CityLife Church

CityLife Church is a multi-site, Pentecostal megachurch located in Melbourne, Australia, with weekly services in the municipalities of Knox, Casey, Manningham and Whittlesea. 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.[1] It has a strong emphasis on gathering in small groups called life groups. Its leadership team is headed by Senior Minister, Andrew Chisholm.

CityLife Church
LocationWantirna South, Victoria
(main site)
CountryAustralia
DenominationPentecostal
Websitecitylife.church
History
Former name(s)Waverley Mission, Waverley Christian Fellowship
Founded1967
Founder(s)Richard J Holland
Clergy
Senior pastor(s)Andrew Chisholm
Pastor(s)Kim Hammond (Lead Pastor - Casey), Joe Liow (Lead Pastor - Manningham), Greg Baust(Lead Pastor - Whittlesea), Louis Luo (Lead Pastor - Chinese)

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) merged with it. In 1986, Kevin Conner became Senior Minister of the church (then about 600 members). Then in 1995, Mark Conner, Kevin's son, was appointed Senior Minister. In February 2017, Mark Conner handed over the senior minister role to Andrew Hill.[2] 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 12 services across Melbourne at Knox, Casey, Manningham and Whittlesea. Major building works are underway at the Knox campus[3] and a new Casey building was completed in 2016.

Ministries

CityLife has a children's church program (CityLife Kids), a youth ministry every Friday, (EPIC Youth), and a Young Adults 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.[4]

The church runs Waverley Christian College, a Christian school with over 1700 students at campuses in Wantirna South and Narre Warren South.[5]

Other information

Along with some other large and growing churches in Melbourne, CityLife Church has drawn media attention,[1] in part because of its non-traditional style.[6]

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References
  1. The Hallelujah chorus The Age, 24 December 2004
  2. CityLife Church History
  3. Business booming as Knox churches CityLife and Hillsong flag grand expansion plans
  4. CityLife Community Care
  5. Waverley Christian College website
  6. Songs and a message The Age, 27 March 2005

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