A downtown Kansas City mainstream denomination church is bucking the trend of declining religious affiliation and shrinking church attendance.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, established a downtown campus six years ago.
Currently, Resurrection Downtown meets a brick commercial building at 1522 McGee that looks more like an industrial supply company than a church. But like the mega-church that gave it life, the downtown church is no average storefront church.
This week the Kansas City Council advanced plans for the church to build a new facility on the site that has been used as a parking lot for employees at the Kansas City Star's huge glass-sided printing plant on Truman Road.
The site will also provide parking for one of the fastest growing congregations in the city. Campus pastor Scott Chrostek told the Planning, Zoning and Economic Development Committee over its six year existence the church has grown from a worship attendance of fewer than 100 to about 1,000 regular attendees – a growth he describes as “awsome.”
More than two-thirds of those who attend the downtown church live within walking distance, Chrostek says.
Steve Bell is afternoon news anchor and business news reporter for KCUR 89.3. He may be reached at 816-235-5173 or steveb@kcur.org
