The Frank Lloyd Wright "Church of the Future" at 46th and Main
Community Christian Church has called 4601 Main Street home since the dedication of its Frank Lloyd Wright designed sanctuary on January 4, 1942. The present building replaced the congregation's earlier home, which a Halloween night fire in 1939 destroyed. After the fire, Community commissioned Wright in April 1940, and the architect presented his finished plans to the building and finance committees in June 1940.
Wright envisioned the entire lot devoted to parking with the church supported on graceful pillars. His plans called for a 1,000 seat auditorium with a Sunday School for more than 700, removable pews that would let the room serve varied uses, a roof garden for entertainment and other church functions, and floor heating and cooling that would warm or chill the building as the season demanded. He promised walls of two sheets of corrugated steel sprayed with colored concrete, a green copper dome over the chancel, and a building that would be "fireproof, earthquake, and vermin-proof" with virtually no upkeep.
City officials pushed back. At a lengthy October 30, 1940 conference, the Director of Public Works and the Commissioner of Buildings refused to grant a permit on the grounds that the design was too radical to meet the city's building code. Wright was accused of planning "a circus tent, a mere shell of a building." After a compromise that used concrete foundations rather than his floating foundation, and after builders added tons of additional steel during daily inspections, the building rose on the corner of 46th and Main. More than 1,500 people watched the dedication.
The structure received a National Register of Historic Places designation in 2020. A separate nonprofit called Wright on Main was created to maintain and enhance the building, and Community received a matching grant from the National Trust for Sacred Places to repair the exterior and address ongoing water infiltration. Construction superintendent Victor Olle Holm called Wright "more an artist than an architect," praising the new ways that "usually his experiments set a new mark for architects to shoot at."
Two Sunday Mornings, Two Services
Community holds two Sunday services inside the Wright building. The Morning Glory service meets at 8:30 a.m. in Bonfils Chapel and features jazz music and prayer in a more personal setting. The 10:30 Celebration Service takes place in the Main Sanctuary and is livestreamed beginning at 10:20 a.m. each Sunday. Both services are traditional in style yet progressive in theology. Communion is shared every week and everyone is welcome to receive.
Some congregants arrive in jeans, others in suits, and visitors are welcome to come however they feel comfortable. The offering can be dropped in a designated box in the sanctuary, with cash and checks also accepted at the front desk throughout the week. Online giving is available by texting "Give" to 816.484.3433, and legacy gifts can be arranged through the church's estate planning program.
Music and the Spiritual Voice of Kansas City Jazz
Music shapes the worship life of Community. The 10:30 service features a choir that brings an eclectic musical selection each week. Tim Whitmer brings the spiritual voice of Kansas City jazz to Community's services, drawing on performances at the Lugano and Montreaux Jazz Festivals in Switzerland. John Stafford, Director of Choral Music at Community and an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Kansas City Kansas Community College, leads the choir. Jonathon Antle contributes as a vocalist and organist and composed One Community for Rev. Shanna Steitz's installation. Members of Community also meet regularly to visit current art exhibitions around the city through Art in the Afternoon events led by docent-members and art enthusiasts.
An Open and Affirming Congregation Doing Justice
Affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Community identifies with the denomination's call to be a "movement for wholeness in a fragmented world." The congregation is Open and Affirming in partnership with the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance and welcomes people of all ages, abilities, and identities. Members come from two states, eight counties, 25 cities, and 63 zip codes. An online community also gathers regularly from rural parts of Kansas and Missouri, as well as Colorado, Iowa, Maine, New York, Tennessee, and Texas.
In 2012, the congregation adopted three core values: Worshipping Joyfully, Celebrating the Arts, and Doing Justice. The Disciples of Christ's Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation initiative shapes Community's justice work. The initiative names racism as a spiritual and theological problem as well as a social evil, calls it a systemic issue with historical roots, and understands it as the combination of racial prejudice with institutional and economic power. "This love is radical. It can change our world if we all work together and live this love out every moment," Community writes of the love that unites the congregation across borders, affiliations, and religions.
