I’M NEW
Welcome to Tampa Covenant Church
Sunday morning worship is in the Sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. Our worship service will last approximately an hour and a half. We have visitor parking in the church parking lot. Additional parking is adjacent to the church at the Dorothy Thomas Center. We will have shuttles to bring you to the entrance of the church.
After worship service you are invited to the Fellowship Hall and Courtyard for a time of coffee, refreshments and fellowship. We look forward to meeting you soon.
For questions, please contact the church office at 813.968.2979 or tccinfo@tampacovenant.org
If you want to be contacted by the pastor, please complete the Visitor Information Card. We also have a New Members Class in the spring and fall. If you want to learn more about TCC, please register for the class below.
CHILDREN
If you have children, please visit the Children’s Ministry Table in the Narthex where you can check your children in and receive detailed instructions on where your child should go. Children are invited to the chancel steps for the prayer of blessing by Pastor Mark before leaving for Sunday school. Little Big Church (Sunday school) children ages 4 to grade 6 will go to the Youth Room, for Little Big Church. Children will return to the Sanctuary for Communion. Nursery is provided for Infant – 3 years old.
Click HERE for more information on our Children’s Ministry.
OUR WORSHIP
Our worship at Tampa Covenant Church is in so many ways utterly unique to TCC and in other ways incredibly similar to other Reformed churches. It is unique because we utilize the visual arts, architecture, and music in innovative and intimate ways that spiritually form us in worship. We are similar to other Reformed settings in that we have four-fold worship, and use creeds, prayers, and other beautiful parts of the liturgy to enhance our telling of the Gospel Story in every service. We strive to be both innovative in our worship yet rooted in the history and depth of the historic church.
The music itself varies widely from contemporary music like The Brilliance and Hillsong United to re-tuned hymns, traditional and contemporary choral works, and even an occasional 9th century hymn. Our music is diverse, reflects our people, and we are truly not afraid to utilize anything that glorifies God.
Above all, our worship seeks to provide a space where our people can know and encounter the living God as we seek deeper unity with Christ together as a community that loves God and one another.
THE ESSENTIALS OF OUR FAITH
All Scripture is self-attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these Essentials:
- We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!
- Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. He who is true God became true man united in one Person forever. He died on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. On the third day He arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Mediator.
- The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts. He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior. Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service. He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption.
- Being estranged from God and condemned by our sinfulness, our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God’s free grace. God credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, thereby justifies them in His sight. Only such as are born of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ become children of God and heirs of eternal life.
- The true Church is composed of all persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit are united together in the body of Christ. The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the Word of God is preached in its purity and the sacraments are administered in their integrity; where scriptural discipline is practiced, and where loving fellowship is maintained. For her perfecting, she awaits the return of her Lord.
- Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—personally, visibly, and bodily—to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate history and the eternal plan of God. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
- The Lord Jesus Christ commands all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all nations. Obedience to the Great Commission requires total commitment to “Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.” He calls us to a life of self-denying love and service. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
LITURGICAL ART
TCC is blessed beyond measure with a number of talented visual artists that are regularly involved in the life of our church, and more specifically in our worship. We almost always are using some form of Visual art in our worship and you will encounter various mediums including, representational and abstract painting, sculpture, wood block prints, textile art and installations. Our aim is to embrace the arts in worship in ways that enhance God’s story and glorify him through aesthetic beauty and the gifts that He has given to us, His people.
Below are a few of our liturgical art installations from past events in our church.
OUR CHURCH ARCHITECTURE
God as Triune
The sanctuary was designed to symbolically represent the three persons of the Trinity with the working Christ at the center.
The Father
The candle box represents the presence of the Father in creation – light and fire. Additionally, the seven compartments represent the ever-creating nature of God through the seven days of creation.
The Son
The cross and empty tomb occupy a prominent place at the right of the chancel, visually representing the death and resurrection of our Lord. Fourteen pendant lights point to the cross. Members of the building committee were especially thrilled with the duel meaning of these pendants. First, they represent the fourteen Biblical Stations of the Cross. Second, beginning from the back of the sanctuary to the front, each pendant is etched with an individual set of rings which, when laid over the melodic score, notate the first fourteen pitches of the hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded”.
The Holy Spirit
The prayer chapel represents the Holy Spirit who has come to glorify Christ and to apply His saving work to our lives. The skylight piercing the internal darkness of the chapel and the spiral construction which envelopes worshipers in God’s presence and draws them into the movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Additionally, the stones are representative of believers – the living stones of the church, held together by the Holy Spirit.
Exterior
The exterior of the worship space is also intentional. The courtyard is a gathering space for God’s people. The bell tower marks God’s kingdom of peace, His shalom, rising up over all the earth. The bell is rung at the beginning and end of each service as well as during special holy days. A hand-etched tableau that summarizes the story of God occupies the subtle space of the tower, creating a striking image as one passes into the sanctuary. Finally, there are twelve office windows on the front of the building symbolizing the apostles and three olive trees to their right, represents the Trinity.