By Kathy Feist
It was time to share joyful news during the Sunday services at Grandview United Methodist Church. One man proudly announced it was his 11th wedding anniversary. The church’s 25 members gave him a round of applause.
Someone pointed out that it was a clergy member’s birthday. In symphony conductor fashion, the recipient jokingly led members in the church’s version of “Happy Birthday.”
Finally a woman announced that this Wednesday was the church’s final Silver Lining luncheon, open to seniors, which was going to include fried chicken and all the fixings.
This news carried with it a tinge of sadness.
After 119 years, the Grandview United Methodist Church located at 12613 Grandview Road is closing its doors. The last service is Sunday, June 29 at 10 am. Memories will be shared. The public is invited. A reception will follow.
At its height in the 1960s, Grandview UMC boasted around 600 members. Couples were married there, children baptized, and families shared their lives with scouts, baseball, dinners and community outreach activities. But like many traditional churches these days, the congregation aged and the younger families were no longer filling the pews.
“Natural attrition,” explained 81-year-old Larry Moore, a member of the church since 1953.
With so few members, the cost of utilities for the three-story building was more than they could afford. The congregation chose to close the church.
Filled to the brim
Grandview United Methodist Church was established by a handful of members in 1906. Services skipped around between a retail building and various members’ homes until a church was erected at 8th and Goode Street in 1908. (The building still stands). In 1925, a basement was added and a wing annexed as the church community grew.
In the 1940s and 50s, Grandview experienced a growth spurt when its airport was used as an air force base. Richards Gebaur, as it was later named, attracted thousands of military personnel and their families to the area.
“Our congregation…has taken action to ‘Arise and Build’ a new sanctuary designed to meet our urgent needs,” read a church fundraising campaign flyer. The congregation sought space where members could enjoy outdoor recreational activities and indoor fellowship dinners. They found that location at a plowed field on the corner of Grandview and Duck roads.
After raising $50,000 ($650,000 in today’s dollars), a large red brick sanctuary was built on the two-acre property in 1953. It contained colorful stained glass windows, red carpet and matching red cushioned pews. A full-sized basement contained Sunday School classes and a fellowship hall with a stage and commercial kitchen. It was built with future growth in mind.
That future arrived quickly. Only seven years later, the congregation was making plans again for expansion as it was fast approaching 600 members. In 1961, a three-story education wing was added. It housed a nursery, offices, library and lounge on the ground floor and an expanded fellowship hall in the basement. The third floor was exclusively for Sunday School classrooms. The church now had as many as 150 students. Sundays saw two services rather than one.
The church expanded its community services as well. Over the years, members raised money for a Della Lamb nursery in Grandview, provided dinners and gifts for needy families during the holidays and provided space for community groups, such as 12-step programs, Grandview Assistance Program and scout troops. Many a Grandview Alderman came from the social-minded religion.
In 2007, the church renovated the former parsonage into a free children’s clothing service called Debbie’s Place operated by the Women’s Faith Auxiliary.
“At one time, we had four or five different women’s circles,” recalled Moore. “There would be 40 to 50 men in the men’s group. They would host wild game dinners, football and baseball games, Valentine dinners, picnics.”
Like his constituents, Moore was baptized, married and raised his family in the church. “We were a tight-net group of people,” he says.
By the time Jeff Stone joined the church in 1997, membership had dwindled to around 125 people. By then, Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base had closed in 1994. And children raised in the church weren’t returning.
“After they grew up, the children scattered to the winds,” says Stone. “They started their own lives. No one returned.”
Diminishing attendance isn’t unique to Grandview United Methodist Church. Beautiful, large churches, once so full of life, now stand nearly empty, run by a handful of people.
From the 1930’s to 90’s, as many as 73 percent of the population attended church services. Today that number has dropped to 47 percent.
“These days so many families struggle to make ends meet. Going to church on Sunday takes a back seat,” says Stone.
Grandview UMC no longer has a full-time pastor. A circuit of pastors take turns leading Sunday services. Much of the care and organization of the church falls on volunteer members, including upkeep, which amazingly is in pristine condition.
“Our camaraderie has kept us going for years,” says Moore. “We depend on each other.”
Moore says he will be sad to see the church close.
“But as long as the brain works, we will always have the memories.”
The Kansas City UMC District will take over ownership of the property until it is sold.