We have launched an Anglican Church for the greater Simpsonville area! We hope you will come and see what God is doing in and through the ministry of Harvest Church. See details below:
what to expect
Come and see! Scripture. Sacrament. Spirit.
A parking lot view of the front entrance of our worship space at Temple Baptist Church (Family Life Center).
A picture of our worshiping family. We are both reverent and expressive in our worship.
Celebrating the Eucharist every Sunday is essential to us at Harvest as we are met by Christ and fed at his Table.
We are a church plant, and so we meet for worship on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am at Temple Baptist Church’s Family Life Center at 213 W. Curtis St., Simpsonville. Come and see! Try it!
When you arrive on campus, please be sure to park on the “Life Center” side of campus because Temple Baptist worships also on Sunday and we don’t want to take their spaces. Once parked, just head toward the main entrance (pictured to the left) and there will be greeters there to check you in and show you where to go to the sanctuary space, hospitality area, or infant nursery.
Children are always invited to worship with us! We love the little children because Jesus does! We have activity bags if you need them and a designated space in our sanctuary for those with special needs who cannot sit still. And, if you choose, after the opening songs of worship and prayer, children (K4 - 5th grade) may go to Kids Church for biblical learning and crafts using the curriculum and hands-on learning lessons from “Godly Play” during the sermon (30-35 minutes). The children always return to us for Holy Communion. We also offer a nursery every Sunday for our infants.
Musically, the worship service is an acoustic ensemble (piano/organ, cello, percussion, bass, and acoustic guitars) and our services are a fantastic mix of “modern”, biblical, participatory songs and traditional hymns (a fancy term would be “ancient-future” worship).
We worship in the liturgical tradition of the Anglican Church (liturgy simply means a participatory worship service… and a “work of the people”). This means that our worship services will follow the 2019 Book of Common Prayer Ancient Renewed Text that includes participatory, historical elements such as responsive acclamations, ancient Creeds/statements of faith, scripture readings, corporate prayer, and a biblical sermon. Celebrating the Eucharist (Communion) every week is also very essential to us.
If this is new to you, we are convinced that you just need to come and see for a season. Come with an open heart and mind, and experience the depth, richness and beauty of Christian worship in the Anglican tradition. You’ll find that it is a very fresh and meaningful encounter with God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Holy Baptism is one of the Sacraments we celebrate in the Church either by the pouring on of water, or by full submersion in water.
FAqs
+ Is Harvest Church a part of a denomination?
Harvest is a church plant within the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) and a part of the Diocese of the Carolinas. While its origins began in England, Anglicans are now a global communion of over 80 million fellow Christians! If you were to search out the word "Anglican" online, you would probably see that there are different expressions of Anglicanism around the world. Harvest Church leans more "blended" in style while still being rooted and grounded in ancient Christian practice, belief and tradition. Very importantly, because some Anglican communions around the world have wandered away from the gospel and the authority of scripture, Harvest aligns theologically and is in a covenant relationship with our Anglican brothers and sisters in Christ who adhere to the scriptures and the historical teachings of the Church and are a part of our global GAFCON.
+ What should I wear?
We say at Harvest, "Come as you are!" It's your choice! How you dress is totally up to you!
+ What do you have for kids?
Our children are precious to us and we will do everything we can to teach them the ways of the Lord and to increase their love, wisdom, and knowledge of Jesus. Our prayer is that our children experience the love of God so powerfully that they will be passionate disciples of Jesus as they grow up! We welcome our children to worship with us and we have activity bags for those who need them. We also offer Harvest Kids Church for those K4-5th grade where if the parents choose, they can be dismissed for about 30-35 minutes of Bible teaching, Bible study, crafts and games on their level during the sermon. They will return later to celebrate Holy Communion with us. We also aim to get them involved in worship sometimes as well! Regardless, it's really important to us that children learn how to worship and serve the Lord from the youngest of ages. We also have a clean and safe infant nursery for our littlest ones!
