KANSAS CITY – Matt Marrs says he would rather be a pastor of a smaller church that has planted 20 churches than to be pastor of a church with 2,000 members.
The Kansas City area minister seems to be more focused on leaving an impact on the city he loves than building any kind of legacy. He and his wife, Kerry, have been serving at Northland Church for 30 years in various roles. He was a youth pastor and later became one of the teaching pastors. Currently he and Rustin Umstattd share the lead pastor roles. Umstattd is also a theology professor at Midwestern Seminary.
Northland Church has sent out 10 church plants and church planters in the past two decades. It is close to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has always been a key church in that neighborhood. It’s had its ups and downs over the years. It is growing now and remodeled their facilities a few years ago.
Marrs says while he has served there the focus has always been multiplication and church planting. He hopes to plant 10 more churches during his tenure.
“I believe there is longer lasting impact through church planting,” he said. One of the things they say there is, “We would rather multiply churches than add chairs” (in the worship center). About 550 people attend now in three weekend worship services.
But on March 22, about 85 people were sent out to a neighboring community of Riverside, about 10 miles south of them. A new satellite congregation called Northland Church-Riverside is being planted there with Dalton Leslie as the church planting pastor.
Leslie said they are expecting to have a little over a hundred at their launch. Along with the people from Northland forming the core group, they will have teenagers on a mission trip from Oklahoma with a group called “Go Students” who will help with the first day of the new church. The Riverside satellite congregation will meet at Walden Middle School initially.
Asked what it takes to launch a new church, Leslie said they have five teams: set-up, children’s ministry, hospitality, outreach and worship/tech. Leslie said he will be preaching from 1 Corinthians 15 on “Holding Fast To The Word.”
Another church plant of Northland Church is the Northside Fellowship, planted five years ago. Their lead pastor, Taylor DiRoberto said “They are a younger congregation, with both need and opportunity.” They are located about 10 minutes from the core of Kansas City.
“We’re not in downtown K.C. But we are not suburban either. More of a working class people with some poverty,” DiRoberto added.
They also got their start in a school facility, the Chouteau Elementary. The pastor said there are 23 different languages spoken by students in the school. The church partners with them for ministry opportunities with the student and families. About 125 people attend this church plant, and it is growing stronger in it’s church life cycle.
They have inherited a more permanent church facility. The Northside Fellowship has partnered with the Winnwood Baptist Church to share the use of the building. The Winnwood church will continue to meet there along with the Northside Fellowship. There are four pastors who serve as a team along with DiRoberto.
DiRoberto has also been serving as a staffer and an assistant professor at Midwestern Seminary for several years. He has just assumed a new role as the SEND City Missionary for Kansas City with the North American Mission Board.
A Congolese church plant in Shawnee, Kansas, is also sponsored by Northland Church. David Mutoni is the pastor of this church, which is reaching African immigrants. It is called Redeemed Christian Church.
Dan Cogan, another church planter sent out from Northland, is serving at Trinity Northtown Church.
Marrs recalled that of the 10 churches started on his watch in the past two decades, five have been ethnic and five predominantly Anglo. He said some were started by helping find a church planter, developing a location and sending financial support. Others were a sending out of members and a planting team to go form a new satellite congregation of Northland. But Marrs emphasized the goal is always for the new churches to eventually become autonomous and develop their own structure of ownership and leadership. Northland’s developed structure and staff relationships bring stability and foster relationships.
“From the beginning we want all of these churches to begin to think about them multiplying,” Marrs said. “This is our greatest hope to reach the largest number of people in our community, the multiplication of the church. This gives us the potential for more far-reaching influence beyond our church.”
He concluded, “At the end of our ministry, the things we do to multiply have great impact.” And he added, “You don’t have to be a big church to do this (plant churches).”
Marrs continues to work part-time with the North American Mission Board as a church planting catalyst, helping area churches strategize for church plants.
Gary Mathes, the director of missions for the Clay-Platte Baptist Association, which serves the KC region north of the Missouri River, said, “We have several pastors in our association who are active in the NAMB Church Planter assessment process that happens twice a year. The association is also committed to help fund each plant in our area.
He said the proximity of the seminary with it’s pipeline of students and the active stance Northland Church has taken in church planting has been a big help.
To talk more about church planting in Kansas City, connect with Marrs and the Northland Church. Their website is: https://northland.church.