Christmas

Advent 2023

SERMONS | ADVENT GUIDE | ADVENT PROJECTS

"Advent" means "arrival." And since the early church, God's people have celebrated the arrival of Jesus' birth during this time of year. As we remember his first arrival, we also look ahead to Jesus' promised second arrival - when He will return and make all things new. So, each week, we'll look at different aspects of Christ's coming and how that should shape how we think, feel, and react to the Christmas season.

Kidtown will be provided for ages preschool and under. Children are invited to attend the Gathering with their parents during this series.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Hope

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Peace

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Joy

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Love

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote an Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. The suggested donation is $8 per copy.

One of our goals as a church family is to be generous people. So every year around the holidays, we press into generosity to think about God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He’s shown to us. 

This year, we are focusing on three practical ways to grow in generosity:

#1. Start tithing

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We encourage church members to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us to be generous around the holidays and throughout the year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all we do as a church in our city.

#2. Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources God has entrusted us. On January 27 from 9am-12pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a practical training class to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

#3. Give to Serve the City 

Serve the City is our initiative as a church family to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable people in our city. This year, we want to fund the various Serve the City events we do throughout the year to serve these organizations and the people they work with. These funds will also go towards our Serve the City Weekend on March 16, 2024. We partner with the following local organizations:

  • Transitions

  • Home Works for America

  • The Ezekiel Center

  • Epworth Children's Home

  • Daybreak

  • Salvation Army

Advent 2022 | The Songs of Christmas

SERMONS | ADVENT GUIDE | ADVENT PROJECTS

Since the early church, God’s people have celebrated the Christmas season every year through giving and singing about the birth of Jesus. This year for Advent, we’re looking at the four “songs” about Jesus’ birth found in Luke 1-2, and how those songs point to the good news Jesus offers us.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: The Song of Mary

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: The Song of Zechariah

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: The Song of Angels

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: The Song of Simeon

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote a brand new five-week-long Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. The suggested donation is $5 per copy.

One of our goals as a church family is to be generous people. So every year around the holidays, we press into generosity; to think about God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He’s shown to us. 

This year we are focusing on three practical ways to grow in generosity:

#1. Start tithing

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We are encouraging members of our church to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays but throughout the entire year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all we do as a church in our city.

#2. Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources that God has entrusted us. On January 28 from 9 am-12 pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a class that consists of practical training to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

#3. Give to Serve the City 

Serve the City is our initiative as a church family to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable people in our city. This year we want to fund the various Serve the City events we do throughout the year to ongoingly serve these organizations and the people they work with. These funds will also go towards our Serve the City Weekend on March 3-5, 2023. We partner with the following local organizations:

  • Children’s Hospital

  • Transitions

  • Home Works for America

  • The Ezekiel Center

  • DSS

  • Epworth Children's Home

  • Daybreak

Advent 2021

SERMONS | THE BOOK

Since the early church, God’s people have celebrated the Christmas season every year through celebrating, giving, and singing about the birth of Jesus. But how often do we actually notice the words we’re singing? This year for Advent, we’re taking a look at some of the most popular songs during the holiday season and how they point to the ultimate hope this world’s needs: the good news of Jesus.

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series.

Week 1: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Silent Night

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Joy to the World

(Sermon) (Transcript) (LifeGroup Guide)

To help us grow in our understanding of God’s goodness, we decided to write a book for this series. You can download the digital version here and donate to our book fund if you want to support the cost of this book.

|giv| 2020

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For most of the Bible, God’s people were seen as an exiled people. Life was far from how they imagined or hoped, as they were constantly reminded of the brokenness and sin around them. And yet, amidst their exile, God reminded them that good news was on the way.

This year has been far from how anyone of us would have imagined or hoped either. We’re reminded in the headlines and in our daily lives that we are still a people in exile. So during this Christmas season, we want to once again remember that good news has come through Jesus, and one day He is coming back.

So every year, we take 3-4 weeks to intentionally focus on our hope in Jesus through growing in generosity. We take this time to think about how God has given us undeserved grace while we were still sinners and continues to grow us as his people.

Here you

Listen to sermons & download LifeGroup resources.

Week 1: Jesus, God With Us - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 2: Jesus, Our Shepherd King - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

Week 3: Jesus, Our Comforter - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Transcript)

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1. Sign up to Tithe

We consider tithing a spiritual practice that helps develop a lifestyle of sacrificial generosity. We are encouraging members of our church to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays, but throughout the entire year. It’s also specifically how we fund and fuel all that we do as a church in our city.


2. Attend the Personal Finance Class

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources that God has entrusted to us. On Sunday, January 24, January 31, and February 7, we’re hosting a class that consists of practical training to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity. The class will be hosted virtually from 2:00-3:30pm.


