LifeSpring church burntwood
updates & testimonies
In our third year of leading the church here in Burntwood, we have truly seen God do wonderful things. We have experienced a significant acceleration and shift in a number of areas in the life of the church.
One such area that we had been praying and contending for is to have a youth group in our church in order to see the next generation rise up and be brought up in the ways of the Lord. In September 2023, we launched our first youth evening and have since increased with new families joining the church on a regular basis. We now have 12 youth who frequently attend our weekly youth evenings. The youth have been growing and developing, even serving in various ministries within the church.
Our Kids ministry has also grown rapidly. To facilitate this growth, we had to transform what was the office space into a crèche for Sundays. Our children’s group has completely outgrown their current room and we are working on creative ideas to continue to manage all that is occurring.
This growth has not limited the regular church attendance even though it has risen significantly in the past nine months. With this, we continue to prioritise evangelism and discipleship. This requires us as a church to intentionally create opportunities for all believers to step out in faith and see the Holy Spirit move through them. We have seen this taking place in spectacular ways which has helped build the life of the church through that of salvations, baptisms, numerous healings, ongoing discipleship courses for new believers and the running of home groups.
In May 2024, we invited John’s father, Pastor Steven Blackah of Paris Evangile in France to minister at two healing services at our church. To say that God showed up and showed off would be an understatement!
We not only saw our own church family equipped and deployed in the area of physical healing but also a large number of supernatural healings took place. We saw eye sights restored; nerve damage completely healed; backs straightened; arthritis leave bodies and more! Here are just a few of the powerful testimonies to come out of these services:
One woman had crooked toes and was actually being prayed for regarding a different issue to do with her knee. While praying for healing for her knee, her toes straightened out and all the pain left her body immediately. This was an issue she had been carrying for multiple decades healed in an instant.
Another woman in her sixties came up for healing regarding nerve damage and mobility issues that she had in her arm. We began to pray and saw this healing take place immediately, full mobility was restored and all the pain left her. As we celebrated what God had done, we noticed that she had hearing aids in both ears. Stirred by faith, we asked if she could remove them and declared that as she did so in faith, the Lord would heal her. She began to remove them and suddenly her facial expression lit up. All of her hearing was restored in that very moment before any laying on of hands took place.
She testified to the whole room of her healing, lifting up the hearing aids in her hand of the arm that had been healed. She then proceeded to tell her story; she explained that she was attacked in the street in her early twenties, causing loss of hearing in both ears. Yet here she stood more than forty years later, completely restored. Not only physically but also emotionally as she was able to release and forgive her attackers that evening.
One final key change that has taken place for us as a church is that we have officially changed our name. For many years, our church was known as Emmanuel Church New Life Centre and we honour its rich history whilst following the Lord’s direction for the new season.
We are now:
This is not only a name change, it is a public identification of who we are and what we are part of, LifeSpring Ministries.
This name change was announced to our church members earlier this year and it was met with resounding cheer! It was at this time that we also announced our plan to build a new church building on our land.
This new building will not only considerably increase our space, but will also be able to be used as a true transformational house to better serve our town, region and ministry. Our building fund commences in September 2024 with design plans already in the works.
We could not be more grateful and stand in awe of all that God is doing amongst us. We remain expectant of what lies ahead.
You can continue to follow our journey by visiting our website: LifeSpringBurntwood.uk.com
With love and blessings,
John & Karla Blackah
