Saran & Kevin
We moved to Columbia in June 2014. Along with our four children, we quickly began visiting local Episcopal churches. After visiting about ten Episcopal churches over a year or two, we finally settled on a small church south of Columbia. Unfortunately, shortly after committing our family to attending this church regularly, the parish lost its priest and began to fall apart. Our hearts were a bit broken - we had finally found an Episcopal church that modeled our family values of diversity and acceptance …and it folded shortly after we joined! After months of simply not attending church at all, we ran across a Facebook posting of a sermon from Pastor Tim Bupp. We were impressed by his passion and decided to visit, even though we were not Lutheran nor had ever attended a Lutheran church service.
Our first visit went quite well and we enjoyed meeting the congregation and speaking briefly with Pastor Tim. Shortly thereafter, we were shocked by an invitation for our family to come and have dinner with the Bupps at their home. Upon visiting with the Bupps and hearing about their values and beliefs and how that is expressed in their Lutheran faith, we were ready to go all in at Reformation. A couple of months later, our entire family joined the church officially and began to serve in the parish in a variety of capacities.
We are happy and proud to call Reformation our home.
Julia & Jim
Jim was a member of Reformation when he and Julia met in 1979. Julia became a member following their marriage performed by then Pastor Jim Nichols in 1982. That would make us among some of the most senior members of Reformation meaning we have been through the many highs and lows of RLC for nearly 40 years. The most important reason we love Reformation is the message of love and reconciliation, the gospel of salvation by grace and the commitment to justice and equality that is the underlying mission of our ministry. From the beginning we were loved and accepted as a new blended family by older members of the congregation, many who now rest among the saints. As we moved into the 21st Century, Reformation was declining in membership and struggling to be relevant in our community. We were very conscious of the fact that historically we had not been welcoming to all of our neighbors because of their race or sexual orientation.
These were our neighbors; it was important to us that they find a welcoming home at Reformation so as a church, we began a dialogue on human sexuality, acceptance and inclusiveness. Our proudest moment at Reformation was the almost unanimous vote to become a Reconciling congregation and the subsequent door-to-door canvasing of the neighborhood to spread that word. The resulting reputation of Reformation as a welcoming congregation continues to reward us through new friendships, new ministries, and new ways of outreach in service to our community. We love the rich heritage and traditional liturgy of Reformation and we love contributing to the growth of that heritage in new and inclusive ways.