# Village Presbyterian Church (Prairie Village, Kansas)

Village Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation founded on February 13, 1949, with 282 charter members, that has since grown to be one of the largest Presbyterian churches in America with a reported 4,789 members in 2013.

## History

Village Presbyterian Church was founded in February 1949 by Robert H. Meneilly. Prairie Village KS was a developing suburb in the 1940s with a high concentration of young families, and no Presbyterian church in the area. Meneilly went door-to-door in the emerging suburb to encourage residents to visit, and begin building a congregation before the building was complete. When the church opened for its first service on Sunday, Feb. 13, 1949, they drew 282 members to the congregation.
In a report from Walter Cronkite which was previewed in a 1994 article in the Washington Post, Cronkite described Village Presbyterian as an “absolute perfect example of what is happening to churches all over the United States today in the split between the evangelical right and the more mainstream.”

### History of Senior Pastors

* Robert "Bob" H. Meneilly (1949–1994)
* George Daniel "Dan" Little (1995–1996; interim)
* Robert W. Bohl (1996–2002)
* Herbert B. Anderson (2002–2004; interim)
* Thomas "Tom" L. Are Jr. (2004–2023)
* Rodger Y. Nishioka (2023–)

## Village on Antioch

On February 5, 2017, Village Church became one church worshiping at two campuses, holding the first worship service at their first satellite campus located at 148th Street and Antioch Road in Overland Park, Kansas.

## Building

Village Presbyterian began reconstruction of the main church space in April 2015. The mission of the rebuild was to install a new organ, make the church's sanctuary more accessible for disabled congregants, and install a new entrance and welcome center. The sanctuary renovation was completed in December, 2015 and the new organ arrived in September 2016.
Village Presbyterian Church is home to one of the significant pipe organs in the region, Opus 22, built by Richards, Fowkes & Co. of Ooltewah, Tennessee. The 3-manual, 59-stop, 74-rank mechanical action organ features a principal tonal design modeled after 18th-century Dutch organs with numerous added stops to support broad anthem and solo organ literature. The organ was played for the first time on Nov. 20, 2016 with just 5% of the organ pipes working. The organ was fully voiced and all 3,800 pipes were functioning by August 2017.
In 2008, the Village Presbyterian Food Pantry opened.
In August 2016, Village Presbyterian Child & Family Development Center opened. The multi-use building provides day care classrooms and support space for up to 132 students.

## Mission and community involvement

In 2008, the current Village Presbyterian Food Pantry opened. Today, it hosts more than 300 volunteers each month. The pantry serves anyone in the area who completes an application and is near the Federal Poverty Guidelines.
In August 2016, Village Presbyterian Child & Family Development Center opened. The multi-use building provides day care classrooms and support space for up to 132 students.
Doctors and nurses from the Village congregation as well as the Kansas City area make four annual trips to La Romana on a medical mission to provide health care to the impoverished residents of rural bateyes and urban barrios. The church's youth department began an annual spring break mission trip to La Romana in the 1990s to work on construction projects like the Joe Hartman School.
Front Porch Alliance is a partnership between Village Church and the Ivanhoe neighborhood of Kansas City. Front Porch Alliance provides mentor programs, home repair, and career services to residents of the east side neighborhood. The program was founded in 1999.
The Environmental Action Committee was formed and renamed in 2007.