IN FOCUS Fellowship Kansas City

FELLOWSHIP KANSAS CITY

LOCATION: Kansas City, Missouri

Midwestern Seminary exists for the Church. Consequently, in every issue of the Midwestern Magazine, we highlight a church doing faithful work. For this issue, we caught up with some of the staff and pastors at Fellowship KC, a church in Parkville, Mo., just outside of Kansas City. Fellowship KC is pastored by Dr. Wesley Vance, a two-time graduate of Midwestern Seminary.

MBTS Tell us a bit about the origins of

Fellowship KC. When did it start and what have been a few highlights since planting of the church?

FELLOWSHIP KC The story of The Fellowship Kansas City is truly a remarkable story. The initial vision for the church began with Steve Dighton, the founding pastor of Lenexa Baptist Church, in order to reach an area of Kansas City underserved by churches. Serving alongside Pastor Steve at Lenexa Baptist, we began the tenacious work of casting a vision of what we believed God was doing. Along the way, we saw the beauty of what it means to be Southern Baptists. We saw the sacrificial stewardship of Southern Baptists giving through the Cooperative Program to support us through the North American Mission Board, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Many do not know that in the early days of Dr. Allen’s administration, he was a champion not just in word but in deed for the church. In August 2013, we planted the church in the newly completed Chapel Building at Midwestern Seminary. From that outpost of ministry, we began to labor to reach the 250,000 people in northern Kansas City in need of the gospel. The church consistently saw healthy growth to the point that, in November 2015, we were able to relocate and replant a declining church in a nearby area. Since then, we have witnessed the life-changing impact of gospelcentered ministry as the church has grown both numerically and spiritually each year

MBTS What has been the vision behind

Fellowship KC? What mission drives the people and the pastors of the Church?

FKC Since the inception of The Fellowship Kansas City, we have been resolute in reaching the 250,000 people who live in the Northland of Kansas City without Jesus. They are dads and moms who live next to us, they are young professionals who we recreate with, and they are children we educate and champion in our community. They live under the damning effects of sin and desperately need more than a morality pick-me-up; they need salvation through Jesus Christ alone. From business leaders to teenagers, we are indiscriminate about the church sharing the gospel. In fact, three words drive every ministry of our church: multiplying disciples together. These three words provide the ministry framework for our children and students. We cultivate next-generation leaders and disciple new believers with this approach. The phrase is also how we evaluate effectiveness. Are we truly multiplying disciples together? This is what drives and moves us as a church.

MBTS Fellowship KC is in close geographical

proximity to Midwestern Seminary in the Kansas City metropolitan area. What is unique about pastoring near a seminary?

FKC There is a sweet joy in pastoring near MBTS. While I know pastors around other seminaries and Bible colleges do so with weariness as know-it-all students infiltrate their church with a textbook knowledge and self-described expertise, that could not be further from the truth for us. The students of MBTS genuinely love and want to serve the local church. They approach the church with humility, graciousness, and civility. As their pastor, I have the privilege of cultivating Midwestern students for ministry through our Pastoral Fellowship and Timothy Track Programs. With intentionality, we invite students and their spouses into our home to share meals, discuss ministry, and encourage them all because we want to see them succeed. We want to provide a place for them to safely wrestle with theological truths and provide opportunities for practical ministry. Pastoring both professors and students is an honor but, ultimately, we are called to be their pastors who care for them and their families in a manner that honors Christ. MBTS This particular church highlight inter-

view is unique in the sense that we’ve recently endured a global pandemic. While many of our readers are well aware of the difficulties of leadership during the pandemic, is there anything that makes you hopeful as a result of this difficult season?

FKC The pandemic has taught us many lessons, but it has also revealed the resilience of the Bride of Christ. It has forced the church to pause, reflect, and, in many ways, recapture the practices of the early church. It has pressed the church to articulate the importance of the Ordinances and the significance of the church gathered. In all of this, we have seen the church, once busy with the activities of life, begin to live with an urgency of eternity as they look with hope to a heavenly homeland secured by Jesus. As we look beyond the pandemic with hope, there is a joyfulness in seeing how the church found her confidence not in programs but in our Christ.