St. Paul's UMC celebrates 25 years of mission, ministry


The cast of �Growing Up St. Paul�s� performs for the 25th anniversary evening of entertainment.

Written: 1/7/2010

By Jeni Anderson
Special contributor
LENEXA—St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Lenexa celebrated their 25th anniversary on the weekend of Nov. 13-15.

The celebration began with a jam-packed talent show, “Growing Up St. Paul’s” on Friday evening. Several members of the congregation gathered to rock the house with music, magic tricks, dance and laughter.

The culmination of the celebration was a single worship service on Sunday at 10 a.m. St. Paul’s children led the opening processional and were then joined by both St. Paul’s prais


The children of St. Paul�s UMC help place candles on the 25th anniversary celebration cake.
e band, BethanyBridge, and the chancel choir. Possibly the most memorable moment in the worship service was when dancers, along with the voices of the choir and BethanyBridge, gave a powerful expression of Michael W. Smith’s “Agnus Dei.” In his message, Senior Pastor Jim Darby shared some memories from former pastors and challenged the congregation to move into the future by being the gospel message of hope and reconciliation for the community.
 
Following the service, the sanctuary was transformed into a banquet hall for a potluck dinner—with a birthday cake for the church.

Back on Nov. 6, 1983, in the cafeteria at Mill Creek Elementary School, 45 people gathered and became the first members of St. Paul’s UMC. With that event, St. Paul’s became chartered as an official congregation of the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

St. Paul’s UMC is located at 7740 Lackman Road in Lenexa. The church has three regular Sunday morning services: the 8:15 a.m. service is traditional in nature, the 9:30 a.m. Celebration service includes music by the praise band, BethanyBridge, and the 10:45 a.m. service has traditional and blended worship with music by the chancel choir.