About New Life Suffolk

What’s Our Mission?

To win and reconcile souls into the Kingdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is Vision of NewLifeSuffolk?

The Vision of NewLife—Suffolk

Who are we?

We believe Isaiah chapter 61 speaks directly to who we really are. We all this the ABCs of NewLife~Suffolk!

We Are a People...

Our Values

Our Core Values are the constant, passionate, biblical core beliefs that drive the ministry of NewLife~Suffolk!. They are the internal engines sitting beneath the hood of the ministry bus. While NewLife~Suffolk! may be vision-focused, it is Values-Driven.

The Primary Core Value we hold is the root from which all additional core values proceed. All our other core values act as red and green lights controlling how we go about doing what we do. Our Primary Core Value at NewLife~Suffolk! can be stated in a single word Relationship. We believe our relationship of love with God and each other is the Primary Core Value from which everything else in our fellowship flows. We are committed to growth in intimacy with and accountability to God and to each other. We are committed to learning how to relate to God as our loving Father and to fellow believers as members of His family in ways that will bring wholeness and healing.

We have identified twenty (20) additional core values flowing from our Primary Core Value:

  1. PURSUIT OF GOD
    We are hungry to know God’s presence, hear His voice, and follow after Him (Psalm 63:1-3).
  2. HOLINESS, INTEGRITY, GRATITUDE, & HUMILITY
    These are God’s H.I.G.H standards for our personal life as well as for that of “church leadership”. A Holy heart has its mind girded for action, its spirit sober, its attitude fixed on grace unreservedly, its emotions un-conformed to its former lusts and passions, and its behavior becoming progressively more and more set apart (1 Peter 1:1316). A heart of Integrity trusts in God without wavering, invites God to examine and try and test it, pleads before God for favor, and commits toward God and His people to continually walk in integrity through dependence upon His redemption and grace (Psalm 26:1-12). A Grateful heart has joined in heaven’s theme of thanksgiving, offering up continually a sacrifice of praise to God (Revelation 11:16-17; 4:8-10; Hebrews 13:15). A Humble heart has the attitude of Christ, coming not as a master but a bond-servant, empty of its own rights, yielded up to death (Philippians 2:3-8).
  3. TRANSFORMATION INTO CHRIST’S IMAGE
    We desire that through the power of the Holy Spirit we would be transformed into Christ’s likeness so that His love, mercy, grace, truth, purity, power, integrity and fruit would emanate from us in all we do (2 Corinthians 3:18).
  4. PRAYER
    We believe that prayer is essential because it is our primary means of communing with God and it is God’s primary means of accomplishing His purposes in the world (Mt. 6:5-15).
  5. SCRIPTURE
    We believe the Bible to both contain and be truth. It is infallible, inerrant, and authoritative. Scripture is the word of God written in the words of men, given to us so that we may hear the words of God and do the works of God (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 3:14-17). The Word of God is a Lamp and a Light, giving us understanding of where we have been, where we are, where we are going, and how to get there (Psalm 119:105).
  6. THE KINGDOM OF GOD
    We seek to move in the signs and wonders of the Kingdom, invoking the Spirit’s powerful presence, ministering through the Spirit’s gifts, and seeing God heal and work wonders (Mark 1:14-15).
  7. HEALING
    It is God’s nature to heal and make whole. Healing is valued as an end in itself for His glory. He has commissioned, authorized and empowered us to heal in all areas - spiritually, physically, relationally, from past hurts, and from demonic bondage.
  8. CHANGE
    We are committed to change as needed, both individually and corporately, until the full stature of Christ is reached (Ephesians 4:11-16; 2 Co. 3:18; Romans 8:29).
  9. SIMPLICITY
    We wish to do nothing for religious effect but rather to operate in natural low-key, non-hype patterns of ministry. Nothing will be done for showmanship (1 Corinthians 1:12).
  10. BEING SPIRIT-FILLED AND SPIRIT-LED
    We seek to honor Jesus as our Head and the Holy Spirit as our Counselor and Guide. We seek to be responsive to the Holy Spirit’s leading in life and ministry (Ephesians 5:18- 21; Galatians 5:25
  11. DISCIPLESHIP
    The New Testament calls for a radical commitment. Every Christian has been called to unconditionally surrender their total life to Christ. It is a lifestyle of relationship. Disciples desire to please Him and organize their lifestyle around Him (Luke 14:26-33; Matthew 16:24-25). We desire to be “flat out for God”.
  12. FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
    We believe the Church is a family made up of families. We seek to minister within the entire spectrum of family situations present within our society - to couples, widowed. divorcees, children, youth, and singles (Ephesians 3:14-21; Psalm 68:6; Mark 10:13-16; Ephesians. 5:21-6:4; 1 Corinthians 7).
  13. CORPORATE UNITY
    All who belong to Christ are one in His Body, the Church. Our aim is to maintain unity by honoring all that call on Jesus’ Name and by seeking restoration with all parts of the Church (John 17:20-23).
  14. CORPORATE RELATIONSHIP
    We are honored by every person God adds to NewLife~Suffolk! Our aim is to work together to build up the church through maintaining mutual respect, open communication, determined cooperation, and believing and speaking the best about each other (1 Corinthians 13:4-7; Ephesians. 4).
  15. BODY MINISTRY
    We believe in the priesthood of all believers. Every believer has been gifted and can be empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Body is not one member but many (1 Corinthians 12:14). God has placed each member in the Body, just as He desired, for the building up of the whole (I Corinthians 12:18). We are many members in one body each possessing differing functions (Romans 12:3-8). We each have a responsibility to employ the gifts that we have received as good stewards of God’s grace (1 Peter 4:10).
  16. THE INDIVIDUAL
    The entire person is valuable and must be ministered to regardless of sex, race, age, marital status, or socio-economic status. Each individual has intrinsic worth. Each must therefore be served and cared for, never manipulated or used. The personhood of each individual must be honored (James 2:1-9; Galatians 3:26-29).
  17. MERCY OF GOD
    We seek to have a fellowship where compassion can be fully experienced in giving and receiving from both God and man. Our goal is restoration rather than judgment, to see individuals become a restored part of the Kingdom rather than remain as castaways. We seek to be a place where righteousness and mercy kiss, so the needs of broken people can be met as we extend mercy to one another and to all to whom we minister (Colossians 3:12-13).
  18. THE POOR, WIDOW, ORPHAN AND STRANGER
    We are God’s extended hands to reach out to segments of society He greatly values (James 1:27; 2:5; Galatians 2:10; Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 24:17-18; Matthew 25:31-46).
  19. SERVANT LEADERSHIP
    We believe that Christ has put significant leadership responsibility in the hands of the pastors God may raise up. Along with that responsibility, Christ delegates the authority necessary to carry it out. The Elders, Pastoral staff, Coaches and Cell Leaders seek to exercise that authority with humility, sensitivity, grace, accountability, trustworthiness, selflessness, care for the sheep and a sincere desire to build up the Body of Christ (Ephesians. 4:11-16; Philippians 2:1-8; 1Peter 5:1-4; Ezekiel 34).
  20. TEAM MINISTRY
    Team ministry is seen both in the Old Testament and New Testament as the pattern for ministry (Exodus18:13-27; Numbers 11:10-25; Nehemiah 7:2; Acts 13:1-2). Team ministry carries with it specific benefits for the Body of Christ. Team ministry allows for more complete ministry as men/women work together to complement one another (Ecclesiastes 4:10). Team ministry allows for variety of ministry within the Body (Acts 13:1-2).

