Church Information
Church Website: https://www.lifechurchutah.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lifechurchutah
Worship Services: https://www.lifechurchutah.com/online-experience
Address: 3818 W. 4700 S. Taylorsville, Ut 84129
Contact Information: E: life@lifechurchutah.com T: 801.968.3715
The Questionnaire
LifeChurch declined to answer our questions. Here is what we were able to find through our own research.
1. What is your church's official position on tithing?
The new Believers Booklet makes it quite clear that tithings expected, it states: “But if you don’t pay your tithe, God considers that theft against him. God made this indictment against Israel because they were stealing God’s tithe and using it for themselves… Malachi 3:8-9 (NLT) 8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. Notice that Israel was under God’s curse because they were stealing his tithe and keeping it for themselves. The same can be true today. If you want God’s favor over all of your life…this is a foundational principle…make sure you give God his tithe - which is the first 10% of your income” [Italics and underlining added for clarity]
2. Does your church have a particular set of rules or requirements that members must follow or abide by in order to retain their membership status with the church?
No Life Church code of conduct was found within the public domain, and the church declined to answer the questionnaire. It is clear, however, that certain expectations do exist within the membership. An example of this can be seen through the child dedication policy. The policy from their website states:
“Requirements: If a couple wishes to dedicate their child to the Lord they must both be committed to living godly lives as examples to their child and meet all the requirements listed.
· This means the parents or a parent must have accepted Christ as his/her personal Savior. Parents who have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord will be unable to submit their children to God’s will and His ways, because they themselves do not know the ways of the Lord. As a result, we must decline any requests to involve an unbelieving parent in the dedication of a child.
· A mother and father should be legally married. (If not, we offer an alternative of child blessings, see the portion below for more information.) We believe that unmarried parents living together do not set a Christ-like example. Therefore, unmarried parents will be advised to wait until they are married to dedicate their child. Single parents who dedicate their children may not have boyfriends or girlfriends present with them on stage at the time of dedication. A believing parent may dedicate a child independently of an unbelieving spouse.
· Parents should be attenders of Life Church.
· Grandparents are allowed to dedicate grandchildren upon meeting the requirements above.“
The website also goes on to say:
“At Life Church we understand that people can be in different stages of life. We offer a child blessing as an alternative to those who cannot meet the requirements of a child dedication ceremony at this time. However we do encourage everyone to take the steps listed in the requirements above to be the best godly examples to their children that they can be.
Child blessings will be preformed as a separate ceremony to take place either in the home of the family or at the church (Not during a service) upon request through the church office.
Requirements: A personal meeting with a staff pastor of your choice to answer any questions should be arranged through the church office and to talk about the significance of a child blessing.”
Policies and expectations do exist within Life Church, although many of them may not be readily available to new members straight from the public domain.
3. What is your church's official position on the doctrine of salvation? Through grace, works, both?
From the ‘What We Believe’ section of Life Churches website we get the following:
“Salvation is deliverance from spiritual death and enslavement by sin. God provides salvation for all who believe and accept His free offer of forgiveness. Mankind’s only hope of redemption from the fallen sinful state is through the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son–blood that was shed as Jesus died on the cross.” This statement acknowledges Jesus, and other than requiring belief and a willingness to accept (which are normal prerequisites) comes down on Grace, which is excellent!
4. Are you transparent with your church's financial information? How much does your church bring in through donations and tithing, and how is that money distributed? What do your profit on average?
Clearly NOT transparent, as no details were forthcoming.
5. Which denomination does your church align with the most, if any?
“Assemblies of God” one of the world’s leading Pentecostal organizations with over 57 million followers worldwide.
6. Is your church's pastor available for other questions or comments regarding the church, its doctrines, etc.?
Life Church declined to answer the question, and no reliable proof was freely available over the internet?
7. How is your church's doctrinal flexibility and tolerance? If a member has a disagreement with the pastor or leadership on a certain doctrine, how is it handled? Does the church change its position on doctrines fairly often, if at all?
No information upon doctrinal flexibility or tolerance was received. Nor was any information on how Life Church handles doctrinal changes, theological disputes with the pastors or leadership, or in how often the church may change its position on certain doctrines.
8. Does your church require that its members be baptized? What is your church's official position on baptism?
Being a Pentecostal themed church more emphasis is on Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Life Church website states, “All believers are entitled to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and therefore should expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all believers in the early Christian church. With the experience comes the provision of power for victorious Christian living and productive service. It also provides believers with specific spiritual gifts for more effective ministry. The baptism of Christians in the Holy Spirit is accompanied by the initial physical sign of speaking in other tongues (unlearned languages) as the Spirit of God gives them audible expression.” [Italics and underlining added for clarity]
“Christians have been commanded to be baptized, and we should do so out of obedience to, and love for Jesus (John 14:15). Water baptism is the Biblical method of baptism because of its symbolic representation of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ” [Italics and underlining added for clarity]
9. Please describe what a typical service and/or meeting looks like in your church.
Again no information was made available from Life Church in answer to this question. However, from their Facebook and websites, it was possible to view several services, which I did do in both English and Spanish.
In reality, the services were just as you would expect from a competent Pentecostal Megachurch. There was a heavy emphasis on the music worship, some announcements, and the typical topical Sunday sermon – which uses some biblical teachings and generally applies them to modern-day parallels.
10. How many people do you have on staff at your church, both paid and volunteer?
Life Church declined to answer this.
11. What is the pastor's educational history?
The senior pastor Rich Wooten at Salt Lake Life Church on his Facebook page declares, ‘Studies Master's of Divinity at Bethel Seminary’. He was also the former pastor at Calvary Church West. Dustin Williams from the Tooele Campus states that he studied at West Coast Bible College & Seminary and not much is known about Reverend Marco A Alvarado, from the Iglesia Vida Campus.
12. How does the church discipline its members with their sin?
No information on this has been made available from Life Church at all. Their child dedication policy, however, as demonstrated within question two, clearly shows that sanctions are taken when it is deemed appropriate from the church.
13. How is the pastor compensated (income, benefits, bonuses, etc.)?
The church refused to discuss or elaborate on this information.
14. What is the size of your church and any other space the church owns for meetings and church services?
This information was not provided; however, the church does list under three names as of current: Life Church Utah, Iglesia Vida, and Life Church Tooele. Their websites also seemingly show some association to the others — at least one of these sites host two services to handle a large number of worship delegates. The Salt Lake City site also utilizes balcony seating to increase capacity further. As far as it can be discerned, the three campus churches seem to use two reasonably sized locations.
Very thooughtful blog