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Sunday Worship Services

Services Sundays:
8:30 AM - Worship with praise team
11:00 AM - Worship with hymns and choir

Sunday Worship Livestream

You can find worship livestreamed each Sunday here. If you miss the live stream, you can find our archive online!

Advent 2023: "A Better Christmas"

What would make for a better Christmas?  Perhaps it would better weather – snow on Christmas Eve, or better presents under the tree, better family times, better parties, better decorations, a better recipe for that stuffing that no one ate last year, not even the dog!

But what if a better Christmas was not about improving our Christmas game?  What if it was about addressing the deep longings of the heart for beauty, meaning, life, love?  Come join us in our Christmas journey as we explore a better Christmas by considering a better beauty that is offered, better answers to our deepest longings, a better journey in life than we could design on our own, and a better joy and hope that is tied to Jesus who has come among us. 

Advent 2023 Events

  • Holly Jolly Outreach - Dec. 1, Black Mountain, 5:30 pm

    Sassafras on Sutton - Outside the Second Floor Entrance

A team of evangelists and youth will partner to share the joy of Christ with others, including gifts, crafts, and books for children! 

  • Children’s Christmas Pageant - Dec. 3,  Graham Chapel, During Worship

The children of Christ Community, dressed as shepherds, angels, magi, will be sharing the Christmas Story through word and song as welcome the season of Advent with a special presentation in worship on Sunday morning.  Hear the tidings of comfort and joy from our children as they put on display for our 8:30am and 11am worship service the Good News of Emmanuel.

  • Thirst: Hope in the Darkness -  Dec. 5, Chapel of the Prodigal, 7 pm

The Christmas season doesn’t offer much in the way of lament.  Yet the Christmas story is full of unfulfilled longings, broken dreams, of a “people walking in darkness.”   Join us on Tuesday Night, December 5th, as we cast our hopes and our fears, our fatigue and fallenness at the feet of our Savior.   This will be a special time of music, prayer, and scripture as we cry out our greatest longings to a God who is with us in all of the hard places of life.   Let’s be honest before the Lord together, and invite the Lord to minister to all of the places in our lives that are broken.  Invite a friend that you know may be walking in a difficult place or perhaps has experienced a loss over this year.   Meet us in the Chapel of the Prodigal at 7pm as we invite the light of Christ to overcome the darkness!

  • Christmas Cantata - Dec. 10, Graham Chapel, 5 pm

“A Christmas Collage:  The Way, He Comes”

Join us for an unforgettable evening of music and scripture as the choir and orchestra present to us the greatness of our God breaking through into our world.  Familiar hymns, ancient texts with new musical settings, and a new Christmas song that marvels at how God has come for us in a manger.  You won’t want to miss this opportunity to participate in this year’s Christmas Cantata as we declare together at the end of our performance:  “He rules the world!”   Invite a friend to this festive evening of praise in Graham Chapel at 5pm on Sunday, December 10th.

  • Children’s Movie Night: Elf - Dec. 15, Gaither Fellowship Hall, 5:30 pm

Children's Ministry will be hosting their annual FAMILY movie night in the fellowship hall of Graham chapel. We will be watching the movie Elf this year. The night will start at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be provided. Please bring a sweet treat to share. Dressing up is encouraged as well as bringing a special stuffed animal to snuggle with as you enjoy the movie and fellowship.

  • Christmas Brunch - Dec. 17, Gaither Fellowship Hall, Between Services

Join the church family for Christmas fellowship in Gaither Fellowship Hall! Bring a brunch item to share!

  • Christmas Eve Morningand Candlelight Service - Dec. 24, Graham Chapel, One Service 11 am / Graham Chapel, 7 pm

Bookend your Christmas Eve on Sunday, December 24th with worship in the morning at 11am and a Candlelight Service in the evening at 7pm in Graham Chapel.  It promises to be a day filled with singing and hearing the message of a better joy and a better hope that is found in Jesus Christ.   All of your favorite Christmas Hymns and a time honored tradition of singing “Silent Night” with the chapel filled with flickering candles.   Come, joyful and triumphant!  

Listen to our sermon archive here!

Sermon Questions

First Sunday in Advent

Series: A Better Christmas

Richard White, Pastor

"Better Glory" - Isaiah 40:1-5

  1. What would make for a better Christmas for you this year?
  2. Christmas can be a very sentimental time pondering days of yore. Do you have a favorite Christmas memory?  
  3. How might considering the second advent of Jesus make this Christmas season different?
  4. Recall the purpose of the Lord’s coming: Comfort (1-2); Glory (5); and Reward (10-11). What do each of these mean and how does Jesus’ second coming manifest them?
  5. We are all glory hounds. We are attracted to glory/beauty. Why is that do you think?  Why does vs 7,8 describe human glory/beauty as withering grass? What does this mean for all the things we long for in the past and even for the presents under the tree?  How is vs 5 a word of hope for us with our longing to see and be around glory?
  6. What are some mountains and valleys this Christmas season that you might need to ask the Lord to level or fill so that you might be better prepared for the coming of the Lord?  
  7. Look at verse 9.  What “mountain” has the Lord positioned you on with others to declare: “Behold your God?”  What is it about the Lord that we are particularly to “behold?”  Who are those around you who need to hear this good news?

Sunday Adult Classes

To go deeper in Bible study, we invite you to join one of our adult Sunday School classes.

Our online option (a livestream of the L. Nelson Bell class) is also offered from 10:15am - 11am on Facebook.

L. Nelson Bell Class

Sundays 10:15 AM - 11:AM
Gaither Fellowship Hall

Facilitated by Andy Wells


Please join us for any of our classes!

Newcomers Welcome!

Carpenter's Union

Verse-by-verse inductive study of the Bible, currently studying the Gospel of John.

10:00 a.m. - McGowan Center 117/118
(under the Chapel of the Prodigal)

Facilitators: Steve Foster, Lloyd Davis

First Things

Becoming thinking Christians in an unthinking age.

Fall 2023: Theology and Wonder, Part 2

10:00 a.m. - Belk 219

Facilitators: Deborah Wagner, David Taylor

Merge

The Merge class explores the big ideas behind the Christian faith and following Jesus as it relates to today's Christan walk. Through video teachings from various leaders and group discussion, this is a Sunday school setting with a philosophical vibe.
Currently studying "The Truth Project"

10:15 a.m. - Belk 148
(Belk Student Center)

Facilitators: Katie Hogan, Priscilla Maxwell

Youth & Children
Sunday Classes

Youth Sunday School (grades 6-12) meet on the 4th Floor of the Henry Building from 10:15 - 11:00 a.m.

Children’s Sunday School (Pre-K through 5th grade) meets on the 2nd floor of the Henry Building from 10:15 - 11:00 a.m.

Nursery (infant - Pre-K) generally operates year-round and is located on the 2nd floor of the Henry Building. The nursery is open from 8:45am through 12:30pm.

For more information about children's Sunday School, email Rachael below.

FaithWorks College Group

FaithWorks meets Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in the McGowan Student Center to ask spiritual questions and consider the Gospel. Participants include atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Christians, and those who are searching. Members may provide testimonies or hear from guest speakers.

ALL are welcome!