|
Our Purpose: Inviting and equipping people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
Our Mission: To grow stronger through worship, warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism
Who We Are
We are a multi-generational community of believers in the United Methodist tradition growing together under the leadership of Jesus Christ. Our primary focus is on families with younger children for two reasons. First, young family households are growing to become the majority of residents in the area surrounding our church. Second, research has demonstrated that if a church focuses on reaching families with young children, they will also draw older generations - thus reaching all generations by focusing on one.
To reach families with young children, we have excellent children's ministries and student ministries utilizing a small group/large group model. We emphasize excellence and relevance in our worship services to meet the expectations of young families. We strive to equip parents for leadership in their homes. We teach our older persons to mentor and model God-honoring lifestyles, and we teach all our people to be servants through ministry and mission.
Heritage appeals to people from a variety of Christian backgrounds and of varying degrees of commitment and understanding. We have both life-long and first-time United Methodists. We have people from a variety of Christian traditions, from Roman Catholicism to the Southern Baptist tradition. We attract people with little Christian history as well as people who are deeply committed followers of Christ.
Once people become part of Heritage United Methodist Church, we are committed to helping each person become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ by providing opportunities to experience the life-changing power of Christ, by equipping people for ministry and service in daily life through the teaching of the Scriptures, and by connecting each person with other followers of Christ within the Heritage community.
What We Do
We build Christian disciples on the foundations of meaningful worship, life-changing service, intentional fellowship, Christ-centered discipleship, and relational evangelism. We provide worship services designed to be meaningful times of loving God that energize our lives so that we can live in obedience to Him throughout the week. We help people discover how God has shaped them for service to one another and the community around us, thereby demonstrating the love of Christ. We prepare people to be agents of life-change through relational faith-sharing, telling others about the Good News of Jesus Christ. We facilitate groups and classes that enable people to develop meaningful relationships with other like-minded, Christ-honoring people with whom they can be equipped to live a purposeful life.
Doing life together as Christians means we grow in our faith together and become more like Jesus in our actions and attitudes. We instill in people principles by which they can live lives that honor God, principles such as: authentic love, compassion, hope, healing and joy. We teach people to choose "what is right" over "what makes me happy," because by choosing what is right we gain true joy in Christ. We teach people to engage our culture, infusing it with godly values instead of allowing cultural values to infuse us.
We are located at 2680 Landmark Dr., Clearwater, Florida 33761 on the corner of State Road & 580 and Landmark Drive.
History
Heritage United Methodist Church began as a worshiping community in 1976.The Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church wanted to establish a new community of faith within the Countryside and surrounding area to begin a heritage of congregational vitality, spiritual growth, and relevant ministry.
Our public worship services began in the Community Room at Countryside Mall during October 1976 and moved to our present site in 1977 when the first multipurpose building was erected. This building presently serves as our Fellowship Hall. The present sanctuary was completed in 1987.
In 1978, The Growing Place Pre-School was established as an outreach to the neighborhood and community. This enabled Heritage to reach young families from the beginning. The Pre-School was one of our first steps in offering people who had little or no religious history the opportunity to begin a new heritage in Christ.
In 1991, Heritage purchased the former Clearwater Community Church property for our youth ministry and named that building "The Lighthouse."
In February 2011, we opened a new 35,000 sq/ft building to house our ministries to children and students as well as the Growing Place Preschool. This is the first phase of a master plan for the redevelopment of our campus.
|
