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our mission: who we are

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Christ Community. We are thankful for your interest in discovering more about who we are as a local church. Christ Community is one church in multiple locations where people of all ages experience life together and seek to live out this purpose:

We desire to be a caring family of multiplying disciples,
influencing our community and world for Jesus Christ.

While our purpose remains unchanged from the beginning, we believe God has brought into sharper focus the mission He has entrusted to us: multiplying churches, multiplying disciples, and multiplying leaders.

our values
our beliefs
our history

Multiplying Churches

Christ Community is about multiplying churches because we believe the local church, as God designed it, is the hope of the world. A healthy church is one that generously gives itself away for the glory of God and the good of others.

Multiplying Disciples

Christ Community is about multiplying disciples who desire to follow Jesus in every facet of life. We seek to be the people God designed us to be by entering the yoke of Christ.

Multiplying Leaders

Christ Community is about multiplying leaders who serve the local church and the common good of our communities. We seek to be quiet catalysts in our vocations as the scattered church wherever God has placed us.

Why Plant Churches? - Nathan Miller

From the inception of Christ Community, we have been on a quest to more fully embrace God’s integral design for all of life.

Tom Nelson, Senior Pastor

our mission: where we are headed

Five areas of focus capture the heart of our leadership team and our sense of corporate calling in the coming years. As we work together to embody this important calling, we will seek to sharpen and be sharpened by partners in our city and around the world.

Proclaiming the Gospel

According to God’s design, we will seek to proclaim and live out the gospel as salt and light wherever we are.  We believe it is important for us to grow in our readiness and action of giving a “defense for the hope that is within us.” Specifically, we desire to grow:

…in our understanding of and obedience to God’s word
…in our conversations of faith with neighbors, friends, and co-workers
…in our understanding of and participation in God’s work outside of the United States

Multiplying Flourishing Congregations

According to God’s design, we will seek to flourish in all expressions of congregational life.  We believe it is important for us to multiply the breadth and depth of our life in the local church, and to assist our global partners in this endeavor.  Specifically, we desire to grow:

…in our relational connections with one another
…in the generosity of our time, talent, and treasure to the church
…in the multiplication of growing apprentices and congregations

Seeking the Welfare of the City

According to God’s design, we will seek to work for justice throughout the Kansas City Metro Area.  We believe it is important for us to grow in our capacity to love our city and to expend significant human, financial, and capital resources as we seek the common good. Specifically, we desire to grow:

…in our individual and collective work for the common good of the city
…in serving the poor and marginalized of our city
…in our engagement with city leaders and cultural influencers

Developing Next Generational Leaders

According to God’s design, we will seek to develop and multiply leaders for the home, local church, and society at large.  We believe it is important for us to grow in our capacity to prepare men and women to be integral and influential leaders.  Specifically, we desire to grow:

…in our development and multiplication of healthy families
…in building a web of relationships between children, students, and adults
…in our development and multiplication of church leaders

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Connecting Faith and Work

According to God’s design, we will seek to live out a thoughtful faith that connects Sunday to Monday.  We believe it is important for us to grow in our understanding of how the Christian faith calls us to faithfulness in our places of work, whether paid or unpaid. Specifically, we desire to grow:

…in our understanding of the intersection of faith, vocation, and culture
…in the understanding of our gifts and callings
…in the understanding of how we are to steward our callings

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our values

While there has been great change since the beginning of Christ Community, much has not changed. Who we are called to be, what we value, and the focus of our disciple-making mission has remained the same.

After each value listed below, you will find an opportunity to click to read more. These links will take you to articles where several of our pastoral leaders articulate a core value that is both precious to us and is profoundly shaping us as a congregation. It is our hope that as you read their carefully crafted words, you will get an open window into the heart and soul of who we are called to be as a church family.

We are excited about who God has called us to be and where He is leading us in the days, months, and years ahead. We hope you will prayerfully consider joining us in making Christ Community more effective in our mission and more beautiful in our expression. We would love to have you join us!

our mission
our beliefs
our history

Our quest to discover God’s design for all of life is anchored in these five life-changing values…

Cross

We believe the finished work of Christ on the cross makes it possible to enter the life we were designed to live.

The cross is the most universally recognized symbol of Christianity. It is a symbol of rescue and hope. In short, the cross is shorthand for the message of the gospel. The Apostle Paul, for example, writes about the Christian gospel as being “the message of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

READ MORE

Yoke

We believe we become the people God designed us to be in the yoke of Christ.

“Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

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Bible

We believe the Bible reveals God’s design for all of life.

As a church, we base everything we are and everything we do on this book. But have you ever asked yourself: what is this book, really? What is it for? It says in the New Testament:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

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Church

We believe the primary context in which we are to experience the life God designed is the local church.

The Bible has much to say about the relationship between Jesus and His church. The church is, at various times, called Jesus’ home (Ephesians 2:19-22), Jesus’ family (Hebrews 2:10-13), and Jesus’ bride (Revelation 21:9). But perhaps the most illustrative description of the church is as Jesus’ own body:

“[God] put all things under Christ’s feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:21-22)

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City

We believe we are designed to give ourselves away in our neighborhoods, city, and world.

