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LIFE Church UK

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The Abundant Life Church is a large church based in Bradford, England. It is led by Senior Pastor Paul Scanlon, who has written a number of books on the Christian lifestyle. Services each Sunday regularly draw 2,500 attendees. The church was formerly a part of Covenant Ministries, but it withdrew from the organisation in 1997 during a period to which it now refers as "crossing over". The four-part mission statement of the church is to "reach the lost, establish the church, equip the saints, and disciple the nations".

Crossing Over

This is what the church calls the transitional period from 1997 to early 2000 during which it "crossed over" from what it perceived as a comfortable, "safe" form of church to a more radical, 21st-century-style church. It was at the end of this period, in January 2000, that the church opened a new building on their campus with the 2,500 seater auditorium which is used every Sunday.

Belfast

In September 2005, the church opened a second location in Belfast under the title of "One church, two locations". Abundant Life Church Belfast is led by Pastors Christian and Jelena Allsworth.

Social work

The church is well-known in West Yorkshire for its social action work. Its Community Action Teams (known for short as C.A.T.), headed up by Pastors Matt Stockdale and Matt Hooper, work with under-privileged families in Bradford. Another outreach division of the church, Mercy Ministries UK, works with women from the red light districts of Bradford.

Music

The Abundant Life Church has produced several music albums with the name Abundant Life Ministries, released by Christian label Kingsway Music. The music of worship leaders Lara Martin and Mark Stevens, the latter originally from Hillsong Church in Australia, is well-known in the Christian music industry. Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates also attended the church and sang on the album Divine Exchange.

Leadership Academy

In addition to the services and social work, the church also runs a highly rated leadership academy. The church describes it as "... a one-year full time course constructed around the three core values which form the primary emphases of the Leadership Academy. We cover a wide range of subjects, all of which dovetail together to empower you to live a purpose-driven, God centred life." Although many wanting to train as pastors take part on the course, other Christians take part too. The academy is led by Associate Pastor Steve Matthew, and students choose one of two electives - worship, music and creative arts or pastoral leadership. Students choose to either partake in the one year certificate programme, or the two year diploma programme. There are currently around 70 students in the academy.

Rocknations

Rocknations is the youth ministry of the church. It was founded in 1999 by youth pastor Steve Gambill under the name Rock the Nations, which was later shortened to simply Rocknations. The ministry has a band named Rock Productions Music, who play at all youth events as well as some special church events. In early 2005 they released their first album, RPM: Live, which made it to number one in the UK Christian Music Charts in October of that year. A second album, I Surrender All, was recorded in late 2005 and was released in the church shop and on the church website in March 2006, although the general release for other shops is not until June 2006.

Conferences

Every year the church runs five conferences. Devoted (worship and creative arts conference), Cherish (women's conference), Rocknations (youth conference), Stronger (conference for the whole church) and Xcel (men's conference). Delegates travel from across the world to attend the conferences, which consistently feature some of the best speakers and Christian bands from across the planet. Speakers that have appeared at conferences in the past include Brian Houston, Bobbie Houston, Tommy Barnett, Frank Damazio and Casey Treat. In addition to these, around once a year a training event for pastors called Build The House is held. 2006's event on April 22nd featured guest speaker Kevin Gerald and was attended by Christians from across Europe.

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