What Working at a “Woke” Megachurch is Really Like
Seven Memories from a Church in the News
These days politicians are in the business of defining true faith. While it’s not a new tactic, I’m seeing it firsthand as the congregation I serve, the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, is in the news. Our Senior Pastor, Adam Hamilton, is the democratic nominee for the Unites States Senate from Kansas, and attack ads from the republican nominee were quick to target Pastor Adam’s “brand” of Christianity. It’s a well-worn tactic that has reliably sown division for 50+ years in American life.
Surprisingly, these attacks have extended beyond Pastor Adam himself to the whole congregation. Apparently, we wear “the skin of true religion” and are dangerously woke. Other ads have grossly manipulated facts about the church, trying to tie purportedly harmful events to Adam’s religious leadership, thus disqualifying him as a Senator. The consequence is that Resurrection is in the purview of bad religion that leads to bad politics that leads to a bad nation. And if all that sounds like ridiculous nonsense that no one would actually believe, tell that to the demonstrators who have shown up to the streets outside our worship services in the last few weeks, raising their political signs at evil people trying to attend… Sunday School?
It’s strange to watch this malestrom unfold. I’m a pastor at Resurrection serving in discipleship ministries. There are 24,000 members of this church. Are we bad Christians? Are we bad for America? The republican nominee seems to think so.
This whirlwind points to a growing divide in American Protestant Christianity. It used to be that evangelical Christians (inclusive of Baptists, Pentecostals, many non denominational churches, and more) used to disagree with and maybe dislike mainline Christians (inclusive of United Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalian, and more), and vice versa. Especially in the last 15 years, though, it’s become virulent. Insults are hurled from both camps towards one another. Mainliners are part of the woke mob. Evangelicals are backward-thinking proponents of an ancient religious state. Each vote a certain way.
While leaders at the extremes of each side can err in many ways, it is simply not true that the vast majority of people adhere to dangerous heresy. Yet we allow politicians to dictate a reality in which violent disagreement is the norm. Somehow, we’ve claimed God-like authority to sort the sheep from the goats, not out of a lust for power, but from a permission structure given to us by elected officials. The very fact that I pastor at a mainline church alone has cost me evangelical friends, family, and mentors who for some reason think I am not a Christian anymore, or at least a misguided one. My best explanation for their worldview is that they simply don’t know what mainline churches are like, the same way that mainline Christians who insult evangelicals may not know what evangelical churches are like. (Who, though, has told us to stay away?)
I’d like to be part of the solution here. So, if you’re someone who doesn’t know what mainline churches are like, here’s your chance to see. I’m going to share with you seven of my favorite memories from serving at Resurrection, that “woke” church with the Pastor who is running for the Senate. My hope in doing so is that you might come to see my church as… well, just a church.
7. Blood Drive
Did you know that Resurrection is the largest blood drive donor in Kansas City? I learned when I started working there in 2019 as a Congregational Care Pastor. Being eager to make a good first impression on everyone I met, I showed up to one of the many blood drives we offer onsite throughout the year. When I sat down on the bed, I started talking to a nice lady, introducing myself and my role. And then I passed out. Briefly - just for a moment - but very real. Quickly, that nice lady was helping me with snacks and water. Turns out, she was the founder of our Matthew’s Ministry, our comprehensive special needs outreach program that has changed thousands of lives. Actually, her son was the Matthew of Matthew’s Ministry, whose life was lost far too soon. Matthew is even in our stained glass window - the only Resurrection member to have that honor! Matthew’s Ministry serves people with special needs of all ages, as well as their families. Read more about the ministry here.
My church is a Wesleyan church. Our tradition says that we ought to surrender ourselves fully to the saving work of Jesus, and then relentlessly serve to make the world a better place. I saw that tradition proudly on display in my church from early on.
6. How Many Weeks in Revelation?
People who know me know I teach Revelation… a lot. I’ve literally taken hundreds of people through the last book of the Bible. All the time, folks come up to me and say, “Pastor Justin! I took Revelation - not Revelations - with you!” (My first teaching point is that there is in fact no “s” in Revelation.) This year, I subjected my Sunday School class to 24 weeks of Revelation. They were troopers. We looked at the Old Testament connections, the centrality of Christ, God’s mercy that is astoundingly everywhere, and some puns that show up in Greek but not in English. At the end of the long series, a member of my class told me he was no longer afraid of Revelation. That was all I needed to hear; it was all worth it.
Most mainline Christians believe that God is up to something bigger than just rescuing our souls to heaven. We believe that God wants to heal the whole world on which we stand. Revelation points to that hope. Though it’s often depicted with fire and brimstone (a view I think misses the mark), I love that my church makes room for a bigger discussion.
5. Coffee for Healthcare Workers and an Unexpected Wedding Guest
During the pandemic, Resurrection got a crazy idea - what if we bought a cup of coffee for healthcare workers throughout the city just so that they know we see them and love them? Somehow, staff teams worked together and pulled off this epic feat. There was no agenda for conversion, donation, or applause. The agenda was to show kindness the way Jesus did.
One of those healthcare workers turned out to be a girl I would marry. She got a coffee from Resurrection while on a hospital shift. Life would have us meet in the office, actually, when she took an internship at the church through her graduate program.
We got married at the church. During the ceremony, someone we weren’t expecting to attend noticed that our vows (which we wrote ourselves) weren’t being recorded, so he subtly got his phone out and recorded them. His big smile was visible from the chancel. That man was Pastor Adam Hamilton. He got us a gift card, which we used to buy a vacuum cleaner. When my son, Evan, is old enough, I’ll have the perfect retort if he ever wants to get out of chores: “Senator Hamilton bought us that vacuum cleaner, and he would want you to use it!”
