GOD WANTS TO DO GREAT THINGS THROUGH YOU!

We have many opportunties to minister to people inside and outside of St. Paul's

ABOUT US

A Word of Welcome!

In the name of Jesus Christ, our risen Savior, we welcome you to St. Paul’s! 

 

You are encouraged to come worship. Since 1886, St. Paul's has been serving the community from the corner of Bull and Blanding Streets in the heart of Columbia, only a few blocks from the State House. If you're new in town, we’d love to show you around. There is much to see and do, and St. Paul’s is conveniently located in the middle of it all!

 

St. Paul's is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We offer many learning and serving opportunities, and we'd love for you to find what fits best for you. When you're ready, call with any questions (803-779-0030), because we know finding a church home is an important decision.

WHO WE ARE

OUR MISSION

We are a community that is Learning, Loving and Living God's Word. Together we are a community of believers.  We believe that together in fellowship we grow closer to God and one another. The bible speaks about iron sharpening iron. We believe that together we grow stronger. We are a community of believers. 

OUR VISION

We strive to be a church without walls. Jesus calls for us to go outside the walls to reach the lost and the broken. It is there that the lost will be found. At St. Paul's we make an effort to be like the church from the book of Acts, to see our city changed.

OUR VALUES

We highly value our relationships with one another. We look to grow through fellowship, and ultimately growing closer to God. We value the word of God, and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We look to extend grace to all of the lost and broken, and lead those with no hope to the hope of Jesus Christ.

OUR HISTORY

SMALL BEGINNINGS

  1. St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church opened its red doors in 1886 when 39 members of Columbia’s Ebenezer Lutheran Church joined together and formed a new Lutheran church in Columbia. The current congregation still lovingly refers to them as “The Thirty-Nine.”
  2. Building a church was made possible when one of the new congregation members mortgaged his home for the funds to start building. The congregation worshiped at the Columbia YMCA until their first church building was completed in 1889.
  3. With the rapid growth of the congregation, the little church was quickly outgrown, and a new cornerstone was laid in October 1913, which was the beginning of the edifice in which we worship today. The beautiful stone church at the corner of Bull and Blanding was dedicated on November 15, 1914. 
  4. Over the years many changes have occurred to the inside of St. Paul’s but beginning in January of 2014, 100 years later, the inside of St. Paul’s was restored to the way many of our older congregation members remember as children.

HELPING PEOPLE FOLLOW JESUS