Life.Church Reviews

Pros

The culture of working at Life.Church is incredible. I work under and alongside incredible leaders who care deeply for me as a person and who encourage my performance to be the best that I can be. My faith is deeper, my family is better, my finances are stronger, and my leadership is sharper because of working here!

Cons

Working in ministry is both the greatest blessing, and the greatest burden I have ever experienced. There is always more to be done than there are hours in the day. You can see incredible moves of God and immense heartbreak all in the same day. You truly have to be called to this in order to thrive.

Pros

My leadership cares about my family and their health as much as they care about me, which is a lot. I am encouraged to take time off to rest and care for myself and my family. This is such a healthy place to fulfill the calling on my life.

Cons

It's sometimes easy to downplay struggles because I appreciate the care I am given. It seems counterintuitive but I appreciate my leadership so much, I feel the need to press down exhaustion. This is a personal problem, not my leadership.

Pros

Great and important mission, many opportunities for personal growth development, competitive benefits package, casual atmosphere, awesome events and staff appreciation

Cons

1. Sacrifice is a given in ministry, but sometimes that banner is waved to keep people quiet when they have to live with the negative impacts of leaders’ poor decisions. It can feel manipulative. 2. There are several staff who have track records of bulldozing, manipulation, gaslighting, and deceit, and even though their leaders know about it, these staff members are given new opportunities with higher influence and impact. When a leader continues to allow this, the leader is the one to blame. Meanwhile, dozens of faithful, trustworthy, long-tenured staff remain in the trenches, doing fantastic work, but they are actively held back same opportunities for advancement, no matter how deserving they may be. It’s gotten to the point that it seems to be more about who likes a person than how good they are at their job. 3. Those who are not “conventionally attractive” may find it difficult to get outward facing opportunities, regardless of their skills or talent. 4. Even though there are 45 locations, only 2 are led by women, which seems to indicate a gap in leadership development between men and women for those highest campus leadership roles. We can do better!

Pros

Got to experience many changed lives and work with some amazing people. Benefits are good.

Cons

When I first started attending/working at Life.Church years ago, the mission and the momentum was tangible. The church was reaching people, loving the lost and cared deeply for their staff team. When I look at the state of affairs now, it is not the same church. A few things to be aware of: - In my opinion, there seems to be a culture of spiritual harshness and I would even dare say spiritual and emotional neglect. Certain leaders who created a culture of fear, intimidation and bullying were not only tolerated, but promoted within the organization. If leaders get the results leadership wants to see, they got promoted, regardless of their competency to care for people. I have many, many friends who had to go to therapy and/or leave the organization to find healing. - Results are everything. Results are defined by church attendance. It is all about the numbers. The pace can be crushing, it can cost you spiritual health and marital wellness, but if the numbers are growing then God must be in it! - There seems to be a culture of retaliation at the highest levels. Unwanted feedback will be dealt with harshly. - In my opinion, there is a deep rooted fear of cultural backlash. Rather than stand for biblical truth, controversial topics are often avoided at all costs. - I believe that there are many pastors at locations who have little to no biblical competence, but as long as they have potential to be leaders (influencers) they are seen as more than equipped as Pastors. Biblical literacy was never measured during interviews and was rarely developed while on the team.

Pros

Every single day, it's easy to show up and know my work matters. I also appreciate how at Life.Church, you're extremely empowered to innovate, to dream, to make a difference. Additionally, you always know where you stand with your leader and your team thanks to our high feedback culture. I love being developed and I love my role with our church!

Cons

I don't consider this a con, but if you do, this might not be the right place for you. :) We work HARD. We have so much fun - but this isn't an easy place to work. You'll be given feedback weekly, if not daily and you'll be pushed to your limits but you'll be better for it! (Don't worry - there's also generous time off)

Pros

Global reach (if you care about that).

Cons

You will slowly lose your identity as an individual, all in the name of the ministry. Be prepared to not only give your all to your job, but also your entire family spending all weekends and holidays serving at church. Eventually you'll realize that people are just coming to a feel-good experience without any opportunity to actually go deep in their faith. And you are just a cog in that system. Life.Church is really good at marketing, and their value statements are catchy. But the church has grown to a point that they don't really even live those values anymore. Sure, at first there's the honeymoon phase. But in the end, you realize that being on staff there is pretty much like being in a cult. You are controlled by a charismatic leader that forces you to give your whole life to the org, you are required to give away 10% of your below-market paycheck back to the leader (who is a multi-millionaire), and if you speak out against them you will be shunned and silenced.

Pros

Life.Church is all about the "whole person". Our leadership puts high value on work/life balance, family, health, mental wellness and recognition for one's hard work. Trust and responsibility is freely given. Amazing benefits, comparable pay, room for growth, and promotions. Executive Leadership has high integrity. Fun working environment. I've worked many jobs prior to working at Life.Church and it's by far the most rewarding experience. It's been and still is my dream job!

Cons

You have to be intentional on guarding your time during busy seasons. You can easily get swept away with the fast paced/high feedback work environment. Open communication with your leader is key! I'm thankful to have a great leader who is flexible, honest, and caring.

Pros

Great benefits, lots of development opportunities, room for advancement, amazing coworkers and volunteers

Cons

Pace is incredibly fast and can make you burnout very quickly. Definitely an achievement culture, the harder you work, the more opportunities you’ll get. If you slow down because you’re struggling, you get sidelined or left behind. Work/life balance is non-existent at times. It’s a struggle to get leadership to understand that going fast isn’t always the best option when it’s hurting the people doing the work. On the YouVersion team specifically, you must compete for resources and beg for headcount/new hires. Tools that are required to do your role effectively are not provided, or you have to build them yourselves. You are held accountable for issues that happen because your team doesn’t have the capacity/bandwidth to take on more. Some teams are over resourced, while others are barely able to keep their heads above water. I have seen many of my friends crying and overwhelmed because they feel they can’t keep up, or just aren’t doing enough.

Pros

Family friendly and great benefits!

Cons

A lot of expectations to be met.

Pros

Life.Church's passion for their mission is evident in every area of the organization. This is also the healthiest work environment I've ever been a part of. And we have fun every day!

Cons

I love this place. Nothing negative to say.