More than 16,000 people attended the seven campuses of Life Church on January 7-8. Campuses are spread throughout Oklahoma and Arizona, as well a congregation in Ft. Worth, Texas, that will have its first official worship service in February.
Members began meeting in a dance studio in 1996 and quickly moved to a school cafeteria. Soon the church was meeting in a renovated bicycle factory.
The church now is one of approximately 1,000 churches in North America that incorporate multi-site campuses. Each campus of Life Church has its own local pastoral staff, daily ministry and worship, except for the sermon, which is broadcast from the central campus in Edmond.
Despite the large numbers, the leadership has worked hard to keep a sense of intimacy through small groups and offering more than one experience (worship) time, says Katie Moore, the church’s director of marketing. The recently added campuses also tend to be smaller.
The church’s first two campuses seat 2,000 and 1,400 people respectively. Every campus started since then has about 500 seats – some will have as few as 200 people participating in a worship experience.
The growth continues to amaze even those who have been apart of it. “It’s been humbling,” says Moore.
Copyright © 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.
