Heritage United Methodist Church gathers the Ken Caryl and Southwest Littleton community at 7077 S Simms St, half a mile east of C470, half a mile north of Ken Caryl Avenue and next to Chatfield Senior High School. Heritage UMC is a dynamic, family church whose Sunday rhythm puts worship first, then makes room for fellowship and study from preschool age through adulthood.
From a Daughter Church to a Littleton Home
Heritage UMC has served the area for more than 40 years. Its history dates to 1981, when it began as a daughter church of Phillips United Methodist Church in Lakewood, Colorado. The congregation first met in an elementary school and then a junior high school before hosting its first worship service in its present location in 1984. A major expansion of the facilities followed in 2004. It is a church home for hundreds of households, with people of all ages and from all walks of life forming the community of Heritage UMC.
Heritage UMC embraces Jesus' message that God loves everyone and affirms that all people are of sacred worth and are welcome in the community of faith. Its history helps explain the family-centered rhythm: worship at 9:30 a.m., children's Sunday School during the service, fellowship at 10:30 and Sunday school for middle school, high school and adults at 10:45. The message to newcomers is direct: everyone is welcome, and everyone is encouraged to come as they are.
A 9:30 Sunday That Makes Room for Families
The Sunday gathering begins in the Sanctuary with a friendly welcome, a dynamic service and thoughtful teaching. Heritage UMC gathers to worship and honor the Trinitarian God and for discipleship by hearing about Jesus from the Bible, worshiping through song and giving, and serving one another through fellowship and prayer. The emphasis is both lively and welcoming, with room for children to be part of the congregation.
- 9:30 a.m. worship: Held in the Sanctuary, with children's Sunday School during worship.
- 10:30 a.m. fellowship: A gathering time after worship.
- 10:45 a.m. Sunday school: Classes for middle school, high school and adults.
The children's program is designed for ages newborn through 5th grade. Sunday School classes for children ages 3 through 5th grade use Bible stories, activities, crafts, music and games, and meet in Rooms 211/212 during the school year. Heritage UMC explicitly welcomes children who are wiggly and make silly noises into worship.
Worship is livestreamed on Facebook, and a weekly worship video is posted by noon each Sunday through the church's video worship.
Music Made by Choir, Band and Handbells
Music is central to Heritage UMC's worship. The congregation sings each week with a Chancel Choir and piano accompanist, a worship band, and brass handbells that ring out about once a month. The Chancel Choir is an adult vocal ensemble that welcomes new singers without auditions and rehearses on Wednesday evenings. The band uses guitars, drums, an electric keyboard and vocalists, rehearses on a weeknight and remains open to new musicians and singers. The full Chancel Chimes handbell group also forms duets and smaller ensembles and rehearses on Monday nights.
Many other roles make the service dynamic and engaging. Liturgists serve as prayer readers, greeters and ushers welcome people, guest connections desk helpers assist visitors, communion servers and stewards serve the table, and sanctuary artists beautify the worship space for the seasons. Worship planners help coordinate the musical and liturgical elements of the service.
Learning and Growing Across the Generations
The children's ministry continues beyond Sunday School with family-friendly activities such as an Easter egg hunt, Vacation Bible School and a Christmas program. Each fall, every third grader receives an elementary Bible and every three-year-old receives a toddler Bible. The curriculum is designed to help children unlock the Bible message through stories and active participation.
Youth ministry serves students in grades 6 through 12 and their families. Regular youth group activities are supplemented by monthly gatherings, special activities and summer mission trips. Once each year, a multiweek confirmation course explores the Christian faith more deeply and culminates in a confirmation ceremony. Young people may also make Professing Membership vows.
Adult education includes two Sunday School classes each week and short-term or longer-term classes offered periodically through the year. Laypeople are encouraged to serve as facilitators. The Mustard Seed class, which meets in Room 207 at 10:45 a.m., studies various books of the Bible. Kaleidoscope, a book club that meets on the first and third Wednesdays at 1 p.m., discusses secular and Christian books selected according to the group's interests and takes part in community service projects. A women's book study group also meets twice a month from September through May, while life-stage groups create opportunities for people in similar seasons of life to build friendships.
