Lessons From Church Planting

By 325 A.D. Christianity had spread like crazy. Scholars say over half of the Roman Empire had become Christian. Kenneth Scott Latourette, a history professor at Yale, said:

“Never in so short a time has any other religious faith—or for that matter any other set of ideas, religious, political or economic— ever achieved so commanding a position in such an important culture without the aid of physical force, or social or cultural prestige.”

It all started with twelve guys on a hillside with no power, no money, no celebrity endorsements —they just had an absolute conviction that Jesus had risen from the dead and a strange power poured into them called the gift of the Holy Spirit. The key was that every person, not just a handful of specialized apostles, carried the message wherever they went.

Now there are over 2 billion Christians across the world, but the work isn't done yet. Today we continue the mission of extending the Gospel to people of all ages, races, genders, backgrounds, economic statuses, and political affiliations. Join us as we spend four weeks seeing how our LifeGroups and church can grow from looking at the Lessons From Church Planting.

LISTEN TO SERMONS & DOWNLOAD RESOURCES

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays - we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: Antioch (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Philippi (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Athens (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Ephesus (Sermon)  (LifeGroup Guide)

I Am God | A Study of the "I Am" Statements in the Gospel of John

Throughout the book of John, we see Jesus making claims about His identity. He say's things like "I Am the bread of life" or "I Am the good shepherd", but are these "I Am" statements just nice reminders about Jesus? What if He was inviting us into the fullness of His character? What if He was using ordinary everyday objects to point us to His supernatural nature? Join us for this 7-week series called "I Am God".

LISTEN TO SERMONS & DOWNLOAD Resources

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion, we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays - we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: I Am (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: I Am the Bread of Life (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: I Am the Light of the World (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: I Am the Good Shepherd (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: I Am the Resurrection and the Life (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: I Am the True Vine (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Stand Alone 2018 | Every Group Around the Pool

The Bible calls us to grow in wisdom and knowledge of God's Word, encourage one another, form friendships, and live on mission. Admittedly, being on mission is something most of us struggle with, so we will be providing resources and opportunities to invite others into our rhythms and Jesus-filled lives.

Our goal is to see "Every Group Around the Pool". As we faithfully invite and build with people, our prayer is that the Holy Spirit would work in their lives and that they would come to know Jesus and publicly proclaim Him through baptism.

As God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus, let us take on our calling as the church to see others reconciled to Him.

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Personal Liturgy

All of the pictures of an abundant, joyful, others-centered, and God-ward life that we see throughout the pages of the Bible often feel far from reality in the hustle and bustle of 21st century existence. Apathy, distraction, self-reliance, cynicism and self-absorption steal our joy and rot us from the inside out. 

So we are taking 5 months to fight these things with everything we have--to fight for our joy and peace and vitality and flourishing as humans made to image and be filled by the God who created us. 

The things you do do things to you, so join us in taking a deeper look at the things we do.

Get our app to follow along with daily prompts and challenges.

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LISTEN TO SERMONS & DOWNLOAD Resources

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays - we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Intro

Week 1: The Life You Were Made For (And the Things that Ruin It) (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Apathy

Week 2: The Things You Do Do Things to You (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 3: The Things You DON'T Do Do Things To You (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 4: Lay Aside Every Weight (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Distraction

Week 5: You Were Made to Behold (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 6: Be Still and Know that I Am God (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 7: Redeeming the Time (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Self-Reliance

Week 8: Pray Like Jesus - Part 1 (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 9: Pray Like Jesus - Part 2 (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 10: Pray Like Jesus - Part 3 (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Cynicism

Week 11: The Doubting Thomas in All of Us (LifeGroup Guide) (Homelink)

Week 12: Why "Parakletos" Should be Your Favorite Word (LifeGroup Guide) (Homelink)

Week 13: A Spirit-Filled Life (LifeGroup Guide) (Homelink)

Self-Absorption

Week 14: Freedom from a Life-Long Temper Tantrum (LifeGroup Guide) (Homelink)

Week 15: A Blueprint for Biblical Encouragement (LifeGroup Guide) (Homelink)

Week 16: The Joy of a Life Not About You (LifeGroup Guide) (Homelink)

|giv| The Advent of the Son of God

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 study passages of Isaiah to prepare our hearts to celebrate God’s greatest gift to the world: Jesus. We want to make sure that we approach this season well as Christians because it’s far too easy to just get caught up in everything else. 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 and stir our affection and longing.

1. Sign up to tithe

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. Regular tithing from our Midtown family enables us to more strategically plan and budget to continue to be Jesus-centered family on mission with Him in Columbia and the world.

2. Sign up for Serve the City Weekend

The gospel transforms us to be generous with our finances as well as with our very lives. Our Serve the City Weekend is a great chance to be generous with our time and energy by serving marginalized and vulnerable people groups in our city. Serve the City Weekend will be during MLK Weekend from January 12-15.

