A Church on Saint Matthews Road Since 1811
Sardis Baptist Church stands on Saint Matthews Road in the small town of Swansea, South Carolina, where it has been rooted in the same location for nearly two centuries. The congregation traces its beginning to 1811, when a group of members from the Saxe-Gotha Lutheran Church withdrew to plant what became the area's only Baptist church at the time. The first building was a log structure, and the pews inside it were hewed from logs and set on peg legs. After a fire destroyed that original building, the church relocated to its present property in 1835, where it has now served the surrounding community for 187 years.
Today Sardis is a self-governing body that affiliates with the Southern Baptist Convention, the South Carolina Baptist Convention, and the Lexington Baptist Association. The church's stated purpose is summed up in a single sentence that runs across its ministry descriptions: growing followers of Jesus Christ who love God, love their neighbors, and serve their community, so the Good News of Jesus Christ will spread throughout the world.
What Sunday Looks Like in Swansea
Visitors arriving for Sunday School at 9:30 am enter through the doors facing Saint Matthews Road or Sardis Church Road and are greeted by church members before being directed to classrooms. Sunday School is offered for the whole family, with age-graded classes for children from nursery through fifth grade, a class for teens who join the adult classes at this hour, and a slate of adult electives.
The children's wing is divided into four classes: nursery for children six weeks to two years old, preschool for two- and three-year-olds, elementary for 4K through second grade, and "Next Step" for third through fifth grade. Lessons are taught by volunteer teachers who walk students through books of the Bible and topical series. Among recent adult studies have been a walk through the book of Joshua led by Pastor Keith Griffin, and a study of the Feasts of Israel that explores the Old Testament festival days and what they reveal about God's character.
Worship begins at 10:30 am and runs through noon. The church describes the service as relaxed but worshipful, with congregational singing led by a Praise Team that blends traditional and contemporary music. Parents with babies and toddlers are welcome to keep their little ones with them in the sanctuary, on either the main level or the upstairs balcony, and a supervised nursery is also available for those who would rather drop their child off. Sardis encourages a come-as-you-are atmosphere, and the doors on the two main roads open into a sanctuary that seats the whole congregation together.
Wednesday Nights for the Whole Family
Wednesday evenings are built around age-appropriate gatherings that begin at staggered times so families can move through the night together. During the school year, children from 3K through fifth grade gather at 6:30 pm for 252 Kids, a program named after Luke 2:52: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." The night includes a worship rally, a Bible story, and review stations designed to help kids learn how to grow in the way Jesus did.
Middle and high school students in grades six through twelve meet at the same hour for Youth Group, held in the building to the right of the main church. The youth ministry describes its goal as walking alongside students through the unique challenges they face, partnering with parents, and helping young people follow Jesus in an ever-changing world. Youth Group runs from 6:30 to 8:00 pm and includes games, Bible-based lessons, and practical discussion. Outside of the regular Wednesday meetings, the youth group also gathers for outings that have included axe throwing and bowling nights together.
Adult Bible Study begins at 7:00 pm in the sanctuary and runs until 8:00. Visitors can enter through the main doors and sit wherever they feel comfortable. The hour between the children's start time and the adult class allows parents of younger kids to settle their children into 252 Kids before joining the adult gathering themselves.
The After School Program
One of the most visible ministries of Sardis is its After School Program, or ASP, which serves families in the Lexington 4 School District. The program runs Monday through Friday from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, providing homework help, tutoring, indoor and outdoor play, Bible lessons, and bus transportation from local schools. Tuition is $70 per week for the first child and $60 for each additional child, with a $17 daily rate available. On school in-service days and holiday breaks the program expands to a full-day schedule that runs from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm.
During the summer Sardis runs a Summer Camp with the same Monday-through-Friday hours, slightly higher tuition ($105 per week, with discounts for additional children), and a curriculum that includes breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack alongside Bible lessons and age-appropriate activities. Older students are invited to volunteer with the program, and many of the staff come from education backgrounds.
