A church family far from Kerala, at home in Colorado

Pastor's Welcome

Pastor Benson Abraham

Greetings to you in the marvelous Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from Denver Salem Church of God. With a heart filled with gratitude towards God Almighty, I consider it as my privilege to pen a few words as the Pastor of Salem Church of God, Denver. God has made this spiritual community grow from a small prayer group to an established church through His miraculous ways. By God's grace we too as a family got the opportunity to be part of what God has done in this church. All we can say is “This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalms 118:23).

Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 about the decisive intervention of God with regard to the growth of any church. Paul planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God has been making it grow. So, Paul is affirming that it is neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. Our God chooses His people from different parts of the world and gives them vision and fills them with His anointing to work for the extension of His Kingdom. He has done that marvelously in the lives of each and every member of this church too. I thank God for those great men and women of God who are chosen by God by giving them the vision to plant a church here in the city of Denver. God's promises and His strengthening Word and presence were there behind the growth of Salem Church of God. That very well proves the statement that Paul says, “It is God who makes this grow”, in regard to this church too.

The humbling truth of the verse above must not be missed. God gives the increase. The agricultural metaphor that Paul uses communicates perfectly. Human agency is necessary — God has made it so. Someone must plant, cultivate, and tend the seed. Without the agency of God, the seed will not grow. One may as well plant, cultivate, and tend a rock without the agency of God. Paul is speaking about the evangelism and spiritual formation. We would do well to humbly accept this truth. We can neither save nor sanctify anyone. Only God can. We shall not assume the place of God; rather what we can do is to be sensible to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and develop our trust in God. God can make changes marvelously and that is what we have seen in the yester years of this church. We trusted in God and He has not let us down in any of the matters that we have brought to His presence in prayer in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.” (Jeremiah 17:7). Prayer has been the most powerful source of confidence behind this community in all the matters we have faced thus far. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We have been given access to the very throne of God through prayer.

Our God who has brought us thus far will surely help us to move forward and work for the extension of His kingdom in this place. We request your prayers as we move forward trusting in God and the promises we have through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

— Pastor Benson Abraham

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From the Church Secretary

Bro. Roye Varghese

I would like to give a brief introduction and history of our church. The church was officially registered under the Church of God in December of 2013. But we had been meeting for years in the basement of Bro. Varghese's house before that. When the church started out it was just Bro. Varghese's family. But soon other relatives and members joined the church. And we invited the Church of God overseer for the Rocky Mountain Region, Bishop Thomas Powell, to come to our worship service. After seeing the service he immediately helped us get registered under the Church of God. He also said he could get us connected to another local church to possibly use a room in their church for our services.

Shortly after we were officially registered under the Church of God, Bishop Powell introduced us to Pastor Mark at Valley View Church of God. After meeting with Pastor Mark he suggested that we use a room in their building to conduct our services. They offered to help us get started and didn't ask for anything in return. As we started meeting in room 106 at Valley View we started to grow.

Even though we initially only met on Sundays to worship, we quickly started other meetings during the week. Our Monday night prayer meeting was one of the first meetings that we started. It was an intercessory prayer meeting. We also started a Friday Fasting Prayer Meeting and a Saturday Cottage Meeting (meeting at individual homes for worship). Pretty soon we had enough kids to also start a Sunday school. The Sunday school would meet in the conference room of Valley View Church of God. Sis. Tinsy was our first Sunday school teacher. Around this time we also started the choir under the direction of Bro. Ronsy.

As the church grew and we started having multiple meetings throughout the week, the church started looking for a Senior Pastor to lead the church. We met multiple pastors, but it was through the recommendation of another pastor that we found Pastor Benson Abraham. Pastor Benson had come to Dallas to complete his masters and was looking for a church to pastor. As soon as he came to Denver and met with the elders and the church we knew he was a right fit for Denver Salem Church of God.

Pastor Benson Abraham became the Senior Pastor at Denver Salem Church of God in August 2017. Shortly after coming to Denver, he was able to bring his wife (Sis. Feba) and two children (Sharon and his newborn son Aaron). Since coming to Denver, Pastor Benson and his family have been a blessing to this church. We were able to host multiple conventions, start our monthly fasting prayer meeting and our Youth Meetings. Pastor Benson has helped to transform the church and has become a valued member of the community.

As we continued meeting in Valley View in room 106, we had discussions with Pastor Mark and Valley View to get a bigger space. We suggested renovating the old hall (4390B Lowell Blvd). Pastor Mark loved the idea and helped get the conversation started. However, because he was retiring, Pastor Shawn took over the project. We worked with Pastor Shawn to help get the renovation of the church hall started. The church poured countless hours and resources to help get the project completed (with the help of Valley View Church of God). The building renovation was completed in October 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. However, nothing could stop us from entering into the new hall and worshiping there. The new hall has been a blessing to both churches and we now exclusively use the building as our own.

As we look back at the history of the church it's amazing to see how far God has brought us. He took us from meeting in the basement to a small room, and from there to having our own hall to worship in. In all of this, God had a plan for this church. As I look back I can see that it was God that directed our every step and made this church what it is today.

— Bro. Roye Varghese