Throughout marriage, questions have arisen. That same guy who recorded our vows has made time to help me think through those questions several times. His advice has always centered on Jesus.
4. Behind the Window
This spring, my supervisor told me that it would be my responsibility to plan a men’s breakfast on the morning of Good Friday. I took things a bit to the extreme and planned to host that breakfast… in the cluttered walking area behind the world’s largest indoor stained glass window that resides in our sanctuary. (Why host it in the parlor when you could do something more fun?) I think my supervisor thought I was joking. The trek up there isn’t easy. And what was I going for, exactly?
To me, it made sense. I wanted the men to see the face of Jesus in our window before any morning light hit it - in the shadows. I wanted them to feel the heaviness of Good Friday and the cost of new life.
To my surprise, over 160 guys showed up and we had to hike up in shifts. The ground was lit, but Christ’s face was dark. I can’t speak for them, but it changed me. Mainline Christians, it turn out, love Jesus and know that it is only from him that we find our salvation.
3. Journeys of Paul
In 2023, my wife and I were invited as a newlywed couple with no children yet to be trip leaders for an overseas journey that would retrace the travels of the Apostle Paul. We did not have to think very hard to say yes.
One particular moment stands out to me. Outside of Philippi there is a river called the Zygaktis that marks the spot in which Paul baptized a woman named Lydia, a story told in Acts 16. Lydia is believed to be the first person baptized in Europe. Our group visited this river and sat in awe of the presence of God we felt there. Lydia, a woman, had paved the way for us right where we were standing so long ago. Pastor Adam asked me to read the story to everyone, and I did. Then, I got to hold a bowl of water and mark the heads of our group members, inviting them to remember their baptisms. It had a similar kind of power to it that Ash Wednesday can bring, a time in which I mark people with ash.
That moment reminded me of the privilege of pastoring. People get up close with all their messy details, and they see all of yours, too. Baptism unites us into something better, praise be to God.
2. A Week Away from Young Adult Ministry
In 2021, I helped to start a young adult ministry alongside a wise therapist friend and other mentors. I didn’t really know what I was doing and it wasn’t in my job description. However, this nudge would not go away to attend to the young people in our community who were facing loneliness and isolation more than any generation in recent memory.
Our group met in the Wesley Chapel, a traditional space that wasn’t the trendiest choice. I believed, though, that it was of great value to have fun and feel safe in a place that looked like Church and not a warehouse. Young adults showed up week after week. They sat with mentors in their 50s and 60s, learned passages of Scripture, and made friendships. Man, I was exhausted, though. It was hard work to prepare every week on top of my main job responsibilities. Consistent with the burnout playbook, I started to think the ministry might not happen without me.
One week, I was out of town. I got some texts - photos of the young adults on a hayride. They had organized it themselves at a local park. 50 showed up and had a blast. Their mentors came, too. I smiled. These young adults were not gathered by me; they were gathered by God, and they had become a community.
1. Margery’s 74th Birthday Party
Before working in Discipleship, I was a Care Pastor. It was my first full time ministry job, and it was hard. Weddings, funerals, hospital visits, 3am pager calls when someone died… not to mention the colorful walk in visits that could happen on any day.
There were great joys and profound valleys in care ministry. It was fun to officiate the weddings of some of the young adults in the group I helped start. It was another thing to process the news that I would preach to a room of one thousand when a young adult had died.
Christ showed up in mysterious places those years. One lady in particular comes to mind. Her name was Margery, and she lived in a care facility. I came to know her just before Covid shut down the world during my typical rounds of visitation. Another Pastor, Lauren, and I visited her often. She was a sweet lady.
One day during a visit, Margery shared that she was secretly longing to live until 74, because that’s how old her grandmother was when she died. Margery had cancer and was not guaranteed a 74th birthday, and she was feeling that reality with extra weight that day. I asked her what her favorite birthday memory was. She said that her family didn’t do birthdays often, and that the best memory she could come up with was a Santa cake from when she was just a little girl.
Margery was moved to a hospital as her cancer progressed, yet the big day drew near. Lauren and I got to work. We called around looking for Santa cakes. Conveniently, it was December and Hy-Vees were on every corner. In coordination with her family, we surprised Margery in her hospital room with a Santa cake and party supplies. She had made it to 74. She smiled and we gave thanks to God. A few months later, she passed.
I grew up evangelical. My pastor used to encourage us to bring our Bibles every week. “Don’t just believe what I say or any other preacher says. Read Scripture for yourself.”
Friends, I want to encourage you to read for yourself. Are you truly willing to allow politicians to define something as serious as a person’s faith? Is that responsibility not left to God? Is it fair to draw lines between those definitions and a person’s dignity, worth, or civic potential? (For what it’s worth, one of the reasons I support Pastor Adam as a politician is because I don’t think he tries to define the faith or disparage the worth of other people, even his opponents.)
If having labels like “woke” or “evangelical” is important to you, I suppose that’s fine. But don’t just adopt the labels from people you hear on TV; define them for yourself. It’s how I believe we’re called to live. Though there are people on both sides of the ideological spectrum with whom we disagree, it’s essential that we know why we disagree. We should make those decisions for ourselves from a long discernment process of trying to listen and understand.
For what it’s worth, Jesus does give us something to go on. What separates the sheep from the goats - the righteous from those who miss the mark? To the righteous, Jesus says, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’” (Matt 25:35).
My church is just trying to live that out. Maybe yours is too. If we get distracted by petty games, we might just miss the Jesus standing right in front of our face, asking us to serve him.
(Does Resurrection sound like the kind of church for you? Read more about us here!)
(Have more stories about Resurrection? Add them in the comments!)