By Brad Ziegler
The Kingdom City Church is redeveloping a large portion of the State Line Point shopping center into a new south Kansas City location for the church. The church’s new location includes the former Gordman’s space, 13617 Washington St., and the shops along the north end of the center, including the spaces currently occupied by Positions Chiropractic and Paris Nails. The shopping strip is located off 135th Street and 150 Hwy in Martin City.
The portion of the shopping center that is being redeveloped was purchased by the church in 2022 and has been informally used for church gatherings. Their plans for the property have grown.
Organizer’s vision for the 60,000 square-foot space includes a new enhanced worship center, anchored by a 1,000-seat auditorium, an intimate chapel for smaller services, family education center, an outreach center, and Kingdom City’s administrative headquarters. Interior plans also include a coffee hub, a 300-seat auditorium and group study centers. The cost of renovation is estimated at $7.5 million, according to specifics from Slattery Design. Volunteer labor is folded into the cost.
“We are in the pre-buildout phase of the project and hope to start construction by the end of the summer,” Kyle Turner, the head pastor of Kingdom City Church said. “We also have some work to do to upgrade and restore the adjacent parking lots.”
Turner said that they did not yet have a completion date.
Kingdom City has a church on Burlington Avenue in North Kansas City and operates a chapel in the Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas. They previously operated at a location on the west end of the Country Club Plaza, then known as The Cause Church.
“Many of our younger members, who had initially gotten involved with the church at our West Plaza location, have gotten married and started families of their own in the south Kansas City area,” said Turner, explaining their interest in the location.
Kingdom City is a non-denominational church that was once part of the Hillsong Global Church, a large network of churches with locations in 30 cities around the country and around the world. The Kansas City church and affiliates in Phoenix and Atlanta split off from Hillsong a little more than three years ago after controversies involving Hillsong Global Church founder Brian Houston and pastor Carl Lentz.
Turner said that their North Kansas City location has a large following, with more than 1800 worshipers attending their recent Easter morning services. He explained that many of the church’s followers were previously “unchurched” or “de-churched” and are now affiliated with Kingdom City Church through connections that go beyond traditional church membership and worship services, including youth activities, prayer groups, stewardship opportunities, weddings and other partnerships.
Both Positions Chiropractic and Paris Nails are negotiating early terminations of their leases with the church to make way for the planned redevelopment and neither of them have confirmed their future plans.