Rev. Samuel Varner was called to be the pastor of a new church start. He and a small group of people who would become the church's charter members, and the church formally began its life on the first Sunday of Advent in 1976. The tiny church named itself “Advent Community Church” in recognition of the specific Sunday its life began.

Rev. Varner had gotten those first members, though, by walking through the neighborhood in which the church was located, on any day, of course, but especially on Sunday mornings! He would go to the neighborhood stores where children had been sent by their parents to buy milk, bread and eggs … and bring them to the storefront in Cassady Plaza where the new church would hold its worship services. There he'd be, Rev. Varner and the surprised children, some still in their house shoes because they thought they'd be taking a quick jaunt, sitting in this storefront with the pastor, Rev. Varner, telling them to call their parents and asking them to come to church.

Week by week, the scenario was the same, until Rev. Varner had managed to gather a small number of curious parents and their children. These people became the core of what would become the only African American UCC church in the city of Columbus for a long time.

Rev. Varner had a passion for African American youth, and got them involved in knowing their history and culture. He would take scores of youth, some members of the new church and some not, to sites of the Underground Railroad, on tours of historically black colleges, and on any number of other outings that would help them know who they were. This Afro-centricity became a part of Advent Community Church.

Rev. Varner stayed at the church for five(5) years. He was well loved and respected. While he was there, he gained attention of some alumni of Tuskegee University, who purchased a party house in the strip mall where the storefront church had been based and gave it to the church. The congregation proudly moved from the storefront to the party house, and a new era of its life had begun.

When Rev. Varner left, the church began a journey which became a testament to the strong foundation which its founding pastor had laid. For 4(four) years the church had no resident pastor. Sunday after Sunday, the tiny church opened its doors for worship, drawing in the charter members and their children, and a few more of the neighborhood children. Interim pastors came and went; for a period of time, a different preacher would come each week to deliver the sermon. Advent Community Church became the “Little Church that Could,” weathering those years largely because of the strong foundation which had been laid by Rev. Sam Varner.

In 1985, Rev. John Walker responded to the call to be Advent's pastor, becoming the church's second pastor. His tenure was short, but rich; he was followed by Rev. Luther Holland, who stayed for 3(three) years. Each pastor continued in the Afrocentric tradition begun by Rev. Sam Varner, building on what had proven to be a strong foundation. It was Rev. Luther Holland who designed the “ Rose Window ” which became a symbol of the culture/Christianity ethos of the church.

When Rev. Luther Holland left, the search was begun yet again for another pastor. It seemed that nobody really wanted to come to the church, which was still small and by now, even smaller. The years of not having stable leadership had taken its toll, and the Little Church that Could had to “do” with very few people and not much money.

It was then that the search for the church's fourth pastor began. The search committee interviewed several candidates, among them the Rev. Susan K. Smith, but decided at the last minute to call Rev. John Pace, a male pastor instead.  When that pastor-elect decided not to take the pastorate two weeks before he was scheduled to begin, the search committee put in a call to Rev. Smith, who, after some struggle, decided to take the church.

The move to Columbus for Rev. Smith was a hard one. She was coming from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where she had served as an associate pastor under the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. By the time she got to Advent, its membership had dwindled to about 6 active people, though there were about 20 names listed on the roster.

She preached her first sermon as pastor of Advent Community Church on February 1, 1990, which was Ash Wednesday. Shortly after her arrival, she led the church in a move to rename the church, Advent United Church of Christ, wanting the congregation to identify with its denomination. She reminded the people to look “not at what they were but at what they would become.” Within a few months of her arrival, she began working with the Central Southeast Ohio Association and the Ohio Conference of the United Church of Christ to complete construction on a new building, work on which had been stopped because the contractor had declared bankruptcy and the sub contractors were suing the church.

With some difficulty, she managed to navigate “The Little Church that Could” through that difficult time, and in February of 1992, the membership of Advent United Church of Christ, now at about 100, moved into its new facility which had finally been completed.

The church continued to grow, slowly, in spurts, sometimes moving forward and sometimes rolling back down the steep incline it was on … but stands today as a testament to God's presence in its life.