Bike (or Hike) Sunday Coming Sept. 14

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008—For Immediate Release

New Columbia congregation Karis Community Church (pronounced CAR-iss) will hold a “Bike (or Hike) to Church Sunday” on September 14th.  The church meets Sundays at 10 a.m. in the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts downtown.  This is in conjunction with “Get About Columbia’s “Way to Go to Work” month.  Karis believes it’s a good way to get to worship, as well.  Congregants and guests will be coming to Karis in creative, healthy, environmentally-friendly ways.  In fact, lead pastor Kevin Larson will bike to church.  His wife Amy will also walk to Karis’s worship Gathering with her three kids under five.

Why would a church want to host such an event?  First, Karis desires to be “In the City… For the City,” so the congregation intentionally chooses to participate and encourage community events.  Second, our society is becoming increasingly and alarmingly obese.  As Christians, we believe God cares about the total person—not just our souls—so we sponsor this event to encourage maintenance of those bodies.  Third, we think there are potential environmental concerns with the overuse of automobiles.  As followers of Christ, we believe we should be concerned about the environment of which God has made us stewards.  Fourth, with the increase of gas prices, we want to question whether or not Christians could save money in this regard and pour more into world mission.  For these four reasons, about which we understand Christians can and certainly do disagree, we sponsor this event.

For more information, contact Lead Pastor Kevin Larson at kevin@karischurch.org or 573.823.4130r, as well.