About Us
As a church we’re all about one thing: renewing hope in the Heights in Jesus’ name.
We’re defiantly hopeful for the Heights because it’s where we call home.
Our hope comes from the fact that Jesus is alive and making all things new, including us.
You can’t surprise us with anything because we’re always surprised by God’s grace, so we come together as we are to find hope together in Jesus.
OUR STORY
Wingfoot Church started as a dream of a community of people who loved Jesus deeply and invested in their neighborhood fully to see Jesus’ kingdom come in a few square miles, block-by-block, house-by-house.
A core group of people from in and around Goodyear Heights started gathering in 2019 to share stories, pray, eat together, and discern God’s will together. With the help of OrchardNEO, a northeast Ohio church planting network, this core team grew to a small community of people living in and around Goodyear Heights following Jesus together.
In 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Wingfoot Church gave out meals and groceries every week, walked every block of Goodyear Heights praying and caring for our neighbors, and offering hope in any way possible.
We held out first public worship gathering on September 20, 2020. In the midst of the roller coaster of the first few years, Wingfoot Church launched a Sunday worship gathering and multiple neighborhood discipleship groups.
WHAT’S A WINGFOOT?
Goodyear Heights, one of Akron’s historic rubber neighborhoods, was designed to be a community where people lived, worked, and played together. Known at the Wingfoot Clan, the dream of our neighborhood was a place where people loved where they lived and cared for their neighbors and their neighborhood.
As a church, our dream is to be a church that lives and serves in, among, and alongside our neighbors for the good of our neighborhood. Inspired by the vision of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 52:7, we share the hope of Jesus not just from a stage on Sunday, but from our homes and blocks, schools and parks every day of the week.
“How beautiful in the Heights are the feet of those who bring good news!” Isaiah 52:7
Our Team
AYSA MORRISON
Kids’ Team Leader
Michael Morrison
Hospitality Team Leader
Linda Tymchek
Prayer & Care Team Leader
Our Beliefs
We believe God is on a dynamic mission to renew everyone and everything through Jesus. The Bible tells one unified story of how God is renewing the world through Jesus. That story has four parts:
NEW
God created everything perfect and at peace. We were created as the peak of God’s creation, bearing his image and created to find our purpose, identity, and hope in God.
BROKEN
We rebelled against God’s good plan and set out to make our own plans. Selfishness, brokenness, and sin are the result. The evidence of this brokenness is all around us – in our broken hearts, broken homes, and broken communities. This brokenness both happens to us and we participate in it.
MADE NEW
God initiates a renewal mission, sending his Son Jesus to live a perfect human life, die an innocent death in our place, and be raised to life again, proving that not even death could keep us from God. All those who trust in Jesus are made new – their past failures and mistakes are gone and they are given a fresh start and new life.
RENEWED
No matter what you’ve done, who you’ve been, or how broken you might think you are, God offers renewal by grace, meaning you can’t earn it. It’s only and always because of his love for you in Jesus. Trusting Jesus means following him as king of your life, allowing him to renew every part of your life, living out his kingdom around you, and inviting others to be made new by his love.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
We like to think of our beliefs as the center we’re all moving toward. These statements summarize what Christians have believed, taught, and lived out over generations. But the reality is just because we believe something with our heads doesn’t mean we actually believe it. That’s why we call these our center. No matter where we are in our process or journey of understanding Jesus, this is what anchors us to him and his story. Explore them here and if you have a question about anything, let us know!
About God
We believe in one God eternally as one essence and three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, each of whom is fully God, yet there is one God. (Deut. 6:4-9, Matt. 28:19-20, Jn. 15:26-27, Phil. 2:5-11)
About Knowing God
We believe God has made Himself known to the world most fully in the person of Jesus Christ, through the authority and inspiration of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and to all people through His work of creation. (Gen. 1:1-31, Ps. 19, Luke 4:27, Rom. 1:20, 2 Cor. 5:17-21, Col. 1:15, 2 Tim 3:16, Heb. 1:1-2)
About God's Authority
We believe God created the world from nothing and governs all things at all times in all places. (Gen. 1:28-30, Ps. 8:1, Col. 1:17)
About People
We believe all humanity is created male or female in the image of God possessing intrinsic dignity and worth. (Gen. 1:27-30, Gen. 2:20-25, Matt. 9:4-6)
About Our Need
We believe sin has broken all things, leaving the world in desperate need for salvation and renewal. (Gen. 3, Rom 1:21-32, Rom 3:9-20)
About Our Only Hope
We believe salvation and reconciliation to God are by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone, the Son of God who lived a perfect life, died an innocent death on the cross, and physically rose again from the dead to forgive our sins and restore us to life and relationship with God. 1 Cor. 15:3-6, 2 Cor. 5:17-21, Gal. 2:20, Heb. 10:19-25)
About Community
We believe the Church is the body of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit and sent into the world to live out the kingdom of God and to shine forth the glory of God by making disciples. (Matt. 28:18-20, 1 Cor. 12:1-31)
About the Future
We believe Jesus Christ is returning to the world in the future to establish his kingdom fully and to judge the living and the dead. (Rev. 20:7-15, Rev. 21:1-5).
