2200 Marshall St.
(727) 726-0202
It all started with a dream in 1983, when 20 pioneering individuals met to formalize plans for a new church in the rapidly growing Countryside/Palm Harbor area. Before we met in our beautiful building on McMullen Booth Road, we worshipped in a funeral chapel, a middle and high school, and even a horse barn. Those humble beginnings and make-shift sanctuaries run through the fibers of who we are today. God established and grew this church, where every person who has been added is not a number but a representation of souls that has encountered the true saving grace of Jesus.
When we purchased 40 acres of land in the heart of Safety Harbor’s residential area, God started a new dream to have a worship experience each week in an awesome 58,000-square-foot facility. God fulfilled that dream for us, and today we welcome a multitude of people through our doors. Harborside is truly a place where people can come and feel like they belong.
OUR MISSION, VISION & STRATEGY
Our Mission
To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our Vision
To be a healthy church.
Our Strategy
Healthy churches have people who worship, connect, and contribute.
OUR BELIEFS
The Bible
Absolute TRUTH without Error
We believe the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God and serves as final authority on what we believe and how we live. It is our guide to understanding God and the meaning of life.
2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 — “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Matthew 5:18 — “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”
Sin
Our Greatest PROBLEM
We believe every person has worth as a creation of God, but that all have sinned and separated themselves from fellowship with God.
Romans 3:23 — “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
Jesus Christ
Fully God. Fully man. Our only MEDIATOR to God.
1 Timothy 2:5 — “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 14:1-6 — “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Salvation
An UNDESERVED Gift
We believe forgiveness of sin–a restored fellowship with God–and the promise of eternal life are available to every person who trusts in Christ as Savior and Lord.
Romans 6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 — “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Obedience
A Humble RESPONSE to God’s Gift of Salvation
We believe when we accept Jesus as Savior we also acknowledge Him as Lord of our lives. We surrender our will to His and pursue His life plan for us.
Romans 12:1-2 — “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 10:9 — “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Acts 3:19 — “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”
Water Baptism
A Public RESPONSE Identifying Oneself with Jesus Christ
We believe Jesus requires those trusting Him to turn from a life of sin, confess their faith in Christ and be baptized into Him through the biblical pattern of immersion, to identify us with His death, burial and resurrection. At Harborside Christian Church we immerse because we believe Scripture shows that Jesus modeled it for us as the method for acknowledging faith in Him.
Romans 6:1-7 — “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”
Mark 1:9 — “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
Acts 2:36-39 — “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Learn more about baptism and see a video of our most recent baptism event: Click Here
About Baptism
The Holy Spirit
God in Us. An Unseen POWER.
We believe the person of Holy Spirit dwells in the life of every Christian to provide understanding of spiritual truths, strength for living, and empowerment to uniquely serve. The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
John 14:26 — “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
The Church
A Spiritual FAMILY.
We believe the church is God’s family on earth to spread the good news of abundant life, both now and for eternity. The Church is referred to as Jesus’ bride.
Acts 2:46-47 — “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”