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.
