Earthdate: 7/27/07
Captains Log: DAY 3 Kansas City (Lenexa) – Kaw Prairie Community Church KPCC (a partner church of the PCUSA/Presbyterian & the ELCA)
Today we met the team from Kaw Prairie Community Church. You may notice that the name “Lutheran” is not in their name. This omission is intentional. It is because KPCC is a joint effort between the ELCA and the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). The ELCA fronted the start up costs and the PCUSA has given them the land. They presently worship in a lunch room at a new Roman Catholic High School.
KPCC, like Rejoice!, is a baby church. Whereas we are an infant baby, they are a toddler baby. But they, like we, are still young enough where everything we do still seems new. They, like we, are at a stage where there are no set rules and there is a lot of room for creativity and experimentation. One such example of experimentation is their order of worship. Unlike nearly all mainline Christian churches, KPCC celebrates Communion before the sermon, weekly. Pastor Dan said, “I can give you theological reasons like Jesus always fed people first and then taught them later, but really we order things this way mainly just because it works for us.” Another unique thing KPCC does is that they do not take an offering during the worship. They just leave two Pier 1 sort of pots in a conspicuous place in the worship space. All those people who have bought into the mission give and give generously. This, too, is “different,” but it “works” for them.
Their plans for their future worship space and ministry building are very interesting. (The architectural plans for the building can be found on their website http://www.kawprairie.org/) There is a coffee shop in the front entrance/central-courtyard. There is also a McDonald’s type playland just off of that central-courtyard. The plan is that moms and dads of preschoolers could come drink good coffee while their kids play in the McPlayland. In addition there is a youth/theater room. All of these spaces can be rented for birthdays, etc. Their main worship center doubles as a basketball gym. The space is creative, functional and welcoming! Ultimately the building, like the people, becomes a welcoming space for the unchurched/dechurched.
Even though they are making plans for building a building, KPCC seems in no hurry to have a building. They know that their building will happen by Christmas 2008, but no one seems very stressed over the completion of that building. KPCC is a community that completely does not equate success with a building. Their future building is only a tool to expand their ministry. They see a building as a step in the growth life of KPCC not the destination.
KPCC tries to groom volunteers from within their community. Some of these volunteers grow in ability and responsibility. KPCC believes, as time goes on, that some of the volunteers will just simply grow into a paid positions. In fact this just happened. They just hired their first fulltime staff. Her area of responsibility is Family Ministry Coordination. She just exudes confidents and organization.
KPCC, like Rejoice! seems to strive to “grow smaller as they grow bigger.” They have several wonderful small groups like Alpha, Men’s group, Women’s Group, Divorced Group and even a Paintball small group. (This paintball group would be more than enough for my son to sign up J)
KPCC has tried many and varied ways to get their name into the community…from door-knocking, to post cards, to roadside signs, to being a part of local parades. During the door knocking, they intentionally cut across yards (rather than using sidewalks and driveways) because they figure people who would be bugged about someone walking on their lawn would also be the sort of person who would not be a good fit for a mission church. I am not sure what I think about this…but it keeps rolling around in my brain.
At each church we have visited, I have decided to be bold and ask for financial help with the extra seating we will soon need for fall. To expand our seating, we will need about $4,000 of chairs and equipment. Interestingly the smallest church we will visit was the first to offer help, that is real help. KPCC is giving us their used rear projection screen that they no longer use in their present worship space. (this is a $1000+ item!) Wow! Baby churches are the coolest churches in the whole world! (Rejoice! KPCC, etc.!)
Pastor Dan, after hearing about all the different churches we were visiting said, “I am not sure how much we will help teach you…I hope this trip you made to us didn’t feel like a waste of time.” I said, “Oh no Dan, don’t think that. This stop with you is probably the most important stop along the way. You at KPCC are the place that best helps us connect the dots between where we are now and where we might be 10 years from now. Without you, the other churches ministries seem a little unrealistic and beyond our means.” Don shrugged and gave an unconvinced “maybe” sort of look and let out a nearly inaudible, “Hmmm.” Interestingly, as we were saying our good-byes, one of the other people on the Rejoice! team said almost the same things I said without any prompting. Dan and his team gave us a big smile…
If you would like to see pictures from Day 3, click….
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXQw
Thanks for reading. Thanks for all your prayers…we feel them…keep ‘em coming!
Peace Out!
T-Rob
Today we met the team from Kaw Prairie Community Church. You may notice that the name “Lutheran” is not in their name. This omission is intentional. It is because KPCC is a joint effort between the ELCA and the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). The ELCA fronted the start up costs and the PCUSA has given them the land. They presently worship in a lunch room at a new Roman Catholic High School.