Friendship Groups, Shared Interests and Summer Traditions
Heritage UMC offers groups for all ages based on shared interests. A men's breakfast and a women's lunch meet monthly. The summer weekday golf league is a nine-hole league for men, women and older youth of any ability, ending with a Saturday tournament. Hobby choices include cameras, crochet and quilting, and the church also hosts an annual picnic on its grounds and potluck gatherings through the year.
Stitch 'N Enrich meets on Wednesday mornings for knitting and crochet. Newcomers can learn step by step, and the group makes prayer shawls to share with people in need along with many other items. Peacemakers meets on the second and fourth Saturdays to design and assemble quilts, totes and household goods. Its work appears in the annual December silent auction, while quilts made with care are shared with people coping with illness or other challenges.
Care, Hospitality and Lay Leadership
Congregational care is organized around a prayer chain, shared meals, greeting cards, caring gift bags and personal visits. The meal ministry calls on cooking skills to support people during illness and other difficult seasons, while the visiting team reaches those who are homebound or staying in medical facilities or nursing homes. These are practical expressions of the church's aim to serve one another through fellowship and prayer.
The Equipping ministry has two emphases: hospitality for newcomers and regular worshipers, and mentoring and recruiting lay leaders for Heritage UMC's many ministries. Participants are encouraged to identify their spiritual gifts, talents, passions and practical know-how, develop leadership skills and find a place to serve. Pastor Kirsten Barlow leads the church, while the Church Council serves as its decision-making body. The council consists of ministry-area representatives, as required by the Book of Discipline, the governing rule book for United Methodist churches, and meets on the third Tuesday of the month.
The Staff Parish Relations Committee manages clergy and lay personnel, the Finance Team monitors income and expenses and prepares budget recommendations, and the Board of Trustees cares for the church's buildings, grounds, furniture and equipment. The memorials group helps direct financial gifts given in memory of a loved one into ministry.
Foster Families and Hands-On Community Mission
One of Heritage UMC's community ministries is its support for foster families through the Collaborative Foster Care Program of Jefferson, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties. The foster children's clothing closet provides free children's clothes, and the church also supports school-supply drives and adoption celebration baskets. Quarterly Kids' Night Out activities give foster parents a few hours of respite. The church's community programs emphasize this partnership, and it supports foster children at Shiloh House with Christmas gifts each year.
Heritage UMC belongs to the Loaves & Fishes coalition, a group of roughly a dozen churches that works with Habitat for Humanity. Each year, the coalition funds and builds a new home in the Denver metro area. Volunteers age 16 and older can join hands-on construction, painting, landscaping and other work, while the future homeowner contributes sweat equity. Heritage UMC also participates in Love INC Littleton, a church network that acts as a clearinghouse for local family needs by connecting them with resources across the network.
The mission team works with local and regional charitable groups to host activities and provide hands-on support. Mission work has included a low-income women's shelter in Denver, a homeless shelter in southern Colorado, a Utah depot where emergency relief supplies were gathered and sorted for UMCOR, and a village in Honduras where participants built houses. The range of work reflects the stated mission to live with God's love, reflect God's image in all they say and do, and serve as a loving community in local, regional and global settings.
Open, Loving, Hands-On and Considerate
Heritage UMC's mission is to live with God's love, reflect God's image in all it says and does, and become a loving community that serves God in every circumstance. Its vision is equally concrete: people should see God's love through the church and want to experience that love themselves. Heritage UMC believes that God's Word can change lives and that the good news of Jesus Christ is applied to everyday life and shared in community. The four core values - open, loving, hands-on and considerate - summarize a congregation that emphasizes welcome, practical service and shared life.
Those values are visible in the choices that shape Sunday morning: children take part in worship, classes welcome several generations, and music comes from the choir, band and handbells. They extend into the community through clothing closets, meals, home visits, volunteer building projects and mission partnerships. Taken together, Heritage UMC's story is one of a Littleton congregation moving from a school setting to a permanent home, then widening its circle of care. Its identity remains compact and practical: open, loving, hands-on and considerate. Heritage UMC is a family church that seeks to make God's love visible in worship, shared life and service to people beyond its own doors.