+ Do Anglicans celebrate "open" Communion?
Yes. No matter what tradition or denomination you may come from, the Communion Table is open to ALL who have been baptized and belong to Christ (including baptized young children). This is a family meal for those who love Jesus, and KNOW they need Jesus—it is not for people who have it all "figured out" because we are ALL a work in progress! If you or your children have not been baptized yet, we still want to pray a blessing over you and so please come forth and just cross your arms across your chest. This will signal us to pray. And of course, we invite you to learn about baptism and become a part of the family of Christ!
Come to the Table! All you are thirsty, all who are hungry! And be filled!
+ What do Anglicans believe about baptism?
Baptism is a sacrament that is essential to the Christian faith and occurs when a candidate is publicly immersed in or has water poured or sprinkled on them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a sacrament that Christ commanded us to do when he sent us forth to "Make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit..." and it carries with it multiple meanings: (1) the believer has received forgiveness of sins and (2) the believer now has a new life in Christ. Baptism is a mysterious 'means of grace' (a place where God's real presence meets us in ordinary things, like water).
Through baptism, we are publicly initiated and adopted into God's family and into Christ's Holy Church. Through water and the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, we are sealed and marked as Christ's own forever. We like to say that the waters of Baptism are an 'outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace' (work of the Spirit). Because it is God's grace alone that calls us and convicts us of our sin, need for repentance, and a Savior, we believe Baptism is not something we do on our own - Baptism is something God does IN and FOR us. In other words, baptism is a sacrament of "divine inititative, not of human activity" (John Stott).
What about baptizing infants? This is a huge topic that many have wrestled with for centuries because the Bible is not emphatically clear on the subject. However, there are some churches today that believe the only valid mode of baptism is 'believer's baptism': which is by submersion under water and where someone is old enough to profess their Christian faith. But, historic traditions like Anglicans and most other faith traditions know that infant baptism has been the primary mode of baptism (by either submersion, pouring or sprinkling of water) among Christians for more than two thousand years of church history. We strongly believe that baptizing infants is a good and pleasant thing in the eyes of the Lord Jesus who said himself, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Matthew 19:14).
Again, baptizing infants goes back to the early church, and it is highly probable that new converts who were baptized in the New Testament, whose "whole families" were baptized (see Acts 16:33), were families that certainly included infants and children! Infant baptism is also rooted in rich history and traces its origins to the ritual of circumcision from the Old Testament covenant. Following the example of Abraham (see Genesis 17:9-14; 22-25), every male child born to an Israelite was to be circumcised (Lev. 12:3) as a sign of God's covenant of grace. But, we believe that when Christ established a new covenant, baptism replaced circumcision as the sign that marked infants as children of the covenant. This is why Paul connects circumcision and baptism in Colossians 2:11-12...because circumcision and baptism are both signs of God's covenant to his chosen people and precede an infant's ability to choose to speak for themselves.
Lastly, as with most faith traditions, infants who are baptized must have a family and/or godparents (along with the congregation) who are Christians themselves, and will publicly speak for the child as a member of a local congregation. All members and family who are present at this worship service, will publicly promise to raise that child in the faith until they reach an age where they are able to articulate and understand the Christian faith and accept it for themselves (Deut. 6:6-9, Proverbs 22:6, Mark 2:3-5, Acts 2:39, Acts 16:25-34). Therefore, when a person reaches an age where they feel ready, they will go through a season of teaching of the basic Christian tenets of faith by our clergy that is called Confirmation. When complete and ready to be confirmed, they will stand before the bishop in a public worship service in the midst of the congregation and be prayed over and brought in as a full member of the Church. It is a powerful moment! Some choose to be baptized in this service!
When you are ready to begin a new life in Christ, and be initiated into the family of God in the Church, we invite you to come -- be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit! We cannot wait! Email us to set up a date!
Listen to recent sermons.
