Our Journey
In September 2000 Emirates pilots John and Craig went to South Africa to ask Mike and Charmaine Eltringham to consider planting a church in Dubai where they were based. They said yes, and on the 19th January 2001 a few families gathered in John and Louanne Sinclair’s Villa in Umm Suqeim for Well of Life’s first official meeting. Over the next 18 months Mike travelled between Durban and Dubai helping to establish the fledgling church until in October 2002 they moved to Dubai to devote themselves to that task. Well of Life was planted, in Mike’s words, into a vacuum, into a city where there wasn’t a multi-cultural, Word based, Spirit empowered, apostolic church.
Over the next few years the church grew rapidly, rejoicing as many came to salvation. During that time Well of Life partnered with an apostolic movement called New Covenant Ministries International, and planted churches into Abu Dhabi, France, Australia, Bahrain and in Dubai itself. In 2011 Mike invited Rob and Linda Hutton to take over as the lead eldership couple, while he devoted himself to the international apostolic work to which God had called him. In January 2019, while zealously fulfilling that call, Mike went onto glory. Well of Life continues in Jesus’ mandate to be his witnesses in our city, region, nation and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8). We work with dear friends and partners in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, India, Mozambique, Pakistan, Greece and other nations, even while pursuing God’s redemptive purposes for the nation of the UAE. We were delighted when God called us to plant Well of Life Ras Al Khaimah in 2016 which is now flourishing under the leadership of Bertus and Liezl Nel.
The next chapters are waiting for you to help us write them!
Apostolic Partnership
Genesis Collective
As you can see from our journey above, the very foundations of this church are apostolic (coming from the Greek word apostolos meaning “he that is sent”). Well of Life was planted by an apostle in the midst of an apostolic movement that saw an explosion of church plants into about 76 nations! In 2010 God called Well of Life to transition out of that flow, but our zeal to see the gospel go to the uttermost never diminished. In fact it has grown. So the “wine” has been so sweet, we have just been looking for the right wineskin for this time. Our search for partnership has had both a relational component, and a biblical imperative. The New Testament teaches that while local churches should be autonomous, led by a team of local elders, they should not be independent. The letter from Paul and Timothy to the church in Philippi is a wonderful picture of the reciprocal relationship between an apostle, his team, and a local church. The Greek word for partnership in Philippians 1:5 is koinōnia, which describes working together in a tangible and consequential way. In 2018 we joyfully entered into that kind of apostolic partnership with Genesis Collective. Chris and Meryl Wienand, who have been part of Well of Life’s story since its inception, lead Genesis Collective, a team of Ephesian 4:11 gifted men and women and churches from several different nations. Our conviction is that we will be able to accomplish much more for the glory of God’s name together than we ever could on our own.
We regularly gather in different parts of the globe with our Genesis Collective partners and they are open for you join in! Our ambition for these times is that they will be rich in practical teachings, mutual encouragement, and moments that stir up the call of God in young and old alike. Follow this link to find out where we’re gathering next and how you can sign up.
Beliefs
The Scriptures
We believe in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writing as fully inspired by God, and accept them as the final authority for faith and life.
The Church
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. That local church should seek to model, in every way, the pattern of the New Testament example of Christian life, values, structure and power. We believe the Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
The Fall & Salvation of Man
We believe that God created man in His image, that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual. We believe that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which issues in actual transgression involving personal guilt; that man is totally depraved, and, of himself, utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. We believe that all who repent of their sin and receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God. We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word.
The Godhead
We believe in one God eternally existing in a loving unity of three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit; co-eternal in being, co-eternal in nature, co-equal in power and glory, and having the same attributes and perfections.
The Christian Living
We believe that the ascended Christ has given various ministries or ministers to the Church to bring all believers to the place of Christian maturity in understanding the truth, the performance and the function of the ministry. We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed.
The End of All Things
We believe in the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace.
The Person & Work of Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures. We believe that Jesus was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only grounds for salvation.
The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.