God addresses His people in the Old Testament through the prophet Jeremiah saying,

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

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our beliefs

As a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, Christ Community adheres to the following ten articles of faith.

our mission
our values
our history

The Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of autonomous churches united around the following theological convictions:

God

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

The Bible

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.

The Human Condition

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus-Israel’s promised Messiah-was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

The Work of Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

The Church

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

Christian Living

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

Christ's Return

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.

Eternal Destiny

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.

More about the Evangelical Free Church of America

efca-logoThe Evangelical Free Church of America

Christ Community Evangelical Free Church is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, an association of some 1,500 autonomous and interdependent churches and church plants united by a mutual commitment to serve our Lord Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and obedience to the Word of God. We are committed to cooperate with one another in ministry and fellowship as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission which Christ has entrusted to His Church. The growing ministry of the EFCA currently extends to over 80 countries of the world.

We do not see ourselves as the “only” church or even as a “perfect” church. We are but one exciting part of Christ’s universal church seeking to be filled with His Spirit and serving Him to the best of our ability. We believe in the total Lordship of Christ and the Great Commission to which He calls all believers.

Christ Community's stance on Frequently Raised Topics

From our RESOURCES page you can download our position papers on the following topics:

  • Exploring God’s Design for Human Sexuality
  • Exploring God’s Design for the Role of Women in the Church
  • Giving God Our Best: God’s Design for Generosity

RESOURCES

our history

Our great adventure began in 1988 when Tom and Liz Nelson sensed God’s calling to plant a church in the Kansas City area. During the fall of that year, a small group of pioneers met weekly for Bible study and prayer, and on March 5, 1989, the first Sunday morning worship service was held at the Corinth Office Building in Prairie Village, Kansas.

Our first decade was a time of development. In those early years, our core values, church culture, and disciple-making mission emerged. As our second decade of ministry unfolded, we experienced a season of deepening. During that time we were given greater clarity as to our core calling to nurture and equip integral and influential apprentices of Jesus. We also began to grasp in new and compelling ways that the local church as God designed it is truly the hope of the world.

Now in our third decade, we believe God is calling us to a time of greater deployment—of giving ourselves away in gracious gospel proclamation and in generous gospel living.

our mission
our values
our beliefs

When Tom and Liz Nelson started Christ Community Church in their apartment in 1988, they had no idea how or where God would lead them. They merely wanted to lead a church that would follow where He was blessing.

“We didn’t look down the road at specifics,” Tom said. “We just felt like God wanted us to plant a church that would influence our culture for the long term. We never had the sense of being ‘mega’ or really flashy. We just wanted to be the kind of church that our culture needed.”

Read more about our history

Our History

“The values and things we hold dear have been there since the beginning.”

Our great adventure began with God calling Tom and Liz Nelson to Kansas City in the summer of 1988. During the fall of that year, a small group of pioneers with a dream met weekly for Bible study and prayer. This small group grew into the “fabulous forty” which, on March 5, 1989, started the first Sunday morning worship service of Christ Community Church. This first service was in the Berakah Room of the Corinth Office Building in Prairie Village, KS.

Continued growth necessitated a move to Mission Valley Middle School and subsequently to Overland Trail Middle School in October of 1990. To serve this growing body, God called a pastoral staff team to give leadership in areas of discipleship, administration, youth, worship, and children.

In 1994 ten beautiful acres were purchased on Kenneth Road in southern Leawood. Construction began in 1999 and in February of 2000, Christ Community moved its worship services to its current Leawood facility. In February of 2004 a new addition was opened with offices and more space for children.

In December 2006, Christ Community launched its Olathe Campus, located on 119th Street between Woodland and Lone Elm. The original building quickly reached capacity and an addition was built in 2011 to meet the needs of the growing congregation, as well as another addition in 2018.

In 2010 a small group of Christ Community members began meeting in downtown Kansas City, MO to begin a congregation in the Crossroads district. The Downtown Campus is located on Baltimore Avenue, north of 18th St.

With the blessing of an incredible church building, Christ Community began a fourth campus in 2012 in the Brookside area of Kansas City, MO, located at 67th and Wornall. After months of planning and building restoration, services began in September 2012.

In January 2015, Christ Community started its fifth campus with an eager and committed group of people. The Shawnee Campus currently meets at 7456 Nieman Road, near 75th and Quivira. 

Through the years, we have experienced wonderful growth in all areas of our ministry. Our church has had a joyful and God-directed past, and we look forward with great anticipation to our future.  It is anticipated that, with God’s timing and guidance, Christ Community will continue to become integral and influential apprentices of Jesus. 

join us!

connect

There are many ways you can get connected at Christ Community. Look through the website for a variety of events, classes, and service opportunities for women, men, and students. If you are new to our church, we would love to have you join us for one of our Sunday morning gatherings. We are located throughout the city in Brookside, Downtown, Leawood, Olathe, and Shawnee areas.

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