Proud of the UMC label

Christian Century, Sept 12, 2001 by J. D.

SENIOR PASTOR Adam Hamilton is barely 37 years old. But in 11 years he has turned a 100-person Methodist startup congregation into a booming church of 8,800 members.

Church literature, as well as the big red flame-and-cross logo on the tower topping the 1,700-seat sanctuary, make it plain that the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, is part of the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination. "I'm proud to be a United Methodist," said Hamilton, who added that the church tries to pay its contributions to the denomination fully by the first quarter rather than through the year.

"While many megachurches downplay their denominational identity, this church makes denominational identity obvious and important," said Lovett H. Weems Jr., president of UMC-related Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri, and a member of the congregation.

In the foreword to Hamilton's first book, Confronting the Controversies (Abingdon, 2001), Weems indicated that neither conservatives nor liberals find Hamilton predictable in worship style or theological ethics, partly because of the minister's attention to pastoral needs. "It's also because of our concern for the nominally religious people we seek to attract and our feeling that truth is not found on either extreme--we learn from both our liberal and conservative friends," Hamilton told the CENTURY.

Like many a megachurch--a term Hamilton doesn't like--the congregation is known for its lay involvement. A summertime visit to the church illustrated that. All those walking through the main doors toward the sanctuary must pass by booths in the middle and on the side that encourage participation in various activities. Television screens tout more opportunities. A wall on the left is filled with small, clear plastic slots for member name tags. Finally, a plaque overhead urges: "Let us never forget our purpose."

Carol Sales, who attended Bill Hybel's Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago before moving with her husband to the Kansas City area, said, "I like the traditional service of this church that you don't have at Willow Creek." But she also found a kind of coziness at the Leawood church: "You can get into a small group and feel a camaraderie."

Paralegal Sandy Stander, who has a two-year-old daughter with engineer husband Fritz and another child on the way, said she was "spiritually fed" at this church. About to become members, the couple was frustrated at another church when a marriage enrichment group there never got started. Sandy Stander believes the Church of the Resurrection will make churchgoing appealing to her kids. "Growing up Catholic felt more like an obligation," she said.

Outsiders have speculated that Hamilton's success in building a very big church is due in part to its location in upscale Johnson County, headquarters for several corporations, including Sprint and Applebee restaurants. But Hamilton disagrees. He told the Kansas City Star two years ago: "We've had ten new churches start in this area in the last ten years that have not made it."

Hamilton began his effort with $3,000 in start-up money from the United Methodists and $10,000 borrowed against his next year's salary. The young pastor and supporters mailed ads to 30,000 homes and called another 6,000. For four years, he personally delivered 900 church coffee mugs to people who had visited the church.

Now, the congregation is second-largest in the denomination (second to Windsor Village UMC in Houston, pastored by Kirbyjon Caldwell), has an average attendance of 5,500 at six weekend services, and is adding about 1,800 to membership rolls yearly. That growth called for expansion plans.

A limited corporation of some 400 investors, mostly church members, bought 45 adjacent acres of land. Ten acres were donated to the church, which will raise money within the congregation to build a 7,000-seat sanctuary. Investors hope to earn money by developing retail and office buildings and a small hotel on the remaining 35 acres.

Hamilton, named one of "Ten People to Watch" last winter by PBS's Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, took a summer sabbatical in 1998. Did he travel overseas with his wife and two daughters, or plow into library stacks for a long-postponed study period? No. While leaving some time for family fun, he visited 20 "dynamic" megachurches across the country, including six UMC-affiliated ones, and filed updates on the church's Web site (www.cor.org) for churches ranging from the Cincinnati Vineyard to the Crystal Cathedral.