Songs

Psalms | Ancient Songs for Modern Hearts

The Psalms are a unique collection in the Old Testament: 150 poems, songs, and prayers covering approximately 1,000 years of Israel’s history. The writers cover everything from hatred to pure joy and nearly everything in between. Some of the language and honesty in the Psalms are shocking–even uncomfortable to hear–because of how unfiltered they come across.

Amidst the raw emotions, the Psalms offer a beacon of hope. They guide us to understand what’s going on in our hearts and how to realign ourselves with reality, offering a path to transformation and spiritual growth. 

In this series, we’ll spend six weeks looking at specific chapters as we ask how God wants us to shape us as His people.

This series is part of our Year of Biblical Literacy initiative.

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

Week 1: A Theology of Song

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 2: The Bible as Meditation Literature

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 3: Dealing with Difficult Emotions

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 4: Arrows and Blessings

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 5: A Song for the Politically Weary

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Week 6: The Type of Heart that Sings

(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Sermon Notes)

Check out our Year of Biblical Literacy site for more articles, podcasts, and book recommendations.

BOOKS | COURSES | ARTICLES

PSALMS OUTLINE

Throughout the year, we want to know the concepts and passages you wrestle with. We'll answer some of these questions in podcast episodes throughout the year.

To submit your topic or question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your topic to 855-855-0655.

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.

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Columbia, SC