3. LifeGroups partner with a Serve the City Organization

Due to the pandemic we’re postponing our annual Serve the City Weekend to a later date; however, we want every LifeGroup to select a Serve the City organization to partner with over the next year to serve. Through LifeGroups regularly serving alongside our STC organizations year-round, we’re able to sustainably love and serve the most vulnerable and marginalized in our city.


4. Give to Agape Children's Ministry

Give to Agape Children’s Ministry - Agape Children's Ministry is an orphan reunification ministry that seeks to reunite street children in Kenya with their biological families when possible through family rehabilitation. The executive director of Agape is the father of a Missionary Member at Lexington, and their efforts in Kenya have been very successful in a much-needed and often-neglected area of orphan care. Their ministry serves approximately 1500 families and they are seeking to establish a new arm of their ministry in the city of Nakuru. We are seeking to raise $20,000 for Agape, and those funds will serve approximately 56 additional children from rescue to reintegration (including follow up care for 5 years).

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To help us prepare our hearts for the Christmas season, we wrote a brand new five-week-long Advent devotional guide for you and your LifeGroup to work through during this season. Iif you haven’t received a hard copy yet, you can pick up a copy at any of our on-campus events. The guides are first come first serve and the suggested donation is $6 per copy.

|giv| 2019

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Every year, we take 3-4 weeks to intentionally focus on growing in generosity. We take this time to think about how God has given us undeserved grace while we were still sinners and continues to grow us as his people. We like to call it our |giv| series.

During the series, we will walk through the first two chapters of Matthew to prepare our hearts to celebrate God’s greatest gift to the world: Jesus. As Christians, because it’s far too easy to just get caught up in everything else so we want to make sure that we approach this season thoughtfully. Each week, we’ll look at different aspects of Christ's coming that ought to shape the way we think, feel and react to the Christmas season.

Here you

Listen to sermons & download LifeGroup resources.

Week 1: Jesus’ Resume - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Jesus’ Mission - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Jesus’ Kingdom - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

GIV projects-100.jpg

1. Start Tithing

We want our first step of ongoing generosity to be towards the mission of our church. By financially supporting our church together, we set ourselves up for a stable and sustainable ministry for years to come. We are encouraging our family to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays, but during all seasons of our lives.

2. Sign up for Serve the City Weekend

The gospel transforms us to be generous with not only our finances, but our time and energy as well. We are coming together to serve our seven partner organizations and their clients at Serve the City Weekend from January 18-20, 2020.

3. Raise $22,000 for our Serve the City Partnerships

We want to fund Serve the City events throughout the next year and continue to do things like feeding Epworth students each Wednesday night at Student Groups.

4. Attend the Personal Finance Class

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources that God has entrusted to us. On Sunday, January 26, February 2, and February 9 from 9:00am - 11:00am at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a class that consists of practical training to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

|giv| 2018

GIV_Web.jpg

Every year, we take 3-4 weeks to intentionally focus on growing in generosity. We take this time to think about how God has given us undeserved grace while we were still sinners and continues to grow us as his people. We like to call it our |giv| series.

Sermons.jpg

Listen to sermons & download LifeGroup resources.

Week 1: Mercy - Its Source & Motive - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Grace Givers - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: A Test of Genuine Faith - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Projects.jpg

1. Start Tithing

We want our first step of ongoing generosity to be towards the mission of our church. By financially supporting our church together, we set ourselves up for a stable and sustainable ministry for years to come.  We are encouraging our family to set up a recurring tithe because the gospel transforms us not just to be generous around the holidays, but during all seasons of our lives.

2. Sign up for Serve the City Weekend

The gospel transforms us to be generous with not only our finances, but our time and energy as well. We are coming together to serve our six partner organizations and their clients at Serve the City Weekend from January 18-21, 2019.

3. Raise $21,000 for our Serve the City Partnerships

We want to fund Serve the City events throughout the next year and continue to do things like feeding Epworth students each Wednesday night at Student Groups.

Stretch goal - Any money we raise beyond the $21,000 will be put towards renovating and installing a full kitchen in our unused building on Barnwell St. This will allow us to serve meals as part of our ministry to the homeless, use the facility to save money on food cost for future events, and utilize the building as an event rental space.

4. Attend the Personal Finance Seminar

We want to equip our church family to be spiritually healthy by stewarding the financial resources that God has entrusted to us. On Saturday, January 26 from 9:00am-3:00pm at our Downtown church, we’re hosting a seminar that consist of practical training to manage your finances, pay off debt, invest well, and practice biblical generosity.

1800 Blanding Street

Columbia, SC