Life.Church

Life.Church formerly known as lifechurch.tv
Location Edmond, OK based[1] with various physical campuses, Internet and Second Life campuses
Country United States
Denomination Evangelical Covenant Church
Website www.life.church
History
Founded 1996 (1996)
Founder(s) Craig Groeschel
Architecture
Status Active
Clergy
Senior pastor(s) Craig Groeschel
Pastor(s) Joe Dingwall, Miles Paludan, Robert Wall, Chuck Dennie, Trevor Williams, Brian Bruss, Chris Beall, Jay Henderson, Stefan Reed, Tome Dawson, GT Moody, Derrick Henslee, Larry Mayer, Scott Cornelius, Jeff Moore, Brian Atkins, and Brandon Donaldson

Life.Church (formerly known as LifeChurch.tv, Life Covenant Church, and Life Church[2]) is an American evangelical multi-site church with multiple locations. Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church (pronounced "Life Church").[1]

As of April 2017, there are 27 Life.Church locations in 8 states across the United States.[3]

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."[4] 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.[5]

Life.Church opened an additional campus in OKC, the South Oklahoma City Campus, in Spring 2005. In February 2006, Life.Church introduced a campus in Fort Worth, Texas. In April, the church established its "Internet Campus," which broadcasts weekly, interactive worship services live over the internet. In July, the church also launched a new campus in Hendersonville, Tennessee.[6]

Easter Sunday, 2007, Life.Church began broadcasting from their new campus in the online game Second Life.[7][8][9]

Life.Church also decided to do away with "church membership", deciding instead to encourage people to become "partners" in helping lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. The church has developed a Bible application for mobile phones, YouVersion. Introduced in 2008, it has been described as "[t]he world's most popular Bible program for mobile phones."[10]

Life.Church features a casual dress code and most attendees wear jeans and casual clothing; the dress code as quoted by pastor Craig Groeschel is "Please Do". The worship service includes refreshments, and the music style is pop-rock and praise-worship, with the performances amplified concert style and lyrics shown on screen.

Locations

There are currently twenty-seven Life.Church campuses in seven different states, as well as an online campus. There are also many campuses in development.[11]

  1. Albany, NY
  2. Broadway & Britton, OK
  3. Broken Arrow, OK
  4. Edmond, OK
  5. Fort Smith, AR
  6. Fort Worth, TX
  7. Hendersonville, TN
  8. Jenks, OK
  9. Keller, TX
  10. Midwest City, OK
  11. Moore, OK
  12. Mustang, OK
  13. Norman, OK - Opening in mid 2017
  14. Northwest Oklahoma City, OK
  15. Oklahoma City, OK
  16. Overland Park, KS
  17. Owasso, OK
  18. Rio Rancho, NM
  19. Shawnee, OK
  20. South Broken Arrow, OK
  21. South Oklahoma City, OK
  22. South Tulsa, OK
  23. Stillwater, OK
  24. Tulsa, OK
  25. Wichita, KS
  26. Wellington, FL
  27. Yukon, OK

Life.Church makes its material available to other churches for free through a site called Open.[12]

Affiliation

Life.Church is part of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC).[13] The ECC upholds the core evangelical Christian beliefs, while allowing believers the personal freedom to have varying interpretations on theological issues that are not clearly presented in Scripture.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Banerjee, Neela (September 2006). "Intimate Confessions Pour Out on Church's Web Site". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  2. ↑ "The church formerly known as LifeChurch.tv ...: Oklahoma megachurch changes its name, web address". NewsOK.com. Retrieved 2015-10-10.
  3. ↑ "Locations". Life.Church. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  4. ↑ "Magazine Names LifeChurch ‘Most Innovative’ in U.S.". Covenant Newswire. January 16, 2007. Retrieved 2014-11-20.
  5. ↑ Bob Smietana; Rebecca Barnes (September 2005). "High-Tech Circuit Riders". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  6. ↑ "LifeChurch.tv Hendersonville, TN campus". Life.church. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "LifeChurch.tv has a Second Life Church Campus - LifeChurch.tv : swerve". Swerve.lifechurch.tv. 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  8. ↑ "Location-Based Linking in Second Life". SLurl.com. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
  9. ↑ Stephanie Simon (April 8, 2007). "It's Easter; shall we gather at the desktops? / Virtual houses of worship await you online in Second Life.". Articles.latimes.com. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  10. ↑ Archived October 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  11. ↑ "LOCATIONS | LifeChurch.tv/locations". Lifechurch.tv. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
  12. ↑ "Open | Free Church Resources from Life.Church". Open.church. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
  13. 1 2 "Our Beliefs". Life.Church. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
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