Your questions probably run the gamut from:
Let's help put your mind at ease.
When you arrive for either our Worship Service (10:45am) or Sunday School class time (9:30am) you can enter in one of our doors on the south side of our building.
At the door you will be greeted by one or more of our “greeters” who will give you a worship bulletin and be able to answer any questions you have, or direct you to someone who can.
As you come into the Main Sanctuary, no one will come and tell you “you’re sitting in my pew!” so feel free to sit wherever you like. You’ll notice that people around you are dressed in everything from “business casual” to jeans and t-shirts. You will also probably notice that we have a very friendly church! Several people will probably welcome you and introduce themselves to you.
The worship service usually begins with some upbeat music. The words are projected in the front of the sanctuary. Our worship style is “blended,” as we strive to use both classic church hymns and contemporary worship songs to draw our hearts to listen for God’s voice.
Our services usually also include a time of prayer led by the pastor, and a sermon. The pastor usually speaks for about 25 minutes and does his best to make the messages interesting, enjoyable, and relevant to daily life. The sermons are firmly grounded in the Biblical text, but also very practical so that you can leave the service knowing how to live a life closer to Christ the next week. We try to make each message something you can actually use and that makes sense to what you’re actually going through.
That’s about it! People constantly tell us that they really felt comfortable – “at home” are the words we hear most frequently. If you don’t yet have a church home, we hope you’ll stop by this Sunday. And if you do, please come down and say “hi,” and tell us that you found out about our church on the Internet.
The Fires of Topeka First Church may be the oldest story on the Kansas City District. Rev. J.K. Mayberry, Minister in the church of the Nazarene had been conducting cottage prayer meetings and wanting to start a “Center of Fire in Topeka. He invited Phineas F. Bresee & Clarence McKee to Topeka to hold tent meetings. Bresee arrived in Topeka for the second time on Tuesday, August 14, 1906. Tent meetings were held at 11th and Buchanan and Bresee stayed for 7 days.
This fledgling group continued to fan the flame and on the last Sunday in September, 1906, a Church was formed. Rev. J.K. Mayberry had his name transferred from L. A. California to the Church in Topeka, KS. Officers of this Church in Topeka were elected and Herbert Buffum was called as its first pastor. Those present were J.K. Mayberry, Mrs. Lillie Buffum, sister Hattie Martindale of Molene, KS, Bro Mitchell. 36 Charter members in all. One member has already been removed, Sister Kulp relocating to Ashland, Oregon. E.W. Dunham was appointed the Sunday School Superintendent. In January, 1907, a Rev. Frank McCluney is reporting as pastor. While this group had some organization, they never officially organized with the Church of the Nazarene.
Keeping the flame ignited was challenging for this early group because they didn’t have a permanent place to meet. But Rev. J.K. Mayberry continued to carry the torch for a Church of the Nazarene in Topeka. Again in 1909, Rev. Mayberry stoked more revival fires, along with Dr. H.F. Reynolds and Rev. Cochran. Tent meetings were once again held but these efforts were still spasmodic until 1912, when the organizational tent was erected at 10th and Clay.