OUR STORY
Thank you for stopping AwakenColumbia.com! Just to catch you up a bit…

Almost two years ago, Lara Beth and I sensed that God was working to move our family from our church, friends, and life in Greenville, South Carolina to a new city. We did not know immediately where He was calling us, but after time, it became clear that His call was to our hometown, Columbia, South Carolina. Little did we know that the city where we grew up from elementary school to high school, and the city where we were married, would be the city whose current condition would break our hearts and capture our imaginations for what could be and should be.

Fast-forward some 12 months and our passion and commitment to be a part of what God is doing to transform the city of Columbia is as strong as ever. One of the curious aspects of God’s call was that He sent us without a specific plan of action – He simply called us to live as missionaries by investing our lives in people and learning as much as we can about this great city.

What have we learned? It’s exciting and challenging all at the same time. On a given Sunday, only 18% of the population of Metro Columbia attends an evangelical church. That means that some 650,000 people have something better to do than engage in a church community. Over 30% of the population under the age of 18 lives in poverty. Columbia was rated as the 13th “most drunk” city in the United States by a national medical research publication – the highest ranking of any city in the Southeast. The gang population in Columbia is one of the fastest growing in the country.

But, the good news is exciting! Over 60,000 soldiers come through Fort Jackson, the largest basic training base in the U.S. Army, each year. Additionally, there are 45,000 college and university students on 8 campuses throughout the city. In the last two years, Columbia has been listed as a top U.S. city for relocating families, retirees, and artists. In Richland District 2, which serves Northeast Columbia and is the part of town where we live, over 40 different native languages are spoken. And, our zip code was ranked as the 15th fastest growing zip code in the country for 2007. The world has come and is coming to Columbia…imagine the possibilities if a significant percentage of the population could be touched and transformed by the gospel of Jesus!

Numbers tell you some of the story, but not all of it. We’ve been able to meet with countless numbers of people and families over coffee, meals, or through serving. People like Mary Ann*, one of our favorite baristas at our local Starbucks that also doubles as my office. Mary Ann* told me a few months back that she no longer believed in God – life was easier that way. In the months that have passed, I have watched as God has continuously chipped away at her heart. Then, He pulled the ultimate move a few weeks ago.

Her boyfriend, Ken, who has a past that you and I would not wish on our worst enemy, surrendered his life to Jesus! Four weeks ago, we baptized Ken in a backyard pool with the team God is assembling to start our church and Mary Ann came. Not only was she there, but she had a blast and our people loved on her like crazy! In the weeks since, her questions about Jesus have increased and I am convinced that it is a matter of “when” not “if” she will surrender her life to follow Jesus.

Then, there’s Johnny, a 7th grader at the same middle school Lara Beth and I attended. His family shares a two-bedroom trailer with another family in a trailer park 5 miles away from our house. Prostitution, drugs, poverty, and gangs surround Johnny. Even now as I type these words, my heart breaks all over again and tears well up in my eyes. We don’t have to go to a third world country to find third world needs…they exist 5 miles away.

Religious apathy runs deep in Columbia, but we are seeing people experience a renewed hope in the church and others who are waking up after a life spent trapped in religious do’s and don’t’s. I could go on and on with stories of what God is already doing.

There is much to do here in Columbia. As we have invested our lives in this great city over the last year, a vision for what could be and should be has become clear. It is a vision for a church that is focused on giving every man, woman, and child in our city repeated opportunities to see, hear, and understand the gospel of Jesus. And we are going “all in” to see it come to fruition.

Believing that God is already at work in Metro Columbia, we are starting Awaken Church on September 13, 2009 with the mission of joining God in the transformation of people, our city, and the world.

Grace & Peace,
Jay Hardwick
Lead Pastor

WHERE IN COLUMBIA?
Polo Road Elementary School
1250 Polo Road
Columbia, SC 29223

WHEN?
Sundays @ 10:30am


OUR MISSION
 Awaken Church is committed to joining God in the transformation of people, our city, and the world.

We believe God is already at work transforming people, our city, and the world. At the onset of His public ministry, Jesus announced, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” Mark 1:15 (ESV). We believe the kingdom of God is at hand in Columbia, SC and that God is working now to heal every injustice and to extend grace to every man, woman, and child through the gospel of Jesus.

Our job is not to create His work, but to join Him in what He is already doing.

We envision Awaken Church as one church network that is made up of several community churches that partner together for the common good and transformation of people, our city, and the world. Each community church will be unique and contextualized based on the area of Metro Columbia where it forms. As a network then, we envision a diverse church made up of multiple ethnicities, wealthy and homeless, families and singles, artists and professionals, seniors and students.

We will join God in the transformation of people by helping them connect to life giving relationships in Life Groups.

These smaller groups (8-12 people) will engage in spiritual disciplines together, such as prayer, studying the Scriptures, and fasting, as a means of helping each other better follow Jesus. These communities will often gather over a meal to spur one another on. Our desire is to become followers of Jesus who represent Him well and who lead others – skeptics, doubters, and drifters – to do the same.

We will join God in the transformation of our city by gathering Life Groups together to form Missional Communities.

These mid-sized communities (20-50 people) will cultivate serving partnerships throughout the city where they can bring hope and healing to the least of these. Our desire is to be a community that gives generously of our resources and abilities so that our city will see the gospel in action as we live and serve. We want to be the church, not just say we attend one.

We will join with God in the transformation of the world by developing and sending leaders from our community, by planting churches, and by developing strategic partnerships in South Carolina, North America, and around the world.

Our desire is to be a generous, church planting, globally-engaged, multiplying church.

Our weekend worship gatherings, then, will be a time to celebrate all that God is doing to transform people, our city, and the world.

Each worship gathering will feature stories of transformation, songs of celebration, relationships with the larger church community, clear and creative preaching of the gospel of Jesus, and prayer for the continued work of God in our lives, our city, and the world.
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