The Community Food Pantry
The Community Food Pantry is one of the church's most tangible mercy ministries. As an affiliate pantry of Harvesters Community Food Network, it serves food insecure families in Kansas City four times a month from 9 a.m. to noon. Visitors enter through Centennial Hall on the south side of the building. The pantry is staffed by volunteers and always welcomes additional hands and hearts. Most-needed items include canned vegetables and fruits, canned chicken, tuna, or salmon packed in water, brown rice, whole grain pasta, dried beans, peanut or almond butter, canned soup, whole grain cereal, soap, deodorant, shampoo, and toilet paper.
Beyond the food pantry, Community partners with several organizations across the city. Micah Ministry receives the church's support, and More2 draws Community into social justice work for racial and economic equity. Jewish Vocational Services of Kansas City works with Community on refugee resettlement. Each holiday season the church sponsors 100 foster kids to make their Christmas extra special, and Cornerstones of Care is a regular partner for giving drives.
The Steeple of Light: A Beacon Each Weekend
Wright's original 1940 plans called for "searchlights piercing the perforated masonry roof...sky-beams...a steeple of light," but the feature was never completed. In 1990, as part of the centennial celebration, Community contacted sculptor Dale Eldred about fulfilling the vision. After Eldred's untimely death, his wife and artistic collaborator Roberta Lord completed the design in 1993, and the Steeple of Light was dedicated in December 1994.
A system of four powerful bulbs and reflectors situated under the dome's four main portals projects a near perfect column of light each weekend from dusk to midnight, visible for miles. The Steeple of Light can be dedicated in honor or memory of a loved one for $75 on a weeknight or $150 on a weekend, with dedications shared on Community's social channels, in pre-service announcements, and in the Friday email.
Above the Narthex, the Steeple of Light art gallery hosts rotating exhibits featuring local artists. Grace Cox-Johnson, a fiber artist and dyer whose company Color 4 the Journey specializes in art for worship settings, brings ongoing visuals and vibrant color to the white walls of the Wright building.
Children, Families, and Neighbor Networks
Family is the primary source of faith development at Community, and the church supports parents with resources to teach children and youth about God's love. Children are always welcome in the sanctuary and begin worship with their families. A Children's Moment is an integral part of the 10:30 Celebration Service, after which children under five may leave the sanctuary with nursery staff. The church pledges to help children "know deep in their bones that God loves them no matter what" and to provide opportunities for kids and youth to share love with others.
Jennifer Gilbert serves as Nursery Coordinator for babies and toddlers up to four years old. The Infant/Parent Room in the Jenkins Room at the back of the sanctuary is set aside for parents who may need to rock, feed, or change a baby during worship, with the service played over the room's speakers and visible through large windows. Every nursery team member is vetted and trained, and an extensive child safety policy is in place. All families are invited to a First Sunday Family Lunch immediately following worship on the first Sunday of every month.
Community's Neighbor Networks are geographically designated groups designed to pray for and connect members. Each network is led by one elder and one deacon, with current networks covering Johnson County, Downtown to UMKC, Eastern Jackson County, Northland, South Plaza to South KC, and a Virtual Neighbor Network for those who participate in Community's life from beyond Kansas City.
Land, Justice, and the Plaza
A land acknowledgment notes that Community Christian Church sits on land once inhabited by the Kickapoo, Kansa, and Osage peoples and acknowledges the church's ongoing complicity in the oppression of these indigenous groups. Community takes part in Kansas City's annual Pride Parade and provides space for the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
For those who drive in, parking is available in the Ashton of the Plaza lot directly south of the church, with the option to drive past a motion-detector gate into higher floors. Residential streets near the church also offer parking, and accessible parking is available in lots on the east and south sides of the building. The 46th Street entrance, designed without steps, was an early recognition of the needs of those with disabilities.
More than eighty years after its dedication, the Frank Lloyd Wright sanctuary at 4601 Main Street remains a working church building and a landmark on the Country Club Plaza. Two Sunday morning services, a monthly food pantry, rotating art exhibits, and a column of light visible for miles each weekend all come together at a Disciples of Christ congregation that has served Kansas City for more than 130 years.