Life.Church I would say has been one of the most innovative churches. The first church was in Edmond, Oakland and it has expanded from there. They currently operate 44 churches and also reach viewers online. They were one of the first to take that step to use the online platform and it has further developed their reach and has made a big impact. Their online campus reaches over “90,000 people in over 100 countries every single weekend” (Trefzger, 2020). In order to reach this many people and be able to expand how they have they have adopted a franchise model. This means they looked for inspiration from big franchises. This makes it so they are able to grow at a fast pace and keep up with their developments. They are a church that isn’t scared to take risks and cares about their members.
It is stated on their website that “our beliefs guide and inspire our mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ”( You’re Welcome Here | Life.Church, n.d.). It is an Evangelical Covenant Church that believes heavily in the Word of God. On their website they also have listed their values which also explains what they stand for. It states things like “we will honor Christ and His church with integrity. We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. We always bring our best. We give up things we love for things we love even more. We are spiritual contributors not spiritual consumers. We are faith-filled, big-thinking, bet-the-farm risk takers. We will lead the way with irrational generosity. We are all about the “capital C” Church. We will laugh hard, loud, and often. We wholeheartedly reject the label mega-church”(Our Beliefs | Life.Church, n.d.). By understanding their values and their beliefs it helps people relate to the church and explain why they do what they do.
Another huge innovative approach they took is an app software. The app is called YouVersion which was launched in 2007. At this time there weren’t many things like it. They were one of the first to do it. With all of the resources they have developed and given to the community they have also all been free. They don’t want to make a profit from it or anything like that. They just want to spread the word and give to others. For instance, the app YouVersion was developed in order to help people everywhere engage with the Bible. The goal of the app is to “create biblically centered, culturally relevant experiences that encourage and challenge people to seek God throughout each day. Our hope is that each person in our community is on an active journey to become who God made them to be, aiding in Him, and drawing closer every day” (YouVersion | Life.Church, n.d.). This has reached so many people. There have been over 400 million downloads. They saw the opportunity technology had and online platforms and took advantage of it in order to help spread the Word of God. Other Churches should look towards them as an example on how to expand their church and reach as many people as possible. I personally would love to attend a church like this and feel like it would be a good wholesome community that I could access no matter where I am.
https://www.churchvideoschool.com/blog/what-i-learned-from-lifechurch
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