COMMENTARY

Mission is to make a divine difference downtown

I suspected God didn’t like sprawl, wasteful as it can be to divinely created resources.

Apparently, he’s fed up enough with ours that he sent an A-team for a downtown marketing push. Leawood’s megachurch, the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, is building a presence in Kansas City’s downtown.

Set aside whatever religious persuasion you may have, this is an effort worth following.

Resurrection is at 137th and Roe, the hinterlands of suburbia. Yet its membership has been hearing a message counter to the one that helped create the suburbs, the out-migration that ferments sprawl.

Consider moving back to the city, the Rev. Adam Hamilton is telling his flock. Empty-nesters are especially targeted, as they no longer need the suburban school systems that drew them to southern Johnson County in the first place.

By late November, weekly services will be held at Grand Avenue Temple, a church completed in 1911 at 205 E. Ninth. Grand Avenue’s pastor, who will partner in the effort, approached Hamilton with the idea to go beyond the usual suburban/urban faith partnerships.

So far, about a half-dozen Resurrection families have swapped Southern Johnson County ZIP codes for the River Market and the Crossroads. Another pastor, the Rev. Scott Chrostek, was hired from Detroit to lead Resurrection Downtown. Chrostek has been hanging in downtown coffee shops, gathering up new members and attending civic meetings to make connections. Two initial worship services, held at the Scarritt Building, each drew about 200 people. Expect that to grow.

Resurrection in Leawood boasts an inordinate ability to build membership, from four members in 1990 to more than 12,000 adult members last year. Average weekly attendance is more than 7,500.

Consider if such a population had a base around downtown. Or fanned out for shopping, coffee or brunch post-services. The desolate nature of downtown during the weekend day hours would be gone, not to mention the civic and charitable outreach Resurrection promotes.

Resurrection has been named among the most influential mainline churches in America. That recognition no doubt helped spark interest in this endeavor. Church officials have asked about replicating it in Chicago and St. Louis.

The usual development tools could only go so far in luring people back to the city — amenities such as lofts, a grocery, galleries, wine and sports bars. Consider that faith communities have long been among the most successful at providing what people crave: connectedness, a sense of belonging and purpose.

This idea, engineered on behalf of God, is among the most exciting development efforts in downtown.

To reach Mary Sanchez, call 816-234-4752 or send e-mail to msanchez@kcstar.com.

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