The LIFE Church (Atlanta)

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Gathering Times and Christian Education

Sunday

Sunday Corporate Prayer | 8:30am
LIFE Institute | 9am
Sunday LIFE Experience | 10am

Wednesday

Corporate Prayer | 6:30pm
Midweek LIFE Experience | 7pm

Ministry and Service Opportunities

Agape:

The objective of the Agape Ministry is to provide and maintain family closeness, as LIFE membership increases. We endeavor to promote unity as a church body by spreading unconditional love.

Doorkeepers of LIFE:

The Doorkeepers Ministry serve by maintaining the sanctuary during worship. Collectively they maintain structure, order, and comfort by ensuring that parishioners receive the most from their LIFE Worship Experience.

Extended Hands:

Also known as EMH, this group works to extend a warm reception to our guests from the beginning to the end of our services, ensuring an unforgettable LIFE experience. LIFE Greeters greet each guest as they enter our sanctuary, and a special First Time Visitor Reception is prepared each Sunday for our visitors, which allows Pastor Merritt to personally meet and greet each guest at the end of the worship service. EHM upholds our Pastor in prayer and provide pastoral care to him and to our guest ministers. EHM also prepares a Birthday/ Anniversary Reception each quarter to celebrate members of LIFE who are celebrating birthdays or anniversaries.

Intercessors:

The Intercessory Ministry undergirds the vision and the lives that are connected to LIFE. We are appointed to pray and fast for LIFE Church, its leadership, members, partners, churches, and all endeavors that are in any way connected to the ministry.

LIFE Media & Communications:

This team is so much more than your average media ministry... The LIFE Media group provides cutting edge ministry through technology, including video, digital graphic design, printed media and photography. We also run the social media arm (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) of the church, which takes LIFE to those outside of our 4 walls. This group includes, but aren't limited to:

LIFE Writes (Writers Guild for authors and those who love writing)
AV Techs and Camera Crew
LIFE In-Touch Broadcasting Network
Social Media Team
LIFE Bookstore
Announcers Guild
Graphic Designers
Web Managers
LIFE Photography

Membership Services:

Also known as MSM, this group ensures that the LIFE Family remains a close knit body of believers. "We don't want anyone to get lost or feel lost, as we grow." MSM leaders are liaisons who offer a great service to our members. We initiate support in time of illness, bereavement, counseling, weddings, baptisms etc. We also reach out to members who are less active and encourage them to reignite their passion for ministry by becoming involved. Our ultimate goal is to lighten Pastor's load and to attend to the needs of every LIFER.

Merged College and Young Adults:

Merged is one of the newest ministry plants of LIFE Church. It serves the young adults of our congregation and our community. We have some of the most productive Alum, entrepreneurs, young professionals, and young creatives. Merged also serves at the College Ministry, across 4 of the largest college campuses in Atlanta. Our primary school bases include one PWI, Georgia State University and 3 HBCUs, Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University. These 4 schools serve as the hub bases for our College connection. We also have students who attend other schools across the city, state and country, and we proudly serve them as well.

Mothers Board:

The Mothers Board are made up of seasoned women who have devoted their lives to serving the Lord, and have become an example of Godliness and holiness to the next generation. These women are devoted to praying for the ministry and its leaders, aiding the pastor whenever needed, and especially teaching the young women of LIFE. They hold fellowships quarterly in which they teach and inspire the ladies.

Music and Arts Ministry:

The Music Ministry is a dedicated group of worshipers chosen specifically to lend their voices in worship to God in song via the LIFE Praise and Worship Team, the LIFE Chorale, and the LIFE Sanctuary Choir. The music ministers are dedicated to preparing and delivering to every person who enters LIFE Church the ultimate worship experience.

New Member Orientation Staff:

NMO team provide New Members with an atmosphere where they can learn about their new connection LIFE Church. Upon completion of all lessons, a graduation celebration is held during our morning worship where each new member is presented with a gift from their new church family.

