Our History

St. Augustine's Episcopal mission was established in 1897, five years after Creede became an incorporated town. The Venerable Charles Grimes, known as the "Cowboy Preacher" established St. Augustine's, and services were held in a "rudely put up structure." By May 1906, parishioners began to collect money for a building. The new building was first used in March of 1907. The cost was $1024.00.

Through much of its history St. Augustine's has held services infrequently due to problems with distance and lack of priests. Most of the clergy have come from the San Luis Valley. Father Robert Whiting kept the faith alive in the San Luis Valley and Creede from 1944 until 1975. St. Augustine's had never had a priest of its own; however, in 2008 St Augustine formed a Limited Liturgical Mission Partnership with St Stephen’s, Monte Vista and St Francis, South Fork. This allowed each congregation to jointly share the services of a Vicar appointed by the Colorado Diocese and allowed Lay Pastoral Leaders to be appointed and oversee the Administration of the Reserved Sacrament by a Lay Pastoral Leader (LPL). Having LPLs allow us to partake in communion whenever a priest is absent. Jan Jacobs was appointed our first LPL. With her faithful service to St Augustine, we survived many challenges and are now positioned to continue ministering to our community. Recently, God has blessed us by leading a priest, Rev Dawn Simpson, to join our congregation and enrich us with her presence and ministry.

In 1978 a badly needed renovation was completed on the church. The interior and exterior were repaired. The low ceiling was raised and the dark colors and dark furnishings were replaced by lighter colors. A second major renovation was begun in 2021 and is continuing.

In 2021 the congregation decided to blend the traditions of both the Episcopal Church the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America into our services.

Today St. Augustine's has a service every Sunday, generally with Holy Eucharist twice a month. The remaining Sundays are either a Communion service led by our Lay Pastoral Leader or a Morning Prayer service.