3. Raise $15,000 for our Serve the City Partners

The goal of this year's |giv| project for our Downtown church is to raise $15,000 to support our Serve the City Partners. For each partnership, we are committed to serving their staff and their clients on a monthly basis. Some of our events are really big like STC weekend and some of our events are as simple as serving breakfast for the committed staff of each organization. Your giving this year will help us: 

• Host red carpet events for inpatient kids at Palmetto Health Children's Hospital.

• Repair houses for widows in our city who cannot pay for or complete the repairs on their own.

• Provide a stable church family atmosphere and moments of relief and joy for the orphaned kids of Epworth.

• Engage in relationship with the homeless of our city who are living at Transitions Shelter.

ADVENT Guide

To help enrich our understanding of the Advent season, we've created an Advent Guide for you to use with your family or your LifeGroup. Inside, you'll find daily readings, weekly devotionals, family discussion questions, and study guides for your LifeGroup.

Listen to sermons & download study guides

Week 1: Grace for Our Sin - (Get the Study Guide)

Week 2: Hope for Our Suffering - (Get the Study Guide)

Week 3: Peace for the World - (Get the Study Guide)

Week 4: Joy for Eternity - (Get the Study Guide)

Jesus-Centered Family on Mission

What do you think of when you hear the word church? 

A building?
A weekly habit?
A place to celebrate Easter and Christmas?

What if we told you that the church is supposed to be nothing less than God's plan to change the world? For 11 years, we have strived to be a Jesus-centered family living on mission with God in our city of Columbia. We believe we're called to be a city on a hill. A community of transformed lives that testify to the power and promises of God Himself. Join us as we study Romans 12 to recapture a picture of God's vision for His people: a Jesus-centered family on mission.

STUDY GUIDES & KIDTOWN HOMELINKS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays, we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: Transformation vs Behavior modification (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 2: Belong like parts of a body. (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 3: Participate like parts of a body. (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 4: They will know you are my disciples by your love. (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 5: Winsomely weird. (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 6: Overcoming evil. (Study Guide) (Homelink)

You Are Here

We are constantly being preached to. Everywhere we look, we are being told what’s true
about who we are and how the world works:

“You need to find yourself.”
“Do whatever makes you happy.”
“Follow your heart.”
“If you do good things, good things will happen to you.”
“Everyone has to decide for themselves what is right and wrong.”
“Eliminate negative people from your life.”
“One day you will find the one.”
“You only live once.”

But have we ever stopped to ask ourselves if these common cultural phrases actually make
sense? Join us on an eight-week study as we examine why these phrases may not be as
helpful as we think.

STUDY GUIDES & KIDTOWN HOMELINKS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays, we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: "You need to find yourself." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 2: "Do whatever makes you happy." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 3: "Follow your heart." (Study Guide) (Leader Guide) (Homelink)

Week 4: "If you do good things, good things will happen to you." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 5: "Everyone has to decide for themselves what is right and wrong." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 6: "Eliminate negative people from your life." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 7: "One day you'll find "the one'." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 8: "You only live once." (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom one-liners, with the goal of repetitively hammering on foundational truths for how to live a well-lived life. We’ll spend the last two months of the summer diving into selected proverbs that teach us how to live winsomely and wisely with God, with others, at work, at home, and throughout everyday life.

STUDY GUIDES & KIDTOWN HOMELINKS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays, we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: Invitation to Wisdom (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 2: The Wisdom of Steadfast Love (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 3: Wisdom and Sloth (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 4: Wisdom and Community (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 5: Wisdom and Decision Making (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 6: Wisdom and Words (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 7: Wisdom and Pride (Study Guide) (Leader Guide) (Homelink)

Week 8: Wisdom and Sex (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 9: Wisdom and Wealth (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 10: Laugh at the Days to Come (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Home

Starting on April 23, all three of our churches will start a series called Home. Home is a six week series looking at God’s intentions for using our homes and families as tools for the advancement of His Kingdom. Our goal is to help our church family understand how God repurposes our homes, families, and relationships to help reconcile people back to himself. Join us for our new sermon series, "Home".

STUDY GUIDES & KIDTOWN HOMELINKS

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays, we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: Theology of Home (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 2: Togetherness (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 3: The Home in the Hands of a Loving God  (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 4: Dads, Moms, Arrows in the Quiver (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 5: Brought Up in the Instruction of the Lord (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 6: Make Columbia Home (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Crisis of Faith

Have you ever found yourself doubting Jesus? Do you end up wrestling with tough questions that leave you confused about what you believe? Starting on March 5, all three of our churches will take 6 weeks to look at pivotal moments where people were faced with the same types of questions after interacting with Jesus. Our goal is to help people address the issues that consciously and subconsciously keep them from following Jesus. If you've ever experienced moments like this, you're not alone. Join us for our new sermon series, "Crisis of Faith."

Study Guides & Kidtown Homelinks

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting resources for each week of the series. Homelinks are a tool used to connect parents and their children by helping them review what's being taught on Sundays, we'll be posting one for each week of the series. 

