Woodcrest Chapel in Columbia is a megachurch of 2,400. Beth Bramstedt, an associate pastor, said the church’s Southern Baptist roots play out today in a few major tenants, but the church is nondenominational. The church borrowed Southern Baptists’ emphasis on evangelism, belief the Bible is a book of literal truths and practice of baptism done as a life choice, rather than as an infant.

​

Bramstedt said that since the church was founded in the 1980s, there have been times when membership has plateaued, but never when it has decreased. She estimates that 90 percent of the congregation is under the age of 60.

​

Bramstedt said the church was founded to serve the people who have fallen away from religion, such as atheists, agnostics, secular humanists and deists. Particularly, the church seeks out those who are discontent with traditional churches.

​

One way the pastors at Woodcrest Chapel tries to reach this audience is by structuring the sermons to emphasize the relevance of biblical teaching to modern life. Pastors bring up an issue they want people to think critically about, and eventually transition to present their interpretation of the Bible as the truth in the message.

​

The church tries to let the cultural context of the message change over time, but not the religious message itself, Bramstedt said. However, she said she sees that there are interpretations and messages being given today that would not have been given in the past. She said that when an interpretation is changed within the church, it comes from what the church leaders decide is right, rather than attempting to reach a certain audience. She said the millennial generation in particular pushes the church to reevaluate the scripture in case of possible new interpretations.

​

Becky Winn is the worship leader of the First Baptist Church of Moberly, a Southern Baptist church that has been on the same corner in downtown Moberly since the mid-1880s and has a congregation of about a hundred people every Sunday.



Winn said the church services, which are broadcast locally on the radio, have been altered to avoid dead air, but the content has not changed. Becky Winn and her husband, Dennis, said the interpretations of the Bible made by the church remain unchanged over time, despite the church’s evangelical efforts.

​

Dennis Winn said the message of religion doesn’t need changed to be relevant, the relevance comes with the tradition.