SPECIAL EDITION:
Faith, leadership and COMMUNITY

In times of division and disagreement, faith can promote the kind of healing that binds us together. Across Kansas, people of faith are exercising leadership by working across factions and energizing others inside and outside of their congregations. This edition of The Journal features stories detailing that often difficult work.

In this issue, you will learn about:

• The efforts of the Catholic Dioceses based in Wichita and Dodge City to respond to changing demographics that include an influx of Hispanic parishioners, p. 10.

• How faith-based coffeehouses in communities such as Chanute have become a way for ministries to reach people outside the confines of a traditional church, p. 26.

• Two examples of Kansans who have taken very different stands on a difficult issue – gays and gay marriage in the church (print edition only). A story about Matthew Vines begins on p. 42. On p. 46, The Journal profiles Pastor Rob Schmutz.

• How working across factions is a crucial leadership skill for members of the state’s largest mosque, p. 58.

• A Christian youth group’s efforts to build eternal citizens in an urban area of north-central Wichita (print edition only), p. 73.    

• A writer’s story about how he resisted the urge to react angrily to a tragic event and instead composed a prayer about restraint and compassion, p. 78.

• At klcjournal.com, you can read Thomas Stanley’s piece on the five things church members should stop doing – and alternatives they should do instead – to make their congregations stronger.

• A series of leadership vignettes about the ways in which faith groups are working to strengthen a single place, the Kansas City metro area. Those profiled include: Helen Stringer of Oasis, p. 22; Adrion Roberson, Destiny! Bible Fellowship Community Church, p. 25; the Rev. Adam Hamilton of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, p. 36; Jill Maidhof of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, p. 39; Chris Winn of Community Life Church, p. 52; and Broderick Crawford of the New Bethel Church, p. 55.

About the Cover:

This depiction of Our Lady of La Vang, an apparition of the Virgin Mary who helped persecuted Vietnamese Catholics cure themselves of illness, was photographed by The Journal’s Jeff Tuttle at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Wichita. The parish is located in the south-central part of the city and serves individuals who speak three different languages – Spanish, English and Vietnamese.

 

This article was originally published in the Winter 2017 issue of The Journal, a publication of the Kansas Leadership Center. To learn more about KLC, visit http://kansasleadershipcenter.org. For a subscription to the printed edition of The Journal, visit klcjr.nl/amzsubscribe

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