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Have you been searching for a church to call home? We are so glad you found us! Whether you’ve been out of church for a few months, out of church for 20 years, or have never even been to church, it’s not always easy to know what to expect when visiting a church for the first time. If you’re thinking about visiting us, we want to make sure you know what to expect, and feel comfortable coming by! Here’s what you can look forward to.
Welcome, History & Overview of Starnes Cove
We would absolutely love for you to visit us on a Sunday or Wednesday. We’re located in West Asheville, some even consider us to be in Candler- we’re that close. We’re located at 149 Starnes Cove Rd, in Asheville, 28806, just up behind the Cracker Barrel on Smoky Park Highway. We are a body of believers who join together in worship and ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. Our church was established in 1941, out of a little tent revival at the intersection of Starnes Cove Road and Holbrook Road. You can read more about the history and story of our church here!
Our Sunday morning service starts at 10:50 am, immediately following Sunday School, which starts at 9:45 am. There is a Sunday School class for everyone, from babies to the eldest, and we have a spot for you. On Wednesdays, our Wednesday night service— that we call “Adult Discipleship”, starts at 7:15 pm and ends at 8 pm. Kids Cove, our children’s ministry, and our CrossTrainers Youth Ministry both start at 6:30 pm and end at 8 pm as well. Nursery care is provided on Wednesday nights as well for the little ones from 6 weeks old, to two years old.
Sunday Mornings
Parking & Sunday School
On a Sunday morning, you can expect to be greeted by our ushers at each entrance. There will also be someone in the parking lot to help you find parking in each of our lots. If you aren’t sure what Sunday School class you should be in, just stop by our church office, and either Monica or Donna will be there to assist you and guide you in the right direction. If you have children, someone can escort you to the nursery, or if they’re three years old or older, to their designated children’s Sunday School class.
If you have pre-teens and or teenagers, from 6th grade up through 12th grade, they can head upstairs to join our CrossTrainers, for an in-depth lesson, some prayer, and good discussion before heading downstairs for Sunday morning service.
Service Information
Service starts at 10:50 am, and ends at 12pm. As you head into the sanctuary, you can pick up this Sunday’s bulletin, where you’ll find information such as important updates on upcoming church events, service projects, or news that’s happening in the church this week, or this upcoming month. Also in your bulletin, you’ll find a tear-out where you can fill out your information, as a visitor. This small piece of paper just lets us know who you are, and that you’re visiting our church so that we can reach out to you and talk with you after Sunday is long over. We truly enjoy connecting with our guests and hope that you’ll attend our services regularly, and hopefully eventually become a member!
Dress Code & Bible Versions
If you’ve been thinking about coming to one of our Sunday morning church services, we would love to have you and have the opportunity to get to know you, and your family. If you’d like to listen to or watch a few sermons before your visit, be our guest— you can listen along podcast-style, or watch live on our YouTube channel. As far as dress code goes, you’ll find that some folks like to come really dressed up in a suit and tie or dresses and high heels, and others like to dress more casually like in a sweater and khakis, a button-up, and jeans. There is not a strict dress code- come as you are! Our pastor usually preaches out of the ESV (Eastern Standard Version) of the Bible, but occasionally references other versions of the Bible as well. You’re welcome to bring your hard copy of the Bible or your app version of the Bible, and we also have copies of the Bible in each pew. Feel free to use whichever copy you prefer!
Wednesday Evenings
Nursery Care
I would be amiss if I didn’t tell you what wonderful people we have that keep nursery on Wednesdays (and Sundays!) On Wednesdays, nursery care is provided for babies from 6 weeks of age to 2 years of age. We’ve got toys, books, music, puzzles, and more, and most importantly, we’ve got some incredible people to love on and take care of your children! In our experience, most babies get used to being in the nursery without mom and dad, after just a few weeks! If you have any questions about our nursery care, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Kids Cove
Wednesday evenings are always busy here at Starnes Cove! Especially in the children’s ministry and youth group! Typically, once Buncombe County Schools has started back to school for the year in August, we have our Wednesday Night Kick-Off, and Kids Cove is back in session! (Kids Cove starts for the year when Buncombe County Schools start their school year and ends when school lets out for the summer)
Kids Cove starts at 6:30 pm on Wednesday nights and ends at 8 pm (as well as youth!) Kids Cove is for children from preschool through fifth grade. The kids are split up into three classes by grade in school— preschool and kindergarten age, first, second and third graders, and then fourth and fifth graders. One to two teachers are assigned for each of those three classes, and they stay with the kids as they move from station to station throughout the night. These stations are Bible Story time, games, crafts, and discussion time. If it’s your child’s first time attending on a Wednesday night, we will send them home with an information sheet for you to fill out— info such as emergency contact info, any known allergies, and some other important info that just helps us get to know your child a little better.
CrossTrainers Youth Group
We are blessed to have some incredible youth leaders teaching our youth! At any given time, we have 15 -20+ youth on Wednesday nights, and they meet at 6:30 pm. They have a lesson, play some games, have good discussion times, and pray. Our youth group is for 6th graders, through 12th graders. (As someone who grew up in the youth group here at Starnes Cove, I can definitely attest to the fact that being so involved in youth through all my middle school and high school years, helped me stay strong in my faith, and helped me grow closer to Christ, and I built friendships that have lasted a lifetime!)
Adult Discipleship
We call our Wednesday night service our Adult Discipleship service. As you’re coming into the sanctuary on a Wednesday night, you can pick up our prayer list, which is a list of prayer requests in the church, and in the community that we’re currently praying for. Once we’re all seated, we’ll briefly go over any new news, or upcoming events, go over the prayer list and see if there have been any updates on some of the people or places we’ve been praying for, give folks the opportunity to add new names to the prayer request list, and then we follow all of this with a time of prayer. After prayer, our pastor will read out of the Scripture, with a brief lesson from whatever current series we’ve been studying throughout the Bible. Adult Discipleship is for anyone who is college-age or older.