Colorado Springs may seem a strange locale for mission work. The Rev. Ken Ross, senior pastor for the IAC, once would have agreed. He wanted to start a Rwandan mission church in Washington, D.C., or Connecticut, and thought Colorado Springs needed “another white, middle-class church like it needs a hole in the head.”

But Ross felt God was calling him to the city. So he came, setting groundwork for the new church in early 2002. He wanted the church to emphasize the word “international” in its name and attract congregants who have lived or worked in other countries, bringing a multicultural perspective to worship.

The IAC is part of the Anglican Mission, a group of about 60 churches around the country under direction from Anglican and Episcopal provinces overseas, primarily from Rwanda and Southeast Asia. These overseas provinces are part of the 70 million-member Anglican Communion, to which the Episcopal Church U.S.A. also belongs.

Anglican Mission churches tend to be more conservative than Episcopalian parishes. No surprise, since Anglicans in developing nations tend to be more conservative than Episcopalians here.

The Anglican church is huge in many of these countries — at least 16 million Anglicans live in Nigeria alone, according to Ross, compared with about 2.4 million Episcopalians in the United States. And Anglicanism is the second fastest-growing Christian denomination in the world, next to Catholicism, Ross said.

The Rwandan province has relatively few Anglicans — about 180,000 out of 8.7 million people, according to the Anglican Communion Web site (www.anglicancommunion. org) — but the leadership there is zealously evangelical.

The IAC’s pastors are technically Rwandan missionaries, though they haven’t been to the African nation.

“We’re the lightest-skinned Rwandans you’ll ever meet,” said Ross.

Still, he and Worship Minister Jay Greener say their goal is the same as that of any missionary: Bring the Gospel to people who they feel need it.

Compared to the Christian communities in the third world, Ross said the United States looks positively faithless.

About 130 million Americans don’t go to church, he said. Even Colorado Springs — a national hub of religious activity — has its share of unchurched people.

But Ross and Greener say the people coming to IAC aren’t as much “unchurched” as they are “underchurched.”

Many of the IAC’s 114 members came from other congregations around town, and some had bounced around area churches for years without finding a permanent spiritual home.

Others were “wounded” in their church, and didn’t feel welcome there anymore.

“We’re learning there must be a real need in this community (to heal) that,” Greener said.

Another draw, according to the pastors, is the church’s traditional trappings and liturgy. Most IAC members came from more contemporary churches, so the ancient rites associated with Anglicanism are, to them, new things.

The standard IAC service combines traditional Anglican liturgies with contemporary music.

Ross worked alone for several months trying to start up the IAC. Most churches that begin like this — the Anglican Mission calls them “parachute drops” — fail in a few months. Ross doubted he’d succeed.

“If you asked me two days before we actually planted the church what I’d be doing in six months, I would’ve said selling shoes,” Ross said. “I could at least work with soles.”

But by September 2002, Ross had gathered enough congregants to plant the church. Its first service was at The World Prayer Center, though services moved to Shove a few weeks later. Greener joined the ministry last January.

The work hasn’t gotten easier for either minister. Both work directly for the Anglican Mission too, and sometimes put in 70-hour workweeks.

It’s time well spent, according to Ross.

“I’m having fun,” he said. “This is probably one of the first congregations that I could say if I wasn’t the pastor, I’d be attending.”

The mission work continues. Though the church is still small, IAC hopes to seed another area church this year.

“We’ll be working with them for at least six months, maybe longer, to get them to a point where they have what they need to plant,” Ross said. “What we’re doing is hoping to give them a better start.”

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