Timnath church prepares for town's growth

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Timnath Presbyterian Church, with its lofty gabled steeple and stunning stained-glass windows, has been a predominant physical and spiritual presence since it sprouted 117 years ago on the main street of what was becoming a lively little agricultural community named by the church's first pastor.

And dedicated parishioners are determined to see that the church continues to play a big role with the town once again beginning to bustle as those former farm fields yield their final crop of stylish subdivisions.

They're doing that by assuring the church has room to grow along with the town. The church recently bought two Main Street houses to the north for eventual expansion that could include new children's facilities, bathrooms and a larger sanctuary to supplement the cozy historic chapel capable of seating about 125.

The church, which has hosted countless 4-H, scout and town meetings, also is sponsoring a Timnath Town Festival from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 11. The event will feature food and fun including carnival games, a cakewalk, rummage sale and information booths.

"We just want to reach out to the community," said Greg Starlin, a member of the church's governing session.

It's all part of an effort to be prepared to grow with Timnath and remain a center for the community,

Members also want to spread the word about what they consider a very special church that many are not aware of. "It's a real gem here and nobody knows that," said Pastor Peg McGowan, whose accent betrays her New Jersey origins. She delightedly assumed those duties about a year ago in a sequence of events she's convinced was divinely directed.

McGowan was the pastor of a church near Albany in upstate New York. One day she was searching the church's online listings for other pastoral opportunities when she happened upon Timnath Presbyterian's request.

"Where the heck is Timnath," she recalled wondering before learning it was a stone's throw from her daughter's home in Fort Collins. McGowan said she promptly submitted her references before leaving on vacation. Almost immediately she heard from those references that they were receiving inquiries from Timnath. She traveled here, met with the congregation and both found a match made in heaven.

"All of this just fell in place so awesomely," she explained with unabashed joy. "There are times when you know things are happening beyond your control. I love Colorado, I love the people of the congregation."

The Presbyterian Church was organized in 1883, a year after the community that would become Timnath was established. The congregation first met at the Fairview School north of town until the church was built 1888 at a cost of $3,500. A major addition and remodeling was completed in 1989.

"Timnath soon began to grow from a little village consisting of a few houses, a church and a one-room school into a bustling little town situated in a productive farming region," states a history of the town presented by the Columbine Club of Timnath. "It became a shipping point for agricultural products and livestock, with four trains a day stopping in Timnath on their round trip runs between Greeley and Fort Collins."

Timnath native and long-time church member Elsie Fisher noted that Timnath still boasted a number of businesses when she was in high school. "The largest sheep-feeding area in the world was right here," added her husband, Duane, a church member since 1936.

Even as activity in Timnath waned, "the church never shut its door," said Elsie. And now that Timnath is once again hopping, the congregation wants all to know that the doors will remain open all the wider in service to the town and people of faith throughout the area.