Life.Church
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Life.Church (pronounced "Life Church", formerly known as LifeChurch.tv, Life Covenant Church, and Life Church) is an evangelical Christian multi-site megachurch based in Edmond, Oklahoma, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. Weekly attendance was 76,000 people in 2024. The church is known for its YouVersion ministry, which publishes the Bible App.
History
In January 1996, Life.Church was founded as Life Covenant Church in Oklahoma City with 40 congregants meeting together in a two-car garage.[1] The church membership grew rapidly, and Life.Church built its first facility (now known as the "Oklahoma City Campus") in 1999.[2]
In 2001, MetroChurch, a 25-year-old, nondenominational church in nearby Edmond, Oklahoma merged with Life.Church, effectively making it a multi-site church.[3] With this merger, they changed their name, combining Life Covenant Church with MetroChurch to arrive at the name "LifeChurch". Following the multi-site services, the church launched campuses in Tulsa and Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2003, with these new campuses incorporating satellite video teaching into their services.[4]
Life.Church opened an additional campus in Oklahoma City, the South Oklahoma City Campus, in Spring 2005.[5] In February 2006, Life.Church introduced a campus in Fort Worth, Texas, its first location outside Oklahoma. In April 2006, the church established its "Internet Campus"[6] which broadcasts weekly, interactive worship services live over the internet.
On Easter Sunday, 2007, Life.Church began broadcasting from their new campus in the online game Second Life.[7] Also in 2007, Life.Church opened campuses in northwest Oklahoma City, another in Wellington, Florida in 2012 and in Albany, New York in 2016.[8][9][10]
In 2012, the church had more than 26,000 members.[11]
In 2015, the church had 15 campuses in different American states.[12]
In 2018, the church claimed to have 85,000 members and had opened 30 campuses in different cities.[13] In November 2018, CBS News listed Life.Church as the third largest megachurch in the United States with about 30,000 weekly visitors. The church claims to reach about 300,000 people online every week.[14]
According to a church census published in 2024, the church has a weekly attendance of 76,000 people.[15]
Beliefs
The Church has an evangelical confession of faith and is a member of the Evangelical Covenant Church.[16]
See also
- List of the largest evangelical churches
- List of the largest evangelical church auditoriums
- Worship service (evangelicalism)
References
External links
- ↑ KFOR, Life Church in Edmond named 3rd largest church in America, kfor.com, USA, October 13, 2017
- ↑ Carla Hinton, Life.Church celebrates its 20th anniversary, oklahoman.com, USA, January 10, 2016
- ↑ Tamie Ross, MetroChurch members OK Life Church merger, oklahoman.com, USA, January 8, 2001
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- ↑ Justin G. Wilford, Sacred Subdivisions: The Postsuburban Transformation of American Evangelicalism, NYU Press, USA, 2012, p. 169
- ↑ Todd M. Kerstetter, Inspiration and Innovation: Religion in the American West, John Wiley & Sons, USA, 2015, p. 241
- ↑ Michael Gryboski, Life.Church Has Grown to 30 Campuses and 85,000 Attendees, christianpost.com, USA, September 12, 2018
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Outreach Magazine, Life.Church, outreach100.com, USA, accessed February 5, 2025
- ↑ Life.Church, Our beliefs, life.church, USA, retrieved August 8, 2020
- Pages with script errors
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- Christian mass media in the United States
- Religious television stations in the United States
- Evangelical megachurches in the United States
- Christian organizations established in 1996
- Edmond, Oklahoma
- Non-denominational Evangelical multisite churches in the United States