Walk into an unassuming church near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Havana Street, just east of the Denver/Aurora line on any given Sunday. Depending on what time you arrive, you might hear singing in Nepalese, or preaching in Burmese.
The Village Exchange Center, formerly St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, is home to four congregations that meet there on Sundays for the past decade in the heart of Aurora’s immigrant and refugee community.
Small communities of Nepalese, African-American, Congolese, and Kachin worshippers gather throughout the day – two in the morning, two in the afternoon – most of them just a few dozen strong.
And though sometimes only five or 10 people show up for service, those who do animate many church-like moments. Universally recognized words like “Amen,” and “Hallelujah!” are heard throughout the day. Likewise the swaying-while-singing moves, and a little call-and-response. There’s the blissed-out, closed-eyed faces, the restless, playful children – moments that cross the language barrier and feature the same sacred moments of reverence found in worship anywhere.
And it’s especially needed now, according to Pastor Marcel Narucki, co-founder and director of Multi-Faith Services at the Village Exchange Center. He was pastor of the former church until eight years ago, and is still involved, meeting with pastors of the congregations, from whom he charges a nominal monthly fee.
“The worship time together is very powerful for building their community and cohesion and connection in many ways . . . because as refugee churches, they’re facing so much more to culturally survive,” he said.
Living Worship Nepali Church
The first one to unlock the doors on Sundays is Pastor Habil Rasaily, who leads Living Worship Nepali Church starting at about 9 a.m. Although clearly a foreigner based on his accented English, the pastor was enthusiastic to welcome two new faces that looked very different from the usual attendees – who are generally not very tall, with Asian features and straight, dark hair.
To welcome two visitors, one Black and 5’10,” the other MENASA and at least 6’3”, both with curly hair, he translated introductions. The response of the congregation – through waves, smiles, hands on hearts, and eye contact across the language barrier – said: You are welcome among us.
The pastor had clearly taken on some of the Western flavor in his fashions; he wore a corduroy suit, a purple V-neck sweater and cowboy boots. His session was rich with singing and preaching, with plenty of English words mixed in.
Of the 30 or so who came out, some were dressed in salwar kameez, others were holding up their hands to show how moved they were by the music and the words. One woman showed up with a white man.
At one point, two men on stage stopped singing and began blowing into musical instruments which are called shofars in some cultures, long twisty horns of rams. Like bugles, they don’t give the opportunity for the person playing it to select notes; instead, playing them added to the overall ambient sound and got a few people on their feet, singing along to music that reminded them, undoubtedly, of home.
Blow the Trumpet Ministries
A few hours later, Pastor Kevin Rawlins got his sermon going under the banner of Blow the Trumpet Ministries, held in the same room – sparsely decorated with a bit of stained glass behind the stage, where a drum set was set up that could be used by each group.
The sanctuary, with mainly blank walls, also had dozens of chairs in the front, as well as collapsible stadium seating in the back of the room.
The extra seats weren’t needed for the gathering, which that day topped off at 10 people. Among them were his wife/co-pastor, daughter and niece, all there for the Village Exchange Center’s only English-speaking service.
That morning, Lynne Rawlins preached a sermon about spiritual understanding, connecting her message to the recent plane crash that resulted in dozens of bodies being found in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.
“The Bible written 2,000 years ago is talking about today … and planes fall out the sky – it’s enough to make you go. . .” she said, making a surprised face. “But when you have faith in God it transcends everything else because you go, you know what? I have eternal life with Christ … so even if I come to this end, I know I will be with God.”
Kevin Rawlins said that when not ministering at the center, Blow The Trumpet ministers to people with special needs and learning disabilities, sometimes taking the word to drug infested communities without judgment.
The on-site session that day wrapped up in the early afternoon, then, like the other congregations, the group left the building, which locked up automatically.
And a few hours later, the space transformed again – without any real physical changes – into another church and its worshippers.
Colorado Kachin Baptist Church
At about 3 pm, Pastor James Naw Bawk unlocked the doors and about a half-dozen people walked in, most of them in jeans and sneakers, one with his hair two-toned, black in the back and golden-orange up front.
They were there to hear the pastor lead Colorado Kachin Baptist Church for a handful of mainly young people, some refugees, who come from Kachin, the northernmost state in the country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma; which shares a border with China and has a population of about 55 million.
