HISTORY & CURRENT STATUS

Vision and purpose are what inspired the 54 charter members of Harrisonville Mennonite Church (HMC) in 1968, to go beyond their faith community of Sycamore Grove Mennonite Church to reach those in another town with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “Expecting a Miracle” was the motto of that early church that started meeting for Sunday night worship on March 1, 1968.

This group wanted to create a place to minister to young families and started Kinder Kastle in September of 1968 with 11 students, meeting in the basement of a congregation member’s home. Between the years 1975 and 1981, HMC added two additions to house the growing ministry of Kinder Kastle and Harrisonville Christian School along with a new larger Sanctuary for our growing congregation. During the 1998-99 school year Harrisonville Mennonite Church purchased and renovated, without debt and with the HMC body sharing their talents, gifts, and time, the Bohl Activity Center, a building on the west side of town for students in grades five through eight and youth activities.

In 1998 HMC hired its first full-time Youth Pastor. Since that time HMC/HCC’s youth group has become one of its larger outreaches and has been a place for all kids regardless of Church affiliation to come and feel welcome and loved.

In July of 2002 HMC joined the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches leaving behind the South-Central Conference of the Old Mennonites.

The congregation voted in 2010 to change the name of the church. From that point forward the church would be known as Harrisonville Community Church (HCC).

Throughout the 50+ years that HCC has been in existence, we have been served by 9 Senior Pastors and multiple Associate and Youth Pastors. Some leaders focused on small groups, others on outreach, and some on students. No matter who the leader has been or what the focus of the season, God’s faithfulness has been the thread that can be found throughout the history of Harrisonville Community Church.

HCC has been without a senior pastor for 18 months at this writing, but a core of our family of believers has remained focused on pursuing God’s calling for our body to be an outpost of His Kingdom in our community. As such through a rotation of guest speakers and members of the body sharing their gifts HCC has continued to reach new families, stay financially sound, and equip our body with tools to advance God’s Kingdom in their families, places of work, and community and throughout the world through mission support.

HCC is friendly, warm, and very inviting which is an extension of who they are as a church.

Kinder Kastle & Harrisonville Christian School

By God’s Hand, Kinder Kastle successfully serves many families with solid Christian education since 1968. The Harrisonville Christian School (K-8) began in 1974 and continued until 2020. The vision was and still is to be a learning community for next-generation leadership, by being committed to empowering students through the integration of faith and learning. Since its foundation, our mission of Christian Education has spread the Gospel of Jesus to the community it served.

In 2018, due to the financial demographics of the area resulting in declining attendance, HCS moved back to one campus at the church building and the BAC building was sold. Then in January 2020, the difficult decision was made, by the Elders and the HCS School board to close the K-8 program of HCS as of May of that year.

Kinder Kastle Preschool is continuing to experience growth in enrollment. We are planning to offer a Kindergarten class for the 2021-2022 school year. Our body and leadership are united in seeking God’s plan for future opportunities to extend Christian Education in Harrisonville and the surrounding area. We remain vigilant in not limiting what God can do and are keeping our hearts and minds open to His leading.