Beyond Belief
Holding a Balance of Unity Within Diversity
Jo Shryrock likes living in Tonganoxie, Kansas. It’s a small town, with a population of little more than 5,000. The people are friendly, and it’s a great place to raise children. But she wishes there were more diversity, particularly religious diversity, in her town. She looks at Kansas City, Missouri, and sees how the varied…
New Headquarters Marks Another Turning Point For KCK’s Youthfront
Over its 75-plus years, Youthfront, a Christian ministry that supports youth pastors and offers summer camps and other programs for young people, has made several key transitions. And now it’s changing locations. Well, slightly. The organization’s 38 full-time staff members are moving into new headquarters at 4600 Rainbow Boulevard in Kansas City, Kansas, and preparing…
Angry Metro Clergy Await Homosexuality Decision from United Methodist Church
Right after a governing body of the United Methodist Church in February approved keeping the denomination’s ban on gay clergy and on any clergy officiating at same-sex weddings, the Rev. Tex Sample was indignant and defiant. He told worshippers at Trinity United Methodist Church in Midtown Kansas City that their historically gay-friendly congregation would follow…
The Christianity Spectrum: Local Millennials Share How They Do Church
Chantell Smith was sitting on the couch in her apartment flipping through the channels when she saw the news. A gunman had entered a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and killed nine people. She felt defeated. Her cheeks were wet with tears. “That was the one where I was just like, ‘What is…
Beliefs Ease Strain of Rime Buddhist Center Financial Struggles
In early March, the winter-brown grass on the vacant lot at the northwest corner of 30th Street and Highland in Kansas City reflected the harsh winter weather that pummeled the city for several months. It looked beaten, exhausted, almost breathless. But this land is where the Rime (pronounced REE-may) Buddhist Center has placed its long-term…
Church Is Ray Of Light In Urban KC Neighborhood
The Sheffield Family Life Center, a 6,000-member Assembly of God church, is a sparkling diamond in an urban coal mine. It’s big, diverse and a key center of life in Kansas City’s distressed Blue Valley area. “We are in a location where we kind of get left out,” says Sheffield’s pastor George Westlake III. “We’re…
Gatherings Create ‘Community of Reason’ Each Week At UMKC
A major story about religion in America in recent decades has been the decline of various Christian denominations and the rise of the religiously unaffiliated to about 25 percent of the adult population. But for all those decades, a group of people mostly outside of faith traditions has been operating in Kansas City. Just like…
Two Johnson County Churches Bridge Centuries-Old Theological Schism
Two neighboring Catholic and Lutheran churches in Johnson County are trying to repair some of the epic rupture to Christianity caused 501 years ago by a Catholic monk named Martin Luther. Luther, without really meaning to, started the Protestant Reformation by publishing a list of 95 matters he thought church leaders should debate. His disagreements…
Celebrating Kansas City And All Its Traditions (From Here and Abroad)
For some, it is art. For others, it is food and music. The common thread, however, is that these activities are touchstones for transplants to the Kansas City area — some of whom arrived from halfway around the world as refugees from violent conflict and political turmoil. The holiday season is a time to celebrate…
KC Catholic School Learns, Grows After Swastika Incident
In September 2017, a photo posted on Snapchat showed a group of St. Teresa’s Academy students posing in front of a table with beer pong cups arranged in the shape of a left-facing swastika. Social media exploded. That incident at a private home “really brought us to our knees,” says Nan Bone, who is just…