Jesus Culture: A new breed of revivalist or just a top worship band?

Jesus Culture is one of the big brands in youth outreach and worship-music events on the grand scale. Since 1999 the movement and its flagship band have attracted a worldwide following.

Based in Bethel Church, Redding, California, their world wide ministry is promoted through a mix of massive youth conferences and bestselling music from the band of the same name.

The stated purpose of Jesus Culture is: ‘to raise up a new breed of passionate young revivalists’.

Passion and vision

Claiming the mandate to ‘raise up, mobilize, equip, encourage, resource, and send these burning ones to fulfil the call of God on their lives’ Jesus Culture aims to see ‘entire cities saved, campuses revolutionized, and nations discipled’.

According to Jesus Culture’s website, these burning young revivalists will be:connected with spiritual fathers and mothers and aligned under their covering.

• passionately in love with Jesus – encountering his extravagant love for them daily.
• given to prayer and know how to win the war in the heavens.
• walking in the supernatural – demonstrating the Kingdom of God through power.

Bringing the Heavenly realm quite literally to Earth is the main focus of the Jesus Culture Vision.

Beginnings

Bethel Church youth leader, Banning Liebscher launched the 'Jesus Culture' conference in the summer of 1999.Worship and worship music became a significant part of these huge events. After a few years of Redding conferences, Jesus Culture turned its main focus to raising up this new breed of revivalists.

Jesus Culture’s outreach includes live and recorded music, books conferences, teaching resources and merchandise. Teaching resources cover a widening range of subjects including relationships, community life, prophetic ministry and supernatural training.

Jesus Culture in action

Jesus Culture, like its home church of Bethel is big on evangelism on a grand scale. Books and teaching are aimed at achieving a global response to their message of the invasion of Earth by Heaven.There is a strong focus on ‘encountering the extravagance of God’s love and power’, with statements about the strength of revival and the numbers of people returning to faith.

Signs and wonders, together with an emphasis on the supernatural, are among the more controversial aspects of the Jesus Culture world message. Revivalists are encouraged experience 'the third heaven realm' and take power and responsibility for shaping world history creating a literal Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

Global acheivement

In 2011 the Jesus Culture 'Awakening' event in pulled 18000 young worshippers to the Allstate Arena, Chicago. The inspiring and empowering of a generation of revivalists is promoted through their books, training, events and the Jesus Culture brand of worship music.

Large scale, high energy youth conferences around the world are the shop window for Jesus Culture’s vision and for inspiring their new generation of impassioned, transformed revivalists. Books from Jesus Culture are big on themes of cities and nations returning to God, and God having dominion over all the Earth.

The band and the music

For most Jesus Culture followers in the UK, the name is associated principally with the band of the same name.At the release of the Awakening CD, the Jesus Culture band, consists of Kim Walker-Smith and Chris Quilala, Kristene DiMarco, Bryan & Katie Torwalt and Jake Hamilton

Headline band at Jesus Culture conferences and other youth events, the band’s first release in 2006 (Everything) was followed up with We Cry Out (2007), Your Love Never Fails (2008), Consumed (2009), Come Away (2010) and Awakening (2011).

Awakening 2011 and beyond

The live recording of 16 Jesus Culture band’s songs from the Awakening event is available as a 2CD set from Eden.co.uk. The band’s mission is summed up on its website: ‘to ignite revival in the nations of the earth… motivated by a passion to see God receive the glory that is due His name. We long for Jesus to be exalted in the nations and for His manifest presence to invade this world.’

Jesus Culture band and music continue to produce influential music and set trends for large scale arena concerts world wide. The Bands musicians regularly 'cross-over' with parent church Bethel Music, including Bethel's new entry into the acoustic worship genre with 'The Loft Sessions' and Brian and Jenn Johnson's 'Love Came Down' CDs.