The ASP is directed by Tammy Widua. Its mission is described in three lines that echo the church's overall purpose: teaching children to love God with all their hearts, minds, and bodies; showing by example how to love and serve neighbors; and helping spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the community.
Feeding Swansea
On the second Saturday of every month, from 10:00 am to noon, Sardis teams up with Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Swansea to run a food pantry for families in the area. Volunteers from both congregations gather to distribute bags of pantry staples and toiletries. The most-needed items include canned fruit in juice, canned vegetables, beans, rice, pasta, cereal, grits, oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, canned meat, laundry soap, dish soap, and bar soap. Donations can be dropped off at either Sardis or Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, located at 295 West Lady Street in Swansea.
Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, the partnership also assembles Holiday Food Baskets containing the fixings for a complete holiday meal for families who might otherwise go without. The need has grown in the community in recent years, and the work of the food pantry has expanded to keep pace.
From Swansea to Ciudad Juárez
The missions work at Sardis begins in the local community and reaches across the border. Once a year the church sends a mission team to Algo Mas in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to assist in whatever ways the ministry on the ground needs. The missions ministry frames this work as a response to Jesus' words in Matthew 28:19-20, the Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Closer to home, the church joins in 30 Days of United Prayer for Schools each year, distributing a prayer guide that walks participants through focused prayer for students, teachers, and schools over a month-long period.
What Sardis Believes
The church's statement of faith centers on the Bible as the inspired and without-error Word of God, given through ordinary men moved by the Holy Spirit. It teaches that there is one God who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, became flesh to reveal God to humanity and serve as the Savior of the world.
Salvation, in the church's teaching, comes through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, the only sufficient payment for sin. People, created in God's image for fellowship with Him, fell into willful, sinful disobedience and cannot restore the relationship on their own; God offers salvation freely to all who place their faith in Christ's death and resurrection. Every believer, the church teaches, is called to live for Christ, mature in obedience to the Word, and be conformed to the image of Christ. The church itself is described as the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the head, and whose purpose is to glorify God by loving Him and making Him known to the lost world.
Around the Table in Swansea
Beyond the main weekly schedule, Sardis gathers around tables several times a month for fellowship. Breakfast at Sardis happens on the first Sunday of each month at 8:30 am, ahead of Sunday School. Men's Breakfast and Bible Study meets on the first Tuesday at 6:30 am at Lizard's Thicket in nearby Red Bank. Ladies Lunch takes place on the third Wednesday of each month at a local restaurant, with women from the church gathering for food and conversation. Deacons meet on the fourth Tuesday evening, and a church-wide Business Meeting is held on the second Wednesday evening.
The church also maintains a list of recommended reading for the congregation. The list includes Owen Strachan's The War on Men, Hemsworth Jonas's Radical Discipleship, Marshall Segal's Killjoys: the Seven Deadly Sins, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress in a modern-day version by Alan Vermilye, and Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga novel On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.
Leadership and Sermon Archive
Sardis is led by Senior Pastor Mark Hardenbrook, who preaches most Sundays and is currently teaching a verse-by-verse series through the book of Ephesians titled "Being the Church." Associate Pastor Keith Griffin also preaches and leads the adult Sunday School class on the book of Joshua. The After School Program is directed by Tammy Widua, and the church office is staffed by an office administrator who handles inquiries and the church calendar.
Past sermons are available to listen to online, with audio recordings of recent weeks and a sermon archive that runs through eighteen pages. The church also maintains a podcast feed so listeners can follow along on their own schedule, and a Facebook page keeps the congregation and the wider Swansea community connected between Sundays.
Two centuries after a small group of believers walked out of a Lutheran church and built a log meetinghouse, Sardis Baptist Church still gathers on the same stretch of Saint Matthews Road, a long-running witness in a small South Carolina town with the same call it has sounded for more than two hundred years: love God, love your neighbor, serve your community.