Our History
In March of 1993, God spoke to Jim Glynn and gave him a vision to start a church which eventually became Heritage Christian Fellowship. Soon after Jim launched the church in his living room in Capistrano Beach, Jim recognized that God wanted to do something special with this small group of believers. Soon after the launch, God brought Jim together with Roger Gales, who had just returned with his family from missionary work in Australia. Together, they partnered to create House to House Christian Fellowship with the vision of a relational church that was outreach focused and leading people in a deeper walk with God.
House to House quickly grew out of meeting in homes and moved into the Community Center in downtown San Clemente. In the early years, two churches merged with House to House, because they realized that they could achieve more together for God than by themselves. Those two churches were Marvista Community Church and Cristianitos Community Church. After the second merge, it was decided that the new name for these unique collection of churches would be called Heritage Christian Fellowship because one of their top forward-looking priorities was to leave a “heritage in Christ” to future generations.
Prior to the second merge, Cristianitos Community Church had acquired undeveloped property in the Rancho San Clemente Business Park. After lots of prayer, faith and careful planning, God led Jim and the elders to build what would become a permanent home for our congregation. In August 2000, after 15 months of construction, the building was completed and Heritage had a beautiful new facility. It was a period of deep sacrifice by many so that others would be blessed for years to come.
In 2007, Jim Glynn felt the Lord tell him that his time at Heritage was complete and therefore resigned as Senior Pastor after 14 years of faithful service to the Lord and the church. Roger Gales, Executive Pastor at the time, was unanimously appointed by the elders as the new leader. The transition was seamless and celebrated.
Roger renewed our commitment to being a church modeled after the New Testament church described in Acts 2:42-47 we continued to grow. He bolstered Community Groups and inspired Heritage to allow us to used by God in big ways. He led Heritage in making a huge impact in Pakistan, which included the building of two schools for Christian children otherwise denied public education. Under Roger’s tenure, Heritage also began to have a wider impact on our local community through service and unity with other local pastors, known as the Pastor’s Fellowship of Orange County. Through this fellowship, many were reached with the gospel. In 2019, Roger Gales resigned from his position at Heritage and is currently retired from ministry.
In 2020, after almost three decades in existence, Peter Klause was unanimously appointed by the elders as the new leader of Heritage Christian Fellowship. Peter had been an active member since 2008, which led him to becoming an elder in 2012, Directing Elder in 2014, and Associate Pastor in 2017. Since then, the church’s commitment to modeling itself after Acts 2:42-47 is stronger than ever. Under Peter’s leadership, the church successfully navigated through all the challenges that 2020 posed, not only for Heritage but the church at large. Through those challenging times, the Holy Spirit helped Peter hone the vision of a congregation where we can “Experience the Presence of God and the Power of Family,” which became our vision statement.
We are excited and have great anticipation that the best days of Heritage Christian Fellowship are ahead of us and we welcome you to join our church family so you can be a part of what God is doing here. Our goal is for this church to be a model of the beautiful bride of Christ for whom Jesus will return; where the Kingdom of God is extended and where the name of Jesus is glorified.