5/8/08
‘A church outside the box’ forms in Manning
By Cathy Gilbert

Submitted Photo

Seacoast Manning held its inaugural worship service this past Sunday. Formerly a campus of Carolina Forest Church, Manning will now serve as one of the satellite campuses of the Seacoast Church of Charleston.

In this community, we are all pretty aware of what church is “supposed” to look like. Whether we are Methodists, or Baptists or of the AME faith, our churches have a set order of worship, a general standard of dress and traditional music that for many church goers is a source of great comfort and abiding faith.

But for other worshippers, those traditions often feel like confines and cause believers to turn away.

But thanks to the development of Seacoast Manning, a satellite campus of the multi-site Seacoast Church, those who wish to worship “outside the box” can find a new church home.

Seacoast Church began in February of 1988 with 65 people meeting in an apartment clubhouse. In April of that same year, the first “public” meetings were held in a rented theater with a vision for reaching out to the unchurched people of the Charleston area. The dream was to build a church that would speak the language of the modern culture and encourage non-believers to investigate Christianity at their own pace, free from the traditional trappings of religion that tend to turn them away. A decision was made to approach the historical Christian truth in a decidedly contemporary, unconventional way.

Last Sunday marked the first time a campus of Seacoast Church held a worship service in Manning. The congregation that had formerly worshipped under the direction of Carolina Forest Community Church of Myrtle Beach was shepherded by Carolina Forest to find a new home with Seacoast.

“It was an amicable and peaceful transition,” said Seacoast Manning Administrative Assistant Renee Robbins. “Carolina Forest was founded on the Seacoast model, so we were practically cousins.”

The casual and contemporary service is open to people of all denominations.

“If you are most comfortable in jeans and flip flops, we will welcome you,” said Christy Bauer, a Seacoast member and former Carolina Forest member. “The way I see it, Jesus wore a dress and sandals and nobody ever thought he was inappropriate.”

Robbins says that Seacoast “tries to be the avenue for people for whom traditional churches have become a barrier.”

“We don’t have any objection to traditional worship if that is how you want to worship; we just want to provide another option.”

Seacoast is very technology minded, and the Manning campus receives a live feed via the Internet from the Charleston campus. Rev. Jim Fleming, who was the pastor of Carolina Forest Church is still the local pastor of the Seacoast Manning Church.

“Jesus met His people where they were,” Bauer noted. “If he were here today, he would be all about the Internet!”

Summerton artist Jane Gibson has been a long time member of the Seacoast Church in Mt. Pleasant, one of its 13 campuses.

“Yes, it is a ‘mega-church’ but never have I felt so special and welcomed,” she said. “The teachings are so life applicable and there are so many learning opportunities. There is something magical that happens when such a variety of people put their Godly gifts together. Being a part of Seacoast has taken me to a whole different level with God.”

Seacoast meets every Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. at the F.E. DuBose Auditorium. For more information about Seacoast and its campuses, log onto www.seacoast.org.