Our story
GoChurch is a family of churches working together to build strong, healthy churches, develop leaders, plant churches and reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus. Our story began in 1997 with two separate church plants and two leadership teams who shared a heart for God’s Word, the local church and the Great Commission.
Where it began
In 1997, Pastors Matt and Julie Beemer planted World Harvest Bible Church (WHBC) after training at Rhema Bible College in Tulsa under the ministry of Brother Hagin and Pastor Hagin. Called as missionaries, Matt and Julie moved to the UK to plant a church while continuing to carry a heart for reaching nations, particularly within the 10/40 Window.
During the same year, Pastors Alan and Claire Morton planted Kingdom Faith Church Manchester. Alan and Claire trained at Kingdom Faith Bible College under the ministry of Colin Urquhart. Through outreach and evangelism, KFC Manchester was established with a desire to reach people with the Gospel and equip believers through the Word of God.
2007
In 2007, the two churches came together. What began as two separate church plants became one family, bringing together leadership, experience, resources and vision. Working together opened the door for greater impact, including:
Timeline
World Harvest Bible Church and Kingdom Faith Church Manchester are planted.
The two churches unite as one family, bringing together leadership, experience, resources and vision.
World Harvest Bible Church Bradford is planted, becoming GoChurch Bradford in 2015.
Word of Life London becomes a partner church, extending the family to the capital.
The GoChurch name is adopted across the family, and GoChurch Liverpool launches.
GoChurch Beirut launches in Lebanon — the family’s first church outside the UK.
New partner churches join the family: Restoration Church Middlesbrough, Christian Restoration Manchester and Mountain of the Lord’s House Denton.
Our leadership
GoChurch was built through people who said yes to God’s call, stepped out in faith and were willing to work together. That same approach continues to shape how we lead today.
Pastors Matt and Julie Beemer are one half of the founding leaders of GoChurch. After training at Rhema Bible College in Tulsa, they responded to God’s call as missionaries and moved to the UK. Their commitment to faith, God’s Word, leadership development, missions and church planting helped establish foundations that continue to shape GoChurch today.
Pastors Alan and Claire Morton are the other half of the founding leaders within the GoChurch story. After training at Kingdom Faith Bible College, they planted Kingdom Faith Church Manchester in 1997 through a strong focus on outreach and reaching people with the Gospel. Their ministry also extended cross-culturally, including translating teaching resources into Arabic and Farsi.
Our leadership vision extends far beyond our founding leaders. One of our priorities as a family of churches is developing leaders. We want to identify potential, create opportunities, provide mentoring and equip people to serve, lead, disciple others and plant churches.
We are developing people who can develop others.
Our vision is to see a global family of 25 healthy churches by 2035, working together to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus. We believe planting churches enables us to reach new communities, cities and people groups. And we believe we can accomplish far more when we do it together.
