Life church

Life.Church

Life.Church (formerly known as LifeChurch.tv, Life Covenant Church, and Life Church) is an American evangelical multi-site church with multiple locations. Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church (pronounced "Life Church").

As of May 2015, there are twenty-four Life.Church locations in seven states across the United States.

History

In January 1996, Life.Church began in Oklahoma City with 40 congregants meeting together "in a two-car garage, equipped with just a borrowed overhead projector and two construction lights purchased at Lowe's for $19.99." From 1996 to 1999 the church membership grew rapidly. During this time, Life.Church acquired its first facility (now known as the "Oklahoma City Campus"). In 2001, MetroChurch, a 25-year-old, nondenominational church in nearby Edmond, Oklahoma joined with Life.Church, effectively making it a multi-site church. Following the success of the additional location, the church launched campuses in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2002, and these new campuses began incorporating satellite video teaching into their services.

LIFE Church UK

LIFE Church UK, formerly the Abundant Life Church, is a large Christian church established and primarily based in Bradford, in the north of England.

The church has additional facilities in Belfast, Leeds and Warsaw and describes itself as "one church, four cities". In 2003 it had an attendance of over 2,000 people; by 2006, the figure had climbed to 2,800.

History

LIFE Church has its roots in the Charismatic Restoration movement of Arthur Wallis. It was founded in 1976 by Bryn Jones, one of the early Restoration/British New Church leaders, by an amalgamation of three small Bradford churches: a charismatic Brethren Assembly based at the Bolton Woods Gospel Hall; an independent charismatic church made up mostly of former Baptists who had been unable to continue in their church because of their charismatic beliefs; and the New Covenant Church, a fellowship originally under the apostolic leadership of G. W. North.

In its early days it met in the Anglican Church House and so was known locally as Church House. Later known as Abundant Life Church for a number of years, in 2012 the name was shortened to LIFE Church, reflecting a move into a season of new leadership and direction.