Our Story
In the summer of 2015, Shawnee Park Christian Church, located at 16500 Midland Drive since November 1978, moved out of our building and moved into a new rented and renovated space at 5340 Martindale Road in western Shawnee. We relaunched as a new congregation under the name Shawnee Community Christian Church on September 27, 2015.
We get a lot of questions about why a church might do all of that. Here’s our story.
Shawnee Park was founded in 1978 in a house on some donated farmland on Midland Drive. It grew quickly, brimming with youth, built a new sanctuary and education space, and dreamed of an exciting future. Then, during the economic downturn of the early 2000’s, it struggled.
In 2011, during a time of intentional renewal and discernment, we did a study of our neighborhood’s needs, our spending habits, and our commitment to mission. Unfortunately, the majority of our donated funds were going toward a large mortgage we struggled to pay and a building that was aging faster than we could keep up with.
Rethinking Church
After a season of prayer and discernment we determined that “church” was, above all things, supposed to be a people living the mission of love and mercy of Jesus- not a building or a piece of property. We chose to sell our property, relocate to a more sustainable rented space, invest more of ourselves in real mission, and start over as a new church, doing ministry in new ways in the neighborhood of western Shawnee.
We invest 67% of our budget into real hands-on ministry. In 2017, we have provided school supplies including 450 binders for each student at Broken Arrow Elementary, collected food for area families through a partnership with Shawnee Community Services and served at Micah Ministry, a food and clothing ministry in the urban core of Kansas City. We are welcoming new friends to our ministry every week.
We are alive and excitedly moving toward the greater mission of love God has called us to. We are alive because God is faithful and because of faithful people from our legacy church who laid down their personal preferences and comforts in hope of greater things. We are growing and excited to make a difference in the lives of people in our new neighborhood.
We would love for you to be part of the journey with us.