As the voices and energy took up the room, the common experiences of church could again be felt despite the language barrier. Initially, the pastor, dressed in mainly western clothes with a hat traditional to Myanmar, was officiating. Then, using tablets and other technology, another man then took the lead, ministering to people who, wrapped up in the spiritual moment they were having, seemed not to notice that the space itself was both large and impersonal, given the small size of the group.
A lack of aesthetic attention in multi-faith spaces is common, according to an article, “Global Phenomenon of Multifaith Worship Spaces,” in the online magazine of the Center for Architecture. It was based on the fieldwork of a student pursuing a master’s in architecture, who received a grant in 2018 to do a deep dive into the architecture of multi-faith spaces, funded in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Among the findings: “Although what exactly imparts a sense of spirituality in a space is subjective to each individual, it is nonetheless clear when no effort has been made by the designer or administrator to nurture an aesthetic of contemplation and solemnity. Sadly, this aesthetic neglect is the case in most multifaith worship spaces. Since many of these sites are created with limited funding by non-designers, aesthetics are often the last thing to be considered. Even well-funded spaces are often left intentionally bland to maintain denominational neutrality.”
Several congregations personalized the space by bringing their own banners to drape over the lectern. They took them down when they left, which kept the space from taking on any particular religion’s style of decor. This is not unusual, according to the article, which states: “In the majority of multifaith worship spaces, there is no designer involved; they are furnished by a facility administrator, usually as an afterthought.”
The article describes multi-faith worship spaces as a global phenomenon that began to crop up in the 1950s, noting their existence in New York, Boston, London, Manchester, Zurich and Berlin.
The article points out two main types: the Multifaith Chamber, which, like the Village Exchange Center, consists of “a central gathering space shared by different faith groups;” it is described as more common, more adaptable and less expensive. The other style is the Multifaith Complex, which “allocates separate prayer rooms for each faith so they need not share spaces with other groups,” according to the report.
The sharing of spaces seemed not to be a problem at the Village Exchange Center, because the schedule allowed ample time before one service ended and the next began – usually about a half hour during which the building was unoccupied very briefly.
8th CEPAC Pentecostal Church of Colorado
The day capped off at about 5 pm, when the final group filled up the parking lot across the street and filed inside. Senior Pastor Enock Mahangaiko Hawazi heads 8th CEPAC Pentecostal Church of Colorado, which he said was modeled to be similar to the one he pastored in the Democratic Republic of Congo before coming to the US. It lasted from about 5:30 until 8 pm, the longest of the sessions, and had the largest congregation.
That’s because usually, it’s attended both by relocated DRC nationals, as well as Malawian students from DU, who usually arrive by shuttle and have their own choir, he said.
This congregation had about a dozen small children, some better than others at sitting still. Once or twice, as the gathering got underway, a newborn baby could be heard clucking and cooing, being held on the lap of its mother, one of the pastor’s daughters, three of whom attended the service.
While some women had traditional clothing often worn in the DRC – printed fabric dresses with matching headraps – one woman had a red and white outfit on. She was the only woman drummer of the day, sitting on stage behind a drum set while children and adults sang in unison. That day the sermon was about love and acts of service.
Pastor Narucki, who meets with leaders of the congregations quarterly, said he usually doesn’t attend their services so they can have the space and privacy to worship.
He created the opportunity for the four congregations to meet at the Village Exchange Center a decade ago, while pastoring St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church. Noticing that the church’s membership was dwindling, he came up with a way to maximize usage of the space: he opened it up for use by the congregations.
After two years, the Lutheran church stopped meeting due to low attendance, but the four small communities of worshippers continued to show up and worship at different times throughout each Sunday.
Pastor Narucki changed the tax status of the church to become the non-profit Village Exchange Center, the subject of a local student’s thesis, which is also home to other community-oriented services such as a farm and a food bank, in the heart of a part of Aurora where many immigrants and refugees live.
He mentioned that with the new Trump administration – which called for a raid of some apartment complexes in Aurora in early February – and its aversion to immigrants, the churches ministering to immigrants and refugees are more necessary now than ever. “We don’t know how things are ultimately going to play out, but we’re all kind of being alert and concerned,” he said.
“The safe expression of being together, that is a source of identity for communities, and of resiliency,” he said. “And I think that’s especially needed and critical for this period we are in.”
