'...I have many people in this city'

Acts 18:10

New Life is a large, vibrant church which meets in the heart of central Croydon, South London. Our church is made up of people of many different ages, backgrounds and nationalities.

Our fellowship is in the evangelical and Pentecostal/charismatic traditions that lay emphasis on Bible based faith and an ongoing experience of the Holy Spirit.

Our Vision, Values & Beliefs

Our Vision

We believe God has called us to be a growing, influential, Bible-believing church drawn from every section of society with a heart for Croydon, the United Kingdom and the nations.

Our Mission

Reaching

God calls us to share the reality of the good news about Jesus Christ with our local community and beyond. To do this, we seek God’s guidance for the most effective ways to reach non-Christians. When our present building was opened, we were encouraged to see it as a fishing boat from which we could reach out, drawing people into God’s kingdom.

Caring

As a church, we are particularly responsible for looking after and caring for our church family. We aim to provide good quality pastoral care, as well as diverse opportunities for people to meet and share their lives with others.

Equipping

As leaders of New Life, our desire is to see everyone who is part of New Life to become more and more Christ-like in character, attitudes and actions. We want to see the local body of Christ built up as men and women mature in the gifts and callings they have received from the Lord. As God has blessed us at New Life, we also wish to help other communities of believers in the UK and overseas.

Our Values

Christ-centred

We believe that Jesus is building his church. New Life belongs to Jesus, and our desire is to see Jesus at the centre of everything we do.

Verse: Col 1:18 NASB ‘He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.’

Holy Spirit Dependent

The Holy Spirit pervades all that we do. We desire his manifest presence, we seek to be continually filled with the Spirit and to see his supernatural gifts flowing through us, as people are saved, healed and set free. We also recognise the transforming power of the Spirit to make us more like Jesus. We recognise that without the help of the Spirit we can do nothing.

Verse: Zech 4:6 ESV ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of hosts.’

Servant-hearted

We seek to follow the example of Jesus in the way we serve one another and our local community.

Verse: Matthew 20:27-28 ESV ‘…and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for man.’

Generous Givers

We seek to model God’s generosity to us by being generous with our finances, resources and also with our time.

Verse: 2 Corinthians 9:11 NIV ‘You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.’

Team focussed

We believe that throughout the Bible there is a focus on working together in team. We seek to model this in every area of church life from our leadership structure to the way we encourage people to work together in various areas of church life using the different gifts God has given us.

Verse: Romans 12:6 ESV ‘Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them…..’

Bible-based

We believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired word of God, and we seek to base everything we believe and do on the revelation of the truth of God’s word. We have a deep love for truth and recognise the importance of good preaching and teaching.

Verse: 2 Tim 3:16 ESV ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness….’

Grace-filled

We are a church who are both experiencing and expressing the grace of God in increasing measure. We are saved by grace, live by grace and seek to show grace in everything we do.

Verse:- Acts 4:33 ESV ‘…and great grace was upon them all.’

Worship Passionately

We are a church who love to worship passionately when we come together.

Verse: John 4:23 ‘But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.’

Authentic Loving Relationships

We recognise the importance God’s word places on our relationships. We seek to encourage authentic, loving relationship where we genuinely demonstrate God’s love by our words and actions. With this in mind we recognise the importance of family and community in the local church.

Verse: John 13:34 ESV ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.’

Honouring All

We believe that showing honour is a characteristic of God’s kingdom so we seek to establish a culture of honour both in the way we treat one another in our church family but also in the wider network of relationships we all have.

Verse: Romans 12:10 NIV ‘Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.’

Praying-persistently

We seek to follow the example of the Early Church who understand their absolute dependency on prayer. We recognise the importance of prayer both in our individual lives and in the corporate life of the church.

Verse: Ephesians 6:18 NIV ‘And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.’

Pursuing Christlikeness

We recognise the importance of discipleship, so that we all grow in maturity and Christlikeness. In an increasingly secular world, we choose to live differently, and pursue holiness in our attitudes, actions and speech.

Verse: Ephesians 4:15 ‘Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.’

Faith Orientated

We are a people of faith. As a church we are called to live by faith in every area of our lives as we trust and believe the promises of God.

Verse: Hebrews 11:6 ESV ‘And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him’.

Centrality of the local church

We believe that the local church is the primary way in which God accomplishes his purposes here on earth.

Verse: Ephesians 3:10 ESV ‘..so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.’

Outward looking

We believe that the local church is called to be outward looking with a heart to reach and serve both its local community, the nation and the nations of the world.

Verse: Matthew 24:14 NIV ‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.’

Our Beliefs

We are a mainstream independent Pentecostal church who work closely with other churches in the local area. The following is a summary of our beliefs:

We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary;
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified for us, died and was buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
and thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy universal church;
the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.

We’ve produced a series of articles outlining our understanding on key issues which can be read in the resource section.

New Life is also a member of the Evangelical Alliance.

Our History

New Life Croydon began as a home based prayer meeting towards the end of the Second World War. This group became a church and moved into accommodation in Church Road and then later in 1960 in Dennett Road, West Croydon.

Following John Edward’s arrival at the church in 1973, many far-reaching changes began to take place as the fellowship gradually developed many of the ministry emphases which characterizes it today.

By 1981 we had outgrown our accommodation in Dennett Road and spent the next few years meeting in various places around Croydon.

After a long search and many challenges, we finally moved into our present building, New Life Christian Centre in March 1987.

Since then New Life has continued to grow and develop with various new ministries being added to the church.

We have continued to experience steady growth so that we are currently a church of approximately 1400 men, women & children drawn from around fifty different nationalities.

We are an independent church, although we enjoy good relationships with many other churches in the Croydon area and beyond.

Elders

Bill McCabe

Bill is involved in pastoral care and in praying for people in the area of deliverance.

Chima Amiaka

Chima is one of our trustees.

Chris James

Chris sometimes preaches in our Sunday services.

Frederick Danso Asante

Frederick helps lead our church prayer meetings.

Gerald Huston

Gerald heads up our street evangelism team. He is also involved in discipling new believers.

James Beatt

James is the Music Director and also overseas the production and media team.

Kofi Sunu

Kofi is involved in pastoral care as well as overseeing our pastoral assistants. He also oversees many of our evangelism and discipleship courses.

Kunle Onabolu

Kunle is one of our trustees. He is also involved in pastoral care.

Mark Rossell

Mark regularly preaches and teaches in our Sunday services and also oversees our work with children and young people. He is also involved in a number of interchurch initiatives.

Peter Mensah

Peter is involved in pastoral care.

Tim Coales

Tim is involved in pastoral care.

Tony Sokan

As well as serving as a trustee, Tony oversees our communion distribution team.

Staff

Amanda Austin

CAP Debt Centre Manager

Christian Sana

Ministry Development Coordinator

Emma Beatt

Media Coordinator

Jade Sinclair

Kids Ministry Assistant

Jennie Danso-Asante

Financial Controller

John Dutton

Health and Safety Manager

Jonathan Huggett

Facilities Assistant

Lisa Harling

Youth Coordinator

Louise Abrahams

Head of Youth & Children

Lola Akinde

Pastoral Assistant

Neil Clay

Buildings Manager

Ruth Stephens

Pre-school Manager

Ryan & Izzy Bedward

Youth Workers