NewLife~Suffolk! is a Cell Based Church

(A Family: Emphasizing Community)
As the FAMILY of God, we emphasize COMMUNITY. By His very nature as Trinity, God has always lived in the richness which exists only in community. With only one break in this continuity, at the Cross, the Eternal has always existed in the lifestyle of community.

Basic Christian Communities
A primary goal of a cell based church is to develop small groups of believers as Basic Christian Communities. Here at NewLife~Suffolk!, we refer to these Basic Christian Communities as cells. As we together focus on Christ in our midst, each cell member is able to equip others during timers of accountability, encourage others during times of mutual sharing, edify others during times of ministry, and evangelize others through outreach.

NewLife~Suffolk! is a Community of Cells.
No cell stands alone and independent. Each recognizes a larger structure for church life. The larger congregational structure links the cells together much like the human body links the individual human cells together. There exists a networking of cells under a common leadership and ministry team. The larger congregational structure provides times for corporate worship and praise as well as equipping events.

OUR PRIORITIES

Our priorities also grow out of our core values. Priorities are what we give our Time, Energy, and Money toward. They are the highway, the road, upon which our bus journeys. At NewLife~Suffolk! we are giving ourselves to four priorities: Worship, Community, Ministry & Witness.

PRIORITY #1: WORSHIP
Worship is our first and foundational priority. It is not our only priority, but the one upon which all our other spheres of ministry are built. There are many words used and translated by our word “worship”.

PRIORITY #2: COMMUNITY
God, by His very nature, has always lived and existed in community. He created man to live in and share that community. The concept of community encompasses two essential elements interpersonal commitments and a sense of belonging.

PRIORITY #3: MINISTRY
Journey Outward into Ministry The outgrowth of our journey upward in worship and inward in community will be a journey outward into ministry. We believe that every believer is a minister (Ephesians 4:11-16), and every believer is called to minister (I Peter 4:1011). His Name and Power. We have been called to minister the compassion of God, the mercy God has shown to us.

PRIORITY #4: WITNESS
Our fourth priority is that of Witness. We believe the church as a witness is to be a Builder of Bridges to lost mankind (1 Peter 3:18; John 20:21). We are both called to build and committed to building bridges to non-believers.

OUR PRACTICES

We can identify the four tires the bus is to run on by returning to the practices of the early church in its beginnings in Acts.

Acts 2:42 “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

How will these look at NewLife~Suffolk!?

Teaching

Fellowship

Prayer

Breaking of Bread

Our Leadership

PASTOR MICHAEL OLA
Rev. Michael Ola is Chairman and Founder of the Suffolk Neighborhood Bible Study Group, a non-denominational, multi-racial and multi-cultural group ministering to the needs of families in Suffolk through bible study, prayer and encouragement. He is also the Executive Director of the Heavenly Waters Youth Camp and Christian Retreat and a member of the Board of Directors for the Camp. Rev. Michael Ola is Founder and Senior Pastor of New Life -Suffolk, a non-denominational and multi-cultural Church.

A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Ola attended Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina and the University of District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. Michael Ola, Pastor/Teacher is a licensed and ordained minister of New Life Church with a Master of Divinity from Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

A graduate of Teen Challenge Inc, Ola is a wonderful example of the power of God to transform a broken life and bring restoration and purpose again. Most importantly to Rev. Ola, through his preaching, teaching and radio ministries, thousands of believers have had their faith strengthened and countless others for the first time have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

PASTOR CHANTAE OLA
Rev. Chantae Ola has been a born-again believer since 1984. She’s a native of Suffolk, Virginia who served many years as Sunday School Secretary, Usher and Choir Member at Bethany United Church of Christ. She is a social worker and developer of benevolent and social programs.

Chantae received her Master of Social Work degree from Howard University and bachelor studies were completed at Virginia State.

Her passion is social gerontology and being used through God’s redemptive gift of prophecy. She currently serves as executive assistant to her husband Pastor Michael Ola. Michael and Chantae have two children, Adijat and Yussef.

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