KPCC, like Rejoice!, is a baby church. Whereas we are an infant baby, they are a toddler baby. But they, like we, are still young enough where everything we do still seems new. They, like we, are at a stage where there are no set rules and there is a lot of room for creativity and experimentation. One such example of experimentation is their order of worship. Unlike nearly all mainline Christian churches, KPCC celebrates Communion before the sermon, weekly. Pastor Dan said, “I can give you theological reasons like Jesus always fed people first and then taught them later, but really we order things this way mainly just because it works for us.” Another unique thing KPCC does is that they do not take an offering during the worship. They just leave two Pier 1 sort of pots in a conspicuous place in the worship space. All those people who have bought into the mission give and give generously. This, too, is “different,” but it “works” for them.
Their plans for their future worship space and ministry building are very interesting. (The architectural plans for the building can be found on their website http://www.kawprairie.org/) There is a coffee shop in the front entrance/central-courtyard. There is also a McDonald’s type playland just off of that central-courtyard. The plan is that moms and dads of preschoolers could come drink good coffee while their kids play in the McPlayland. In addition there is a youth/theater room. All of these spaces can be rented for birthdays, etc. Their main worship center doubles as a basketball gym. The space is creative, functional and welcoming! Ultimately the building, like the people, becomes a welcoming space for the unchurched/dechurched.
Even though they are making plans for building a building, KPCC seems in no hurry to have a building. They know that their building will happen by Christmas 2008, but no one seems very stressed over the completion of that building. KPCC is a community that completely does not equate success with a building. Their future building is only a tool to expand their ministry. They see a building as a step in the growth life of KPCC not the destination.
KPCC tries to groom volunteers from within their community. Some of these volunteers grow in ability and responsibility. KPCC believes, as time goes on, that some of the volunteers will just simply grow into a paid positions. In fact this just happened. They just hired their first fulltime staff. Her area of responsibility is Family Ministry Coordination. She just exudes confidents and organization.
KPCC, like Rejoice! seems to strive to “grow smaller as they grow bigger.” They have several wonderful small groups like Alpha, Men’s group, Women’s Group, Divorced Group and even a Paintball small group. (This paintball group would be more than enough for my son to sign up J)
KPCC has tried many and varied ways to get their name into the community…from door-knocking, to post cards, to roadside signs, to being a part of local parades. During the door knocking, they intentionally cut across yards (rather than using sidewalks and driveways) because they figure people who would be bugged about someone walking on their lawn would also be the sort of person who would not be a good fit for a mission church. I am not sure what I think about this…but it keeps rolling around in my brain.
At each church we have visited, I have decided to be bold and ask for financial help with the extra seating we will soon need for fall. To expand our seating, we will need about $4,000 of chairs and equipment. Interestingly the smallest church we will visit was the first to offer help, that is real help. KPCC is giving us their used rear projection screen that they no longer use in their present worship space. (this is a $1000+ item!) Wow! Baby churches are the coolest churches in the whole world! (Rejoice! KPCC, etc.!)
Pastor Dan, after hearing about all the different churches we were visiting said, “I am not sure how much we will help teach you…I hope this trip you made to us didn’t feel like a waste of time.” I said, “Oh no Dan, don’t think that. This stop with you is probably the most important stop along the way. You at KPCC are the place that best helps us connect the dots between where we are now and where we might be 10 years from now. Without you, the other churches ministries seem a little unrealistic and beyond our means.” Don shrugged and gave an unconvinced “maybe” sort of look and let out a nearly inaudible, “Hmmm.” Interestingly, as we were saying our good-byes, one of the other people on the Rejoice! team said almost the same things I said without any prompting. Dan and his team gave us a big smile…
If you would like to see pictures from Day 3, click….
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXQw
Thanks for reading. Thanks for all your prayers…we feel them…keep ‘em coming!
Peace Out!
T-Rob
6 comments:
WOW! How awesome! I'm sure you guys are learning a ton! Thanks for taking the time out to do this!
Our thoughts are with you as you travel!
Jeff, Shannon, & Ryan
P.S. Pastor Tim--Do you ever sleep?
Dear Shannon...no...I never sleep...he-he
Shannon:
PTR keeps us hopping...but don't let him kid you...his eyes were as heavy as the rest of ours were tonight!!
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!
Tim, Jim, Don, Sonia, and DeWayne-- It sounds like your trip has been a great success so far! How do you process so much information each day? Or are you saving that for when you get home? Orrin and I talk about you all quite often and pray each day for our weary travelers by name. While you are the fortunate ones to actually experience all of this, we know that ultimately it is being done for our benefit and we thank you.
Take Care,
Orrin & Sharon
Sharon and Orrin:
Thank you so much for your daily prayers. We feel them...so please keep them coming.
We try to process a little bit about each stop every day, but there is still much to think about and process. We can't wait to share our trip with everyone!
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