdom. His deep joy is connecting individuals, organizations, and ideas. He has served as clergy in Denver for over 30 years. He has served on various faith, civic, and nonprofit advisory boards in the city of Denver.
Jared, and his daughter Kenna, live with Amos, their beloved Caviler King Charles Spaniel in the Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood.
Why do you lead and serve as the Executive Director for The Sacred Grace?
I believe Jesus’ invitation to “love your neighbor” is the pathway to being formed into the Way of Jesus for the sake of others. Eugene Peterson’s words reformed my faith to be rooted in place when I heard him say, “All theology is rooted in geography.”
History
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The Sacred Grace was established by TNL Church after 25 years of leading innovative worship gatherings on Tuesday evenings in Denver.
The Sacred Grace was formed as a family of churches to be rooted in and for the neighborhoods of our city. The desire was to establish a model to cultivate a sacred overlap of faith and everyday life. The churches of The Sacred Grace shared a vision to take spiritual and social responsibility for our neighbors and neighborhoods.
The Board of Trustees of The Sacred Grace affirmed TNL Church and Sacred Grace Englewood in 2021-2022 to be established as independent local congregations. This decision led to an invitation to reimagine our organizational structure.
The founding vision of The Sacred Grace remained. We want to see people who are following the way of Jesus take spiritual and social responsibility for their neighbors and neighborhoods. The restructure shifted from direct oversight of local congregations to be an organization motivated by both spiritual formation and community collaboration.
The Sacred Grace is an expression of the Church creating content, convening conversations, guiding cohorts, and building collaborations with faith, nonprofit, and civic organizations.
Our daily work is grounded in following the way of Jesus and guided by our mission to help cultivate love for our neighbors and neighborhoods.
Foundation & Frame
Our mission is to encourage and equip those who want to follow the Way of Jesus and his command:
“Love God with your whole self. Love your neighbors as wholly as you love yourself.”
We believe the way to love our neighbors and neighborhoods is by taking both spiritual and social responsibility. How that looks varies by personality and place. But our foundation is simple and clear.
We love Jesus and love our neighbor.
The frame for our work can be understood as a two-by-two using a few different words:
Jesus + Neighbor
Spirituality + Geography
Faith + Place
If you love Jesus, but do not prioritize how you do that in a particular place, we appreciate the work you lead, but do not share your perspective.
We believe being proximate is a priority to following the way of Jesus.
If you are passionate about place, but do not align your life with the way of Jesus, we admire the work you lead and have a lot to learn from you. But we have a clear focus. We live and lead by following the way of Jesus.
We’re committed to both the social and spiritual responsibility for our neighbors and neighborhoods.
If you’re not interested in spirituality or geography, faith or place, Jesus or your neighbors, we’re curious what orients your life. Maybe our work will be a spark for you.
We hope we can be a signpost of what an integrated life of faith and place looks like.
If you know your neighbors and enjoy your neighborhood…
If you hope the future of the Church is committed to a place…
If you believe being like Jesus is loving your literal neighbor…
We want to learn alongside you.
We need people with faith rooted in place. We want to encourage and equip you. We want to see your life rooted and established for the good of your neighbors and neighborhood.
“All theology is rooted in geography.”
The words of the late pastor and author Eugene Peterson reminds us what we believe about God is always lived out in place.
The story of God is the story of God, People, Place. From Creation to Cross to the New Creation, the story of God is a story of place. You can’t read the Scriptures without getting your hands dirty. “There is a preoccupation in the Bible for place.” wrote Walter Brueggemann.
We have a preoccupation with the conversation about the intersection of faith and place. Our perspective is the neighborhoods where we live and the places we call home are a sacred. Our practice is to love our neighbors and follow the way of Jesus.
This is our foundation and frame.
