“First Presbyterian, at 1820 15th St. in Boulder, is moving toward the finish line in its bid for dismissal from the mainstream Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to join the Goleta, Calif.-based ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, a network of more than 230 congregations founded in 2012.”

First Presbyterian Church of Boulder is the recipient of a surprise gift at the tail end of the holiday season as pastors from other area churches showed up this week with a significant contribution toward the $2.3 million needed to secure its downtown property.

The $48,000 was delivered in person to a church staff meeting on Tuesday. The cash gifts came from churches ranging in size from the massive Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette with its metro area congregation of roughly 20,000, to more modest-sized parishes such as Vinelife in Gunbarrel, Ascent Community Church in Louisville, Boulder’s Cornerstone church, Boulder Valley Christian Church and The Well in Boulder.

The unexpected windfall was highlighted in a Wednesday blog post by Carl Hoffman, associate pastor for spiritual formation and discipleship at First Presbyterian, who writes periodically on a blog called “Latte Life at the Crossroads.”

Jeff Hoffmeyer, who will assume a temporary post as senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Collins in February and has long-standing ties to the First Presbyterian Church of Boulder, was part of the group making the surprise delivery.

“It was right before noon, and we knew they had a staff meeting and their whole staff was going to be present,” Hoffmeyer said. “We essentially crashed their meeting and surprised them. That was the fun part of it. It was an emotional time. Erik (Erik Hanson, lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Boulder) had tears in his eyes as he was responding.”

Hanson still sounded overwhelmed on Thursday.

“I think the first thing I’d say is I was astonished,” Hanson said. “It was just glorious. It’s an extraordinary expression of unity. Because of who we are as human beings, unity is a very hard thing to hold on to.”

Hoffmeyer said the money was merely the “tangible” expression of a deeper current of support from parishes throughout Boulder County for what the church is going through.

“The more important part of it was the faces, the bodies. That Flatirons would take the time, that their senior leadership, their teaching pastors and executive pastors were there,” Hoffmeyer said. “Everybody shared communion at the end and that was a profound experience.”

Church marks progress toward fundraising goal

First Presbyterian, at 1820 15th St. in Boulder, is moving toward the finish line in its bid for dismissal from the mainstream Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to join the Goleta, Calif.-based ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, a network of more than 230 congregations founded in 2012.

As part of that process, First Presbyterian must pay a $2.29 million settlement fee to the denomination it’s leaving. Much of that is needed to secure its downtown Boulder property.

The church property, occupying the entirety of a city block, was most recently valued by the Boulder County Assessor at just over $14 million.

An initial payment of $750,000 toward the $2.29 million obligation is due Jan. 28. On Thursday, Hanson said that First Presbyterian is now at $1.65 million in its fundraising drive — the church dubbed the campaign “All In” — so making the initial payment is already a sure thing.

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