Security Team:

The Security Ministry maintains a peaceful, safe environment, which is conducive to worship. We decrease the opportunity for crime, and we facilitate maximum member participation in crime prevention by following basic rules and guidelines. We provide physical and emotional security to our members and to our visitors, when attending activities of the church. The Security Ministry of LIFE Church will provide a safe surrounding for church activities that include the collecting of tithes and offerings, parking, and general physical security.

Treasury Department:

The LIFE Church Treasury Department maintains an effective financial structure that enables LIFE to be a productive and impactful ministry. The wise stewardship of our monetary resources makes possible a solid ministry of outreach to and through the community. LIFERS are encouraged to have a certain healthy relationship with money in their own lives, not only by tithing and giving to ministry, but also by saving and investing.

Y'Church:

The Y'Church is our student and youth ministry of LIFE. This team of passionate leaders ensure that the youth of LIFE Church and those of the community RADICALLY understand who they are in Jesus Christ (WE ARE OUR J'S!). This is a movement that has been called to literally reach nations; it's the Y that The Church has been missing.

Young Ladies of LIFE:

This group of women aspires to build young women’s beauty, self-esteem, self worth and self-image. This ministry was designed to be an artistic platform to help serve young women (primarily ages 13-25) in their transition into different areas of life. The Young Ladies of LIFE connect young women with one another. This group is a goal oriented ministry that fosters an environment that will help one to achieve positive life results. Together this ministry helps to create tools that will allow each young woman to be the best that she can be!

What We Believe

Meet Our Pastor

Terence A. Merritt, M.D.

Senior Pastor

Terence A. Merritt was born in Waycross, GA and reared in St. Petersburg, Florida. While in elementary school, he was labeled a slow-learner. However, after giving his life to the Lord, he began excelling academically and was placed in the class for the gifted in the fifth grade. He became the first black valedictorian of his 50-year-old high school and was named the top graduating male in all 14 high schools of Pinellas County. The recipient of a full academic scholarship to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude. Dr. Merritt pursued a career in medicine at the prestigious Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, also on a full academic scholarship. After extensive clinical work in the field of Psychiatry, he graduated with a Doctorate in Medicine. He was employed for several years in medical management of one the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Merritt grew up attending Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ (COGIC) in St. Petersburg with his family. He accepted the call to the ministry while at Morehouse College. During his freshman year, he began “Abundant LIFE,” a Bible study for Morehouse and Spelman students. Many students were introduced to the Lord; several of which are in ministry today. Dr. Merritt was later ordained in the COGIC, while in medical school. An anointed and gifted teacher/preacher, he has ministered nationally and internationally in churches and in conferences, as well as conducted health awareness seminars.
For eight years, Dr. Merritt served the Church of God in Christ in the Jurisdiction of Brazil as Superintendent of the Fifth District, under the leadership of the late Bishop Samuel Moore. There, he oversaw the growth and expansion of the church in north Brazil. Under his leadership, the oldest church in the district was purchased, and eight new ministries were birthed. In January 2010, Dr. Merritt established LIFE Church in the Candler Park Neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia by leading weekly Wednesday evening Bible Study. Sunday Services commenced shortly thereafter in February. God has tremendously blessed and favored LIFE. Ministries encompassing teen mentorship, prison ministry, food and clothing for the needy and benevolent assistance in the community. In August of 2013, LIFE Church made its first acquisition. The then three year old ministry purchased a 25,000 square foot facility in Southwest Atlanta. LIFE Church has taken in more than 1000 members in the past eight years. Lives are being radically transformed for the better. LIFE Church has truly become a place where “miracles are common”.
In addition to his pastoral responsibilities, Dr. Merritt serves in the Jurisdiction of North Central Georgia of the COGIC as an Administrative Assistant to Bishop Joseph Hogan and as a District Superintendent over the Zoe District. In recognition and honor of the unique contributions Dr. Merritt has made in ministry, he was inducted into the prestigious MLK Board of Preachers of Morehouse College; and in 2016, he received the prestigious LIFEtime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama.