OUR STORY

The Early Days

In June of 2005, Kevin and Amy Larson returned to Columbia to plant a new, God-centered, gospel-focused church. Kevin took a job at a coffee house downtown, where he began to meet some of the first members and leaders of what would become Karis Church. Bible studies in the Larson home soon followed. Largely through word of mouth, the plant team slowly began to grow. In the fall of that year, the young congregation began meeting Sundays in the Larson home.

Downtown

That next Easter, in 2006, the new church officially launched - with 17 people present - in the Tiger Hotel downtown. The growing Karis family met in that building’s ballroom over the next couple of years. During that time, our church expanded our smaller communities on mission and sought to love our city well, serving in the downtown district, hosting a community carnival, and planting roots in the city.

In 2008, God provided what seemed like the perfect downtown location. Karis moved that fall into the newly-remodeled Missouri Theatre. It was a glorious space. The church continued to slowly grow, as more people joined in our vision of being “in the city” and “for the city.”

Our time in the Theatre sadly only lasted a year, as new management came in and hiked the rates. Our somewhat confused and slightly discouraged leadership decided to return to the Tiger Hotel, clinging to God’s faithfulness, a truth we firmly believed and had already seen. In that season, we launched an identical evening Gathering called “Karis P.M.” God continued to bless and grow us in that comfortable spot - that is, until new management again moved into town. We were again left wondering what God might provide. In the midst of this movement, we took our first of many trips to Brazil, launching a partnership that would lead to several Karis members being called to move to Brazil on mission and serving there to this day.

Calvary

By 2011, the Karis elders had already begun some dialogue with Calvary Baptist Church, discussing what a partnership with that church might look like. That congregation kindly invited us to use their auditorium and classrooms each Sunday. They had their gathering at 9:45. We started ours at “11ish.” The Lord again provided a home. However, at that time, we had no idea what God would soon do.

In 2012, we took our first trip to Japan to seek out partnerships with local pastors. We’ve since taken multiple trips to Tokyo and sent two Karis families to serve among a local church plant there. It was during that time that we also opened the Imago Gallery and Cultural Center downtown. We occupied this historic space at the corner of Broadway and Hitt downtown. It gave us a way to serve and love local artists. It kept our offices and many events rooted in the District. But in 2014, we got that call again. We’d have to find another home, and for the first time, it would be one that we’d own.

Westside

In 2014, some local pastors facilitated our transition into the former Bethany Baptist Church. Just down the street on Worley, it took us further from downtown, but still provided a First Ward home for our church. It still gave us room to grow. Baptisms on the front lawn and Affordable Christmas events for local families soon followed. And it was from there that we sent out several families to plant churches across the country. While kicking off worship at what we’d choose to call Westside, we also launched Karis Downtown, in the Bridge venue on Walnut. While that nighttime gathering was only short-term, and we eventually were forced to shut down Imago, we still saw God’s faithfulness during that season. God, though, had even better things in store for us.

Ridgeway

In 2018, the leadership of Calvary Baptist reached back out to our Karis family again. They, like Bethany before, were considering their future and how God might use the building God had given them. Over the course of many months, they decided to gift their facility to Karis. We moved into what we now call Ridgeway in November of 2018 and have putting down roots in our new neighborhood ever since. While there have been curves and bumps at every step of the way, God has been faithful. His message of Karis (“grace”) has continued to go forth. We look forward to how God will use us in our Ridgeway home - here among the difficulties of Columbia’s First Ward and just a short walk from our city’s downtown District.

Looking at where God has us, and where he is taking us, we continue to run the race with endurance, empowered by God’s grace each step of the way.