Week 1: Isn't Faith Irrational? (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 2: Why Isn't My Life Turning Out How I Hoped? (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 3: How Could God Love Someone Like Me? (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 4: What's It Gonna Cost Me? (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 5: Why Did God Let This Happen? (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Week 6: I'm A Good Person, Why Do I Need To Be Saved? (Study Guide) (Homelink)

Stand-Alone | Obedient Suffering

Sermon by Brandon Clements on February 26, 2017.

Precious In His Sight

We are a society where race often has a profound effect on life experiences, life opportunities, and social relationships. Segregation ended a long time ago, but even to this day practical separation between black Americans and white Americans often still exists. Somehow we often end up living in different neighborhoods, attending different schools, watching different TV shows, listening to different music and even joining different churches. Racial separation, tension, and misunderstanding have anything but vanished, as many recent controversial events prove.

The truth is, the current racial issues in America didn’t come out of nowhere. There is a history. A story. However, the hope that God’s people walk in regarding the potential of racial reconciliation didn’t come out of nowhere either. 

If we are going to have any shot at being a faithful church in our context, we have to know the story of God and the story of America. When we are equipped with both of these stories and an identity that goes deeper than skin color, Gods people have much to offer in the face of long-standing racial issues.

To help our LifeGroups grow in our understanding of American history and God's story, we decided to write a book for this series. Inside of the book you will find a chapter to go along with each week of the series, corresponding study guides and black pages for taking notes. To get the most out of this series we encourage you to read each chapter, take notes and discuss it with the members of your LifeGroup. We won't be having bulletins for this series so please remember to bring your book each week to the Gatherings. 

Stand-Alone | Grace for Good Works

Sermon by Adam Gibson on January 8, 2017.

|giv| 2016

One of our goals is to be a growingly generous people. So every year we take 3-4 weeks around the holidays to press into generosity; to think on God’s generosity to us and to talk about how we can grow in walking in the kind of generous love He shows to us every day. We like to call it our |giv| series.

This year we have three parts to our |giv| project, you can find out what they are here. 

Study Guides:

Week 1: Generous Hearts (View Study Guide)
Week 2: Generous Rewards (View Study Guide)
Week 3: Generous Contentment (View Study Guide)

Sermons:

Exiles: A Study of 1 Peter

"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you."

- 1 Peter 1:1-2

All three of our churches will take 14 weeks this fall to rally our family of churches to become the beautiful, God-glorifying, counter-cultural family that God desires His church to be. Peter uses the concept of living as exiles to help Christians connect and understand how to seek God’s kingdom and His mission no matter what level of hostility we find in the surrounding culture. Peter also helpfully hits on timely and practical issues like marriage, politics, community and suffering all within the context of living life as a regular exile.

STUDY GUIDES & LEADER GUIDES

To help facilitate LifeGroup discussion we'll be posting study guides for each week of the series. You can find each week's study guide here: 

Stand-Alone | Fountains & Cisterns

Sermon by Adam Gibson on July 31, 2016.

Stand-Alone | Created for Good Works

Stand-Alone Sermon:

Sermon by Antony Frederick on July 24, 2016. Ant Frederick serves as one of the pastors of our Two Notch Church, you can find information about Midtown Two Notch here.

Stand-Alone | Ordinary ≠ Insignificant

Stand-Alone Sermon:

Sermon by Michael Bailey on July 17, 2016. Michael Bailey serves as one of the pastors of our Lexington Church, you can find their series Ordinary ≠ Insignificant here.

Anthology: Learning to Love the Stories of God

There may be no form of communication more powerful than stories. From our infancy to our dying days, we listen to, learn from, are shocked by, memorize, laugh at, retell, cry from and connect to each other with stories.

So it should be no surprise to us, that the Bible loves to use stories to help us know the God who invented the art of story. Throughout this series, we will be looking at many of the individual stories that tell important moments in the overarching story of the Old Testament. In the individual stories and the bigger picture, we will see God's incredible faithfulness to move His people and all of human history toward the centerpiece of the entire story; Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 

So we invite you to join with us for our new series, Anthology: Learning to Love the Stories of God.

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To help with the series we've created two pages for you to check out. The first is a breakdown of the different Old Testament sections we will be studying and the second is a resource page for LifeGroups.

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Sermons:

Luke

Most everyone has an opinion on Jesus. Maybe you think he’s God in the flesh. Maybe you think he’s a helpful spiritual mentor. Maybe you think he was sort of crazy. A rebel, a pithy teacher, a homeboy. Or maybe you’re not sure he ever actually existed. Whatever the case, everyone has some sort of answer to the question. The important thing is to ask “is my version of Jesus the real one?” Answering that question is perhaps the most important thing you’ll ever do. Because all of life hangs on the answer.

Study Guide

To accompany our Luke series, we've created study binders that include space for sermon notes, personal study questions, and LifeGroup discussion guides. The study guide pages are available on their respective sermon pages available below:

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Sermons: