The church began when Luther and JoAnn Larson and their children were sent here by the CLBA board of Home Missions to plant a church in the Arvada area. The Larsons arrived here on July 1, 1978. The first worship service was in September of 1978 at Freemont Elem.

Through the work of the Larsons a congregation was established and chartered. The date of the Charter was September 11, 1979 and there were 20 voting members on the original Charter with 13 children. One other family was added to the Charter shortly after making for 22 voting members and 16 children.

CIC began by meeting for worship in various places until the property at 12229 W. 80^th Ave. was purchased on December 22, 1981 with the first worship service held at this location on January 10, 1982. The original purchase price was $125,000. The first remodeling of the old sanctuary was done during the summer of 1982 with the official dedication on September 26.

A new addition to this property was begun in 1998 and finished in 1999 with the dedication in July of 1999. The first worship service in the new addition was Easter Sunday of 1999 with over 200 people present. The approximate cost of this addition was $235,000. A wonderful surprise was the addition of our steeple that was built and paid for by NexTel Communications. The steeple was completed in 2000. The whole story of the addition is truly a story of God leading, his people stepping out in trust and God providing the miracles.

The pastors who have served Community In Christ over the years include Luther Larson who was the first pastor. He served the first time from July of 1978 until September 1 of 1988. Then came Pastor Peter Bradford who served from October 16, 1988 until October 15, 1989. Pastor Joel Backstrom served from July 1, 1990 until August 1, 1992. Pastor Luther Larson returned in September of 1993 and served until July 31 of 1995. Pastor Gary Witkop began serving on September 1, 1995 and continues to serve as pastor today.

Elders for Community In Christ include the first elder George Kalmbach who was elected on January 1, 1980. Other elders include Darwin Ohlin who was elected on Feburary 1, 1981 and ordained in March of 1983; Dennis Whalon; Richard Sorensen; Wyatt Timme (elected February 5, 1995); and Bill Poore (elected February 4, of 1996). Darwin Ohlin, Wyatt Timme and Bill Poore continue to serve as elders today.

A history of the growth of this congregation shows a lot of ups and downs. Basically the church grew slowly but steadily under the leadership of Luther Larson from the original starting group to an average attendance of about 80 in 1988. Then the church went through 4 years of decline until once again under the leadership of Pastor Larson. From 1993 through 1997 the church began growing again and the building of the addition was planned. For the next two years, as the addition was being built the church experienced a drop in attendance once again, this time due to many of our people moving away due to job related reasons. From 2000 until the present the church has been growing slowly but steadily each year.

One interesting change is that the budgets for Community In Christ have gone from the first full year’s budget of $21,986.66 to the current budgets well in excess of $100,000.

As we look forward to the next 30 years if the Lord doesn’t come first, we might wonder what changes lie ahead? The one thing that we do know is that just as Jesus promised in Matthew 28;

"I am with you always, even unto the end of the age,"

that he will be with us through the years to come, so long as we continue to walk with Him. Let us make that our main goal at Community In Christ to always walk where God leads us, for truly the history of a church should be "His Story" not ours.