• Exclusive Claim: Wellspring Church teaches that it represents the Kingdom of God in a unique way, linking acceptance and practice of its distinctive doctrine to belonging in God’s Kingdom.

• Doctrinal Formula: This belief traces back to the founder’s Oneness-derived formula for being born again, which made Wellspring doctrine appear to be the visible proof of entering God’s Kingdom.

• Biblical Contrast: Scripture teaches that the Kingdom belongs to God alone and is entered by being born again by the Holy Spirit - not by following a human-controlled formula.
   

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Many people at Wellspring Church have been taught, directly or indirectly, that their congregation represents the Kingdom of God in a unique way, and that belonging to Wellspring Church is equivalent to belonging to the Kingdom of God.

 

This idea grew from the founder’s belief that his Oneness-derived understanding of becoming born again, combined with his own distinctive baptismal formula, restored the “true” way of entering the Kingdom of God. His teaching became the visible sign that a person had truly been born again and therefore truly belonged to God.​ For many, this created a deep spiritual fear: If I leave Wellspring Church, am I leaving the kingdom of God?

 

 

What Jesus Actually Taught About Entering the Kingdom of God

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Jesus spoke more about the Kingdom of God than any other theme, and He connected it directly to being born again. When He told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” He was not describing a formula or a sequence of human-controlled steps. Instead, He immediately explained that being born again is the sovereign work of God Himself through the Holy Spirit.

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Just a few verses later, Jesus clarifies: “The wind (Spirit) blows where it wishes… so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Being born again is not something controlled by human authority, human ritual, or the spoken formula of the person performing the baptism.

 

It is God who gives the birth, not the church, not the leader. This truth stands at the center of Christian teaching for two thousand years, across cultures, traditions, and peoples.​ The early church understood this clearly. God draws freely, and Christ saves freely. No single community, no leader, and no formula ever held exclusive access to the Kingdom of God.​

 

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​God’s Kingdom Is Not Confined to One Congregation or Teacher

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In the New Testament, God’s temple is not a physical temple or a single local church but the people in whom His Spirit lives. Believers themselves are called “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), and God “does not dwell in temples made with hands” (Acts 7:48).

 

Yet in practice, Wellspring treats its doctrine and worship ceremonies as a kind of Old Testament “holy of holies,” as though God’s presence and the kingdom of God were located uniquely within its own tightly controlled communal life and regimented worