Why I'm a Christian

The Christian faith is not a blind faith, but a rational faith that transforms what we believe about ourselves and the world around us. For this series, we’ll look at the evidence for the Christian faith to equip us as a church to be on mission.

During the Why I'm a Christian series, we want to know the concepts and ideas you that you wrestle with the most. If you have a question, text "DOWNTOWN" followed by your question to 91011. On the final week of this series, we'll choose a few of the texts we've received to discuss and answer. We hope that through this Q&A time, we'll provide further insight and substance to our faith in Jesus Christ.

For this series we’ve created a website full of helpful books, videos and articles. Check them out at whyimachristian.com

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

Week 1: God (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

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

Week 3: The Bible (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Doubting Your Doubts (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kid's’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Q & A (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

Serve the City 2020

Sermon by Ant Frederick on January 19, 2020.

Resources:

Bible Verses on Oppression

Precious in His Sight e-book

Precious in His Sight sermon series

Following Jesus Together

Sermon by Jake Blair on January 12, 2020.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about the abundant life. This life radiates with love, joy, and peace with one goal in mind - to be with Him and look like Him.

This is the abundant life Jesus invites us into and makes available to us now.

FollowingJesusTogether.com

|giv| 2019

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.

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)

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.

Celebration Sunday 2019

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Life of David

We often prop David up as a great hero of faith. When in reality, he was a regular person just like you and me. He trusted God and God did mighty things through him, yet he also ignored God and failed miserably. Whether you’re a long-time Jesus-follower or you think you’re too far away from Him, David’s life will have something to say to you.

For this series, we hope your trust in God matures and you are moved towards God's steadfast love as we dig into both the victories and defeats of David.

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

Week 1: David and the Crown (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 2: David and Jonathan (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 3: David and Saul (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide) (Scripture Guide)

Week 4: David and Bathsheba (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kid's’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: David and Nathan (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: David and His Children (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: David’s Inner Life (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide) (Kids’ LifeGroup Guide)

To view more reading recommendations, go to our online bookstore.

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As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. Our reading plan will help ground you in God’s Word and give you daily prayer prompts to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

Click here to download/print our entire Life of David Reading Plan.

In Columbia As It Is In Heaven

The church is comprised of people following Jesus together. And while it’s easy to turn church into simply creating compelling events, Jesus reminds us that the church is about creating compelling people - people who follow Jesus and do the things Jesus did. This is Jesus’s means to bring His Kingdom to Earth.

For this series, we want to equip our church to be compelling Jesus-centered people who look more like Him because when we do, Columbia looks a little more like Heaven.

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

Week 1: Bringing Heaven to Earth (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Abide (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Fellowship (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Confession and Repentance (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Mission (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Generosity (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Serve (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Gather (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

To view more reading recommendations, go to our online bookstore.

* indicates required

Enter your e-mail to recieve reading prompts directly to your inbox: *

As God’s people, we want to be guided by His Word and empowered by His Spirit to fuel us to be a Jesus-centered family on mission. Our reading plan will help ground you in God’s Word and give you daily prayer prompts to better prepare your heart for the teaching you’ll hear on Sundays.

Click here to download/print our entire In Columbia as it is in Heaven Reading Plan.

Worthy | There Is None Like Him

Everybody worships. The question is, “What do we worship?” Some of us worship our jobs, worship our families, worship our significant other. Some of us worship more obscure things like control, power, or comfort. And whatever we worship is what we will pour all our time, attention, and affections into.

So the question becomes, what is actually worthy of our worship? In this series, we’ll take a look at how God, above all things, is ultimately worthy.

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

Week 1: He is Worthy Part 1 (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: He is Worthy Part 2 (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: He is Eternal & Immutable (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: He is Omnipresent (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: He is Omniscient (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: He is Omnipotent & Self-sufficient (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: He is Sovereign (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

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To view more reading recommendations, go to our online bookstore.

Stand-Alone | Losing Your Fight

Sermon by Ant Frederick on June 16, 2019.

Work

Work is more than your 9-5. It’s everything that God calls you to do.

Whether it’s clocking in at the office, attending classes, raising children, managing your budget, all of it falls under the category of “work.” And this work is actually all part of God’s plan to redeem all of creation.

Our aim for this series is to see our work as part of God’s bigger story. We want to see our work as actively partnering with God to help accomplish what He’s doing throughout the world.

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

Week 1: You Need A Story (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: You Need A Calling (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: You Need A Sabbath (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: You Need A Stable Identity (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: You Need A Mission (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: You Need Meaning For Your Frustrations (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: You Need Your Work (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

To explore more recommended resources, check out our digital bookstore.

Stand-Alone | Good Friday

Sermon by Adam Gibson on Friday, April 19.

1 Corinthians | Part 2

In 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the brokenness within the church at Corinth and how only the good news of Jesus can bring us together.

As a church family, want this series to be an opportunity to celebrate all the goodness and beauty of the church while also being honest about the struggles and difficulties.

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

Week 1: Flee From Idolatry (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: 5 Meals that Changed the World (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Gospel-Centered Ethics (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Haircuts and Head-Coverings (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Build Up the Body in Love (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: No Seriously, Build Up the Body in Love (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: A Loving Community (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Supernaturally Life-Giving Words (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: Supernaturally Life-Giving Words Part 2 (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 10: Jesus’ Resurrection (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: Our Resurrection (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: Change the World with People You Love (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Serve the City

One of our favorite ways to kick off a new year is to rally our family toward Serve the City Weekend. To do that, we’re spending these first two weeks focused on understanding why we serve. We want to learn from Scripture and see how God first served us. Our goal is that the ultimate act of service, the Cross, would motivate us to sacrificially love and serve the people around us.

Listen to sermons & download LifeGroup resources.

Week 1: Count Others as More Significant - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Death Defying Compassion - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 3: Jesus for Shalom - (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

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.

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.

|giv| 2018

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.

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)

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.

Celebration Sunday

We did not have a sermon during our city-wide Celebration Sunday Gathering on November 18, 2018, but you can grab the LifeGroup Guide and watch all of the baptism videos that played during the Gathering by clicking the buttons below.

1 Corinthians | Part 1

In 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the brokenness within the church at Corinth and how only the good news of Jesus can unify and restore. We want this series to be an opportunity to celebrate all the goodness and beauty of the church while also being honest about the struggle and difficulty of being the church.

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

Week 1: Dissonance Theory (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 2: Unity Without Uniformity (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

 Week 3: Silly Church Kids (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 4: Spirit-Led Maturity (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 5: Build So You Don’t Get Burned (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 6: Self-Forgetfulness (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 7: Trustworthy Leaders (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 8: Covenant Breaking and the Sin of Tolerance (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 9: Death by Drama (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

3-Week Mini-series “Sex, Marriage, & Singleness”

Week 10: Nothing Is Just Physical, Especially Sex
(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 11: Acting Out Your Wedding Vows
(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 12: Different Paths of Devotion
(Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 13: The Demands of Love Pt. 1 (Sermons) (LifeGroup Guide)

Week 14: The Demands of Love Pt. 2 (Sermon) (LifeGroup Guide)

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.

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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)