During the 1980s, the Columbia metropolitan area began to experience strong population growth and suburbanization was spreading quickly throughout the northeastern portion of Richland County. The South Carolina Synod recognized that this increased population growth created a need for a Lutheran witness in this rapidly growing area. The leaders of the Synod and the Lutheran Church in America, the national organization that preceded the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), sent a mission developer to form and build a congregation in Columbia Northeast.
Pastor E. Edward Long and his wife, Jewel, arrived in June, 1987 with the support of the ELCA. They bought a home and began to assess community needs and how they were being served by the Lutheran pastors and congregations in the area. On August 1, 1987 Pastor Long began work in the community and invited Lutherans and the unchurched to fellowship activities and meetings in the hopes of forming a mission congregation.
Fourteen persons met with Pastor Long and Jewel Long on August 28, 1987 and organized a congregation. Some modest office equipment was purchased, and Pastor Long’s garage became the headquarters of the new mission congregation. On September 1, five people formed a committee and started planning for worship, and on September 18th, a public interest meeting was held at Northeast Baptist Church. Pastor Long worked with synod and national leaders to secure 4.3 acres of land for a future building.
The first worship service of the mission congregation was held on November 15, 1987 in the Little Theater of North Springs Elementary School and fellowship activities took place in the cafeteria. A Sunday Church School was organized on January 10, 1988, and a charter was opened to form a congregation of the ELCA on January 24, 1988. The first service on the property of Living Springs Lutheran Church was held on Easter Sunday 1988.
On October 2, 1988, the mission congregation was officially recognized as a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The name, Living Springs Lutheran Church, was selected.
It symbolizes the living water of Christ which flows in us to reach all parts of our lives and through us to our community and world. The South Carolina Synod recognized Living Springs as a congregation and partner in mission and ministry.
Pastor Long was officially called by the congregation to be the first pastor of Living Springs on October 16, 1988. A congregational council was elected and ministry committees and organizations were established. The ELCA authorized Living Springs to enter the “building phase” of its development in December 1989. A capital funds campaign was conducted in April 1990, and a Building Committee was appointed in June.
Living Springs became self-supporting by January 1, 1991 and no longer received mission aid funding from ELCA. Schematic drawings of a church building were approved on April 7, 1991, and congregation leaders were authorized to sign construction contracts. A ground-breaking ceremony took place on February 23, 1992, and the new home of Living Springs Lutheran Church was dedicated on Sunday, December 13, 1992.
Living Springs Preschool/ ASC was erected in August 2001.