The Abundant Life International Church began with a small group of people in November 2000 as a weekly gathering. It was later officially launched into a church in September 2002 in an elementary school in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The worshippers wanted to create a church that had a strong international feel where God’s word, the Bible, was foundational to the individuals’ life style.
The vision of the church is to be a “Word-based International church aimed at imparting the abundant life of Christ into every area of peoples’ lives while discipling them through the accurate teaching and proclamation of God’s word.”
The first Sunday service was held in Fairfax Elementary School in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Administrative offices were located on 2000 Lee Rd, in Cleveland Heights. The church was led by the Senior Pastor, Rev Kayode Tadese, whom was assisted by his wife and co-Pastor, Dr. Tinu Tadese and a handful of associate ministers.
The Church was unaffiliated with any denomination. As the church grew, the church members desired and prayed for a more permanent location. A building committee was formed, and its team members were charged with locating a building to buy. A church building fund was also started. As this was going on, one of the elders of the church visited with a friend of his at a Jewish church which held services on Saturdays in a Church of the Nazarene building.
This elder came back and reported that the building was free on Sundays and suggested that the Church of the Nazarene should be approached with the view of renting the building for services on Sunday. ALIC church leadership team was excited at this proposal and did so. An agreement was reached with the Church of the Nazarenes to rent the church building for Sunday services, but the church continued to rent administrative offices on Lee Rd.
In the third week of January 2004, the Abundant Life International Church held its first Sunday service in the Church of the Nazarene building at 5942 Wilson Mills road, Highland Heights, Ohio. The church family felt so comfortable in this building and sought to move both its administrative and ministry functions into one location.
In February 2006, ALIC entered into a Lease-to-Own agreement with the Church of the Nazarenes.
The young church was very excited and wanted desperately to make the building their own. They raised funds and did a major remodeling program which extensively modernized the sanctuary, nursery, various kids’ rooms and bathrooms.
As all this was going on, the building Committee continued to raise funds and by 2008, this fledgling church had raised $120,000. The church leadership approached the Church of the Nazarene and started negotiations to purchase the church building outright.
In February 2008, ALIC purchased the building from the church of the Nazarenes with a $100,000 down payment.
Having purchased its own building, the ALIC members threw themselves into ministry.
ALIC grew, providing ministry to the people from all works of life. There was outreach to the poorest areas of the Cleveland metropolis, with the church organizing food and clothing drives. Meal distribution was done to the homeless at the Cleveland Public square and people were ferried to and from homeless shelters to the church where they were fed and ministered to.
An outreach ministry was started to the college students at Case Western Reserve University. Weekly Bible studies and dinners were provided for the students in their dorms on campus.
As the church grew, people were drawn to the international flair of the church and several would drive from far and wide to attend services. Of note, was a large group of people who drove over an hour from the neighboring city of Akron to attend both midweek and Sunday services. In 2005, seeing the effort made by this group, the church decided to start midweek services in Akron, first in homes and later in hotel meeting rooms. Attendance grew and in June 2010, the ALIC Akron church campus was inaugurated.
TheALIC School of Ministry
In keeping with the vision of the ministry to raise not only Christian disciples but also Christian ministers, the ALIC School of Ministry(SOM) began in 2008. The vision statement of the SOM was “Making Disciples, Changing the World One Person at a Time.” The initial classes were in person with the first twenty students graduating in 2010. Since then, the ALIC SOM has evolved into a 2-year free online course with a 1-year supervised practicum. There is year-round rolling admission into the school with enrolled students from different parts of the United States, and the world including Canada, Brazil, Nigeria, India, and Ghana.
The ALIC Internet Church
The Abundant Life International Church is also committed to using the advances in technology to reach people on every continent using the internet. In 2010, the church started the ALIC Internet Church, which is a gathering of people from all walks of life and geographical locations drawn by God to experience and participate in the ministry provided through the ALIC. ALIC has participants from over 30 countries joining live services online or through video and audio podcasts.
The ALIC India Mission
In 2012, a student from the Nation of India enrolled in the ALIC School of Ministry. When he graduated in 2013 (ahead of schedule) he had a passion to start an ALIC SOM in his country. In 2016, the ALIC SOM India commenced with 10 students. These students meet in homes using the manuals and DVD translated into their local languages. Out of the passion of these students, churches were birthed. As of 2018, there are 10 Abundant Life International Churches in the nation of India. The India Mission also started a National Children and Youth Mission in 2018.
Abundant Life Publications
With the vision of reaching as many as possible with the word of God, ALIC distributes free literature written by its ministers all over the world
Conventions & Conferences
The Abundant Life International Church continues to pursue its mission of outreach through local conventions and conferences organized to reach specific groups of people. Outreaches are organized specifically to women, children and youth. In 2018 the ALIC started a specific outreach to women – The ZoeWomen Ministry, led by the Senior Pastor’s wife, Dr. Tinu Tadese. This is an outreach dedicated to professional and business women providing Mentoring and Leadership training.