A church's life goes beyond the Sunday morning service, extending into the activities it hosts and sponsors for its members and community. Westport plays host to a number of activities.

The church's activities include ongoing activities as well as Signature Events that highlight the unique nature of the congregation.

Music - Singing is an integral part of the worship experience at Wesport. In addition to the Sunday morning service, we sing at the "Soul's Window" and "City Soul" Christian Meditation gatherings. [more details...]

Children & Youth Programs - The destiny and fate of children and youth in the city has always been and continues to be an important focus of our church members' Christian commitment. And even as we carry out that commitment and sustain traditions of ministry that are years and decades old, we seek wider horizons for our work. [more details...]

Community Programs - By serving a special part of the city of Kansas City for over 165 years, the church has been led into a sustained and creative ministry in the community. Sharing Christian love with people in the community, both church members and the many people who live and work in Westport, the church has become a source of strength and inspiration for people living in an urban environment that is at once stressful, challenging, always changing and ever in need of ministries of care and compassion.

Worship & Spirituality - Westport offers variety of services and programs to address the spiritual and worship needs of the community. [more details...]

History of the Church - Westport's history in the community goes back well over 150 years. Its contributions have been recognized by local officials and organizations. [more details...]

• CHANCEL CHOIR - sings at Sunday morning service. Rehearses after church until 1:00 p.m. September through June. Sings variety of music. Professional quartet leads choir and congregational singing.

• HYMN CHOIR - sings on second Sunday of each month, all year. Rehearses at 10:30 a.m. preceding worship. People of all ages are welcome to join in.

• SOUNDS of the SPIRIT Sunday School Class - Led by Music Director and Pastor. Music from many eras and in many styles is played on an excellent sound system. Discussion of the music's relation to scripture is featured. 9:30 a.m. - to 10:25 a.m. except on 5th Sundays.

• BROWN BAG CONCERTS - bring fine musicians to perform a 50-minute program over the lunch hour. Third Friday of the month, at 12:10 pm in the sanctuary. Exceptions: Haunted Organ Concert on the Friday before Halloween, and the Concert to Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on his holiday.

• SPECIAL SERVICES WITH MUSIC -

◦ Seder service with singing and dancing in parlor

◦ Good Friday Tenebrae Service in chapel

◦ Christmas concert: Charpentier's Midnight Mass for Christmas, with Choir and String Ensemble

◦ Choir Sunday: Faure Requiem

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Boy Scout Troop 60 began in 1914, is the oldest scout troop in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and continues to serve boys who live and go to school in the urban core. The lives of many boys and their families have been saved, sustained and enriched by the troop. Its leaders are a dedicated group, ready, able and willing to bring the complete experience of scouting, including a great deal of individual attention, to boys who need that in their adolescent years.

Children's Peace Quest makes peace and interpersonal and global understanding an exciting adventure for young people. Led by our church staff and qualified educators from our congregation, Peace Quest leads youngsters on a venture that has focused on various themes since it began in 1996: "Conflict Resolution for Youth", "Cooperative Games for Young People" and currently "Multicultural and Multiracial Understanding". Currently on "Hawaii Quest: The Eco Quest", we have also explored "Middle Ages Quest", "Africa Quest", "Early America Quest", "Native America Quest", "Ancient Greece Quest" and "Ancient Egypt Quest". Currently the program has a fall-winter module and then a winter-spring module. A wider horizon for this ministry might involve a pilot effort at creating a Summer Peace Camp for a week sometime during the summer months.

Through the Back to School Project, our church members joins with Mid Town Ministries and other city churches to provide backpacks with school supplies, clothing and a gift certificate for shoes to children in the Kansas City Public School District. We help twenty children annually with a drive that takes place in the summer just before school begins.

Although our church does not operate the now 20 year old Willow Woods Child Development Center, our commitment to maintenance of the center's facility, ongoing remodeling projects, as well as custodial and other support services-is a critical foundation of the day care center's life and success in serving urban families with infants through kindergarten. The church and Willow Woods have also worked together in bringing music and tutoring resources to the children of Willow Woods.

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There are two distinctly different worship services at Westport Presbyterian Church.

Sunday morning worship, from 10:50am to Noon, follows the "reformed model" of worship. Worshipers enter the sanctuary to come into the presence of God to offer God praise through song and prayer, to confess their shortcomings and failures together before God and each other, to be reminded of God's gracious forgiveness and steadfast love for all people, and to hear inspirational preaching based on Biblical readings which usually follow the Common Lectionary, and emphasize relating these readings to our contemporary hopes, challenges, and visions for a community more faithful to God.

On the first Sunday of each month, and on Christmas Eve and Easter, the sacrament of Holy Communion is observed, and anyone who wants to follow Jesus is welcome at the table. A small choir leads the congregational singing and offers special music on behalf of all the people. The pipe organ or piano is used to lead or accompany singing, and a wide variety of music is used by choir and congregation, including traditional and recent music. The 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal is used extensively.

The second service is a Wednesday night meditation service (7:15-8:00 p.m.). Readings and songs are used to lead participants into a period of silent meditation that lasts 20-30 minutes. Participants are encouraged to use a silent mantra from the scriptures as a focus for their meditation. Materials developed by the World Community for Christian Meditation are shared with the group. Symbols such as a lit oil lamp and Buddhist gong aid participants in reaching a prayerful, meditative state of mind.

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Westport Presbyterian Church
201 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO 64111 • Office (816) 931-1032 l Fax (816) 931-1554

Affiliated with Heartland Presbytery & Presbyterian Church USA