ChristLife Evangelical was planted in October of 1990 by Tim and Shirley Roehl. Sister churches, WayCross and Calvary, released leaders from their congregations to begin this new ministry in Blaine, Minnesota. The church began meeting at Springbrook Theatre in Blaine and continued there until September of 2000. The body faithfully served its community and reached out to those who were disillusioned with church.
In May of 2000, after 10 years of pastoral leadership, the Roehls moved into a new ministry of coaching church planters. Pastor Russ Couwenhoven and his wife, Ann, were called to lead the congregation. ChristLife continued to meet in the theatre for the remainder of that summer then relocated to Kenneth Hall Elementary in Spring Lake Park. In June of 2001, the church purchased a medical clinic in Columbia Heights and began the work of making it their permanent home.
During the months of renovation the church rented space at the Columbia Heights Community Center. For seven months the pastor, and several members, worked long hours getting the old clinic remodeled for services. In December of 2001 ChristLife held it's first Sunday morning service at it's present location, 46th and University, in Columbia Heights.
Pastor Couwenhoven continued to lead the congregation until he was elected Conference Superintendent in May of 2013. During his 10 years of leadership, God moved the church out of it's walls and into the city. The body members took advantage of opportunities to serve the poor and broken. Many mission trips were taken both in and out of the country to come along side hurting people and share the good news of Christ with words and deeds.
New ministries began to disciple "the least of these" in the Twin Cities. ChristLife, along with other denominational leaders, planted a ministry center in North Minneapolis during the spring of 2009 and continue to lead and support this vital mission. Upon pastor Couwenhoven's election to the Superintendency, Jeremy Hermann, a body member with pastoral training, was called to join the Pastoral staff with his wife Cristina. They are faithfully serving ChristLife with their two daughters and two sons. Recently the decision was made to move the Evangelical Church Missions office to Portland, Oregon and as a result the Missions Coordinator Pastor Jeremy Kochendorfer along with his wife Barbara and their two daughters and one son have decided to remain to also serve in the Twin Cities. Both Pastor Kochendorfer and Pastor Hermann now share Pastoral duties at ChristLife.
ChristLife has always valued leadership from within the body and has a strong history in lay-leader discipleship and development. When pastor Roehl moved into church planting, he and his family remained part of the congregation as pastor Couwenhoven took over the discipleship and raising up of the members.
Recently, when pastor Couwenhoven was elected Superintendent, he and his family also stayed and continue to worship with the ChristLife body. This has been possible because of ChristLife's core value of body leadership. Our church does not revolve around a pastoral figure, it revolves around Christ. As we come to see Him more clearly, we are moved to lead and minister to the world around us.
We would love for you to come and grow with us.
