THE CHURCH
Community Presbyterian Church in Lake City, Colorado
THE CHALLENGE
Hikers are always coming and going in the area.
ONE BIG IDEA
Cook a homemade meal for hikers every Sunday.
Lake City, Colorado, may be small with a population only in the hundreds, but this town in the San Juan Mountains still stands out. It is the sole municipality in Hinsdale County, the most remote area in the lower 48 states.
For years, hikers on the nearby Colorado and Continental Divide Trails have passed through Lake City, but residents remained cautious in interacting with the strangers. Today, thanks to the hospitality of Community Presbyterian Church, the town has become a must-stop attraction for those who enjoy the outdoors.
The evolution began with Teaching Elder Jason Brian Santos, who arrived five years ago at the historic church. Founded in 1876, Community Presbyterian holds the honor of being the oldest Protestant church on the Western Slope of Colorado.
Noticing hikers coming and going in town throughout the summer, Santos says, “The question in the back of my head was, How can we serve them?”
By summer 2021, he came up with an answer: Cook a free, homemade Sunday meal for anyone on the trail. His congregation, which averages about 40 in the winter and over 1,000 in the summer, was initially uncertain about his plan.
“I think my elders were a little hesitant,” Santos says. “It was the most random thing ever.”
But the ministry quickly gained a reputation among those outdoor enthusiasts on the trail thanks to weekly Facebook posts and hiking apps like FarOut. Before long, dozens of hikers were showing up for dinner every Sunday.
By 2022, Santos formally launched the Trail Hiker Center, which is open seven days a week from June to September. The center offers free coffee and snacks, high-speed internet and loaner bikes. In addition, hikers have a place to rest, do laundry and get free toiletries. As for the Sunday dinners, they are now known as Sunday Trail Hiker Meals, and have included such fare as paninis, Pad Thai, roast turkey, jerk chicken and rice, and grilled sausages.
The church took over a shuttle service to make traveling through the remote town easier for visitors. In addition, the hiker center has agreed to receive a hiker’s resupply packages two weeks in advance of the hiker’s arrival.
According to Santos, visitors have described the center as a place that “restores your faith in humanity.” One mother wrote to the church in gratitude because her daughter renewed her faith in God after visiting.
“I think I have made my peace with the idea that a church can be a place of love,” her daughter said.
One commenter on a Reddit thread focused on the Colorado Trail said, “Jason is a dang good human being. I sat and had a 15-minute convo with him. We talked about how he got to his place and how I got to my place. Beautiful.”
Another person wrote, “I got to go to Sunday dinner last year and the whole town goes all out for the hikers. Nothing but love for everything they do.”
The church does not proselytize to the hikers, but when asked about the motivation for the outreach, Santos is open.
“We are there to show Christ’s love through radical hospitality and care,” he says.
