For years, Rev. Lora Andrews dreamed of opening a church centered on communities whose needs she felt have often been overlooked by mainstream religions — those who are LGBTQ, people of color and younger generations.
Now, she is realizing her dream as one of the founders of Roots Church KC, a new United Methodist Church congregation in Roeland Park.
Roots Church KC can open thanks, in large part, to the availability of an empty church space that the larger Methodist denomination already owns, the former Roeland Park United Methodist Church at 5110 Cedar St.
The former church, behind Walmart and just across the street from Cedar Roe Library, closed in June 2023, after more than 100 years of hosting worship.
After 11 years as a pastor at other churches for the denomination, Andrews, who is queer herself, said there is a difference between feeling welcome in an existing space versus creating and leading a space specifically designed for and by “people on the margins.”
“Roots [Church] is rooted in Jesus, justice and joy, and centers those voices so that there’s a place of liberation,” Andrews said. “Not to exclude people who have kind of the more privileged narrative in their world, but to have a place where both those groups can be welcome and be together, but be led by folks who have maybe experienced more marginalization in the church previously.”
Andrews cites Roeland Park city’s ‘openness’
Aside from an available and empty building in the denomination’s back pocket and the proximity to the larger Kansas City metro, the city of Roeland Park’s welcoming reputation also drew her attention, Andrews said.
In fact, Roeland Park’s city tagline “Uniquely Rooted” is the inspiration behind the name for Roots Church KC, Andrews said.
Andrews pointed to the fact that Roeland Park was one of the first cities in Kansas to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance six years ago codifying legal protections for LGBTQ residents in employment and public housing.
Andrews said the goal was to open a new church “in a place that is already doing some of that intersectional justice work just by who they are as a community.”
“We love their openness, their commitment to diversity and equity,” Andrews said. “They have a longstanding history of doing that work.”
Roots Church wants to be out in the community
Andrews said as Roots Church KC has been working on updates to the church building, including a new coat of paint, new art and gender-inclusive bathrooms, she has also met with some of her new neighbors.
She said that most of the Roeland Park residents she has met have never been inside the church itself, which has been around for decades.
Andrews said she is excited to open up the church for neighbors and the community to use for events. One neighbor even wants to lead yoga classes.
That’s not necessarily new for the space. The former congregation for years ran a weekly community food pantry.
Andrews wants to continue in that spirit of giving back and reaching out.
For instance, Roots Church KC is partnering with The Giving Brick, a Roeland Park nonprofit that rebuilds Lego blocks for children, for an early April community event.
The church officially opens for worship on Feb. 26
Andrews said the first official worship at Roots Church KC will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, a week before Ash Wednesday, which begins the annual Christian season of Lent, a time of reflection and self-sacrifice leading up to Easter.
Roots Church KC’s worship will be a bit nontraditional because it is more participatory than typical Christian worship services, Andrews said.
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