CityLife Church is a
multi-site,
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement Megachurch
A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant C ...
located in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, with weekly services at their campus locations in the localities of
Knox,
Casey,
Manningham and
Whittlesea and on thei
Online Campus Weekly services are also held in Mandarin and Cantonese at the Knox site. CityLife is the largest church in Melbourne and second-largest in Australia.
The Age, 24 December 2004 It has a strong emphasis on gathering in small groups called
life groups. Its leadership team is headed by Senior Minister, Andrew Chisholm.
History
The church was established as Waverley Mission in 1967 by Richard Holland. In 1981, the church name was changed to Waverley Christian Fellowship and the following year, Parkmore Full Gospel Church and its Christian school (now
Waverley Christian College
Waverley Christian College is a co-educational independent Christian school with two campuses - Wantirna South and Narre Warren South. The College offers Christian education to pre-school, primary, and secondary students.
History
Originally est ...
) merged with it. In 1986,
Kevin Conner
Kevin J. Conner (February 6, 1927 – February 18, 2019 ) was a Pentecostal theologian who was formerly the senior minister of Waverley Christian Fellowship (now CityLife Church) in Melbourne, Australia. Conner is the author of nearly 60 books ...
became Senior Minister of the church (then about 600 members). Then in 1995, Mark Conner, Kevin's son, was appointed Senior Minister, and during his time as Senior Minister, the Church grew to over 10,000 congregants. In February 2017, Mark Conner handed over the senior minister role to Andrew Hill.
In April 2019, Andrew Hill resigned as Senior Minister and Andrew Chisholm now serves as Senior Minister.
In April 2006, CityLife Church
Casey was established, followed in March 2008 by CityLife Church
Manningham. On 18 November 2013, Open House Christian Fellowship in
Whittlesea joined with CityLife to become CityLife Church
Whittlesea.
Today, CityLife is a multisite strong church. CityLife plays host to over 6 services across Melbourne at Knox, Casey, Manningham and Whittlesea.
Ministries
CityLife has a
children's church program (CityLife Kids), a
youth ministry
Youth ministry, also commonly referred to as youth group, is an age-specific religious ministry of faith groups or other religious organizations, usually from ages 12 to 30, whose mission is to involve and engage with young people who attend the ...
every Friday, (EPIC Youth), and a
Young Adults
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
ministry.
CityLife Church also runs CityLife Community Care which provides a range of community services including counselling services, health-related services, emergency accommodation and other courses and support programs.
[CityLife Community Care](_blank)
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The church runs Waverley Christian College
Waverley Christian College is a co-educational independent Christian school with two campuses - Wantirna South and Narre Warren South. The College offers Christian education to pre-school, primary, and secondary students.
History
Originally est ...
, a Christian school with over 1700 students at campuses in Wantirna South and Narre Warren South.
Controversy
In 2015, CityLife apologised for distributing leaflets to students at a local public high school. Images of the leaflets obtained by The Daily Mail contained assertions as "If a woman becomes physically close and hugs a guy for 20 seconds it will trigger the bonding process, creating a desire to be near him" and "the more partners you have, icthe harder it is to bond to the next".
In 2018, it was reported that CityLife-operated counseling centres had facilitated gay conversion therapists.
References
External links
CityLife Church Knox (Head Office) Website
CityLife Church Casey Website
CityLife Church Manningham Website
CityLife Church Whittlesea Website
CityLife Church Chinese Website
{{Megachurches
Pentecostal churches in Melbourne
Evangelical megachurches in Australia
Christian organizations established in 1967