Community is a congregation with a rich history of doing justice. Our outreach to the city includes our food pantry that serves our neighborhood. In justice, we seek to support racial and economic equity and we work for full inclusion of all LGBTQ+ people. Learn more about our Justice and Mercy work below.
Feeding the Hungry
We work with several partners to help eliminate hunger in Kansas City. Community's Food Pantry works with Harvesters and is open four times a month for local families. We also partner with both Micah Ministry and Artists Helping the Homeless.
Supporting LGBTQ+
Community is proud to work with the Kansas City Pride Community Alliance to host Proclaiming Pride to create sacred space that celebrates & empowers the LGBTQ+ community and allies in Kansas City. Community also provides space for the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Racial Justice
As people of faith, we are called to break down barriers that divide us by race and class. Community is a proud member of More2, a social justice organization committed to building a Kansas City that embraces all people and offers everyone the opportunity to achieve their greatest potential.
Welcoming Refugees
Community's Welcome Home Team works with Jewish Vocational Services of Kansas City to help with refugee resettlement. We also support Catholic Charities and New Roots for Refugees by hosting an onsite seasonal Farmer’s Market.
Helping Families
Every holiday season, Community sponsors 100 foster kids to make their Christmas extra special! We also partner with Cornerstones of Care for regular giving drives.
Community Christian Church is situated on land once inhabited by the Kickapoo, Kansa and Osage.
The United States government broke many treaties with the tribes and forcibly removed Indigenous people from their ancestral/native land. Overtime, indigenous people lost most of their reservation lands. The U.S. government rarely kept its promises to the First Nations, leading to generations of poverty and cultural nullification. By utilizing this land,, Community acknowledges our ongoing complicity in the oppression of these indigenous groups.
In 1996, the General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) approved the formation of a church-wide process to discern the nature of racism in North America and to develop ways of helping congregations address racism. Out of this process, an Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation initiative was created.
The Initiative calls the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to practice faithfulness with regard to the elimination of racism, which exists in all manifestations of the church, to discern the presence and nature of racism as sin, to develop strategies to eradicate it, and to work toward racial reconciliation.
The Pro-reconciliation/Anti-Racism Initiative was founded upon the need to make visible God’s beloved community. It invites the church to listen to the once silenced voices of its racial/ethnic communities, learn from their wisdom and gain insight from their leadership. It calls the church to discernment and prayer, study of the scriptures and reflection, dialogue and table fellowship. The true goal is to transform, strengthen and deepen the church’s spirituality, resulting in a community that understands its mission to be about bringing justice and salvation to the world.
The Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation initiative is based on these premises:
Want to get involved in Community's Justice and mercy work?
For more information about any of our Justice and Mercy initiatives, partnerships or programs, or to get involved in Community's Mercy and Justice work, please contact Rev. Stephen Underwood when he joins us in February.
