A NEW church is to be launched in Southampton this month - and some of its new members have sold their homes across the UK and moved to the city to be involved.

The Life Church, which will meet at the Solent University Conference Centre in Above Bar Street is part of the New Frontiers (NF) group of churches. Christians from other NF churches, from as far as Bristol, London and Bedfordshire have decided to sell up and take part in the vision of the church and support its leader, Chris Kilby.

Chris, who for many years has been a leader at the Winchester Family Church, said: "It's really exciting to see how God is bringing people to the church to help us reach out into the city.

"The welcome and encouragement from church leaders of other churches has also been a real help as we plan to launch on April 22 at 10am.'' The Mayor and Mayoress of Southampton, together with other community leaders are being invited to join the 50-plus adult congregation, and 15 children already linked to the church.

Chris said: "Initially we will meet at 10am and then after a month, will introduce an evening service.

"We will also be offering informal At Home' midweek sessions where newcomers can drop into one of the church leaders' homes to get to know other new members. After that, we will do a mini-Alpha course, going through together the basics of the Christian faith, and then in the Autumn, in partnership with other churches in Southampton, we will be running the full Alpha programme.'' This week the church also opened an office at 18 The Avenue where members of the public can call in and find out more information about the latest church to be launched in the city.

Chris said: "Whilst we are based at a university, we aim to reach out to all members of the community, and all ages. However, it does seem to be that God is bringing to us a large group of people in the 18-40 age range, so maybe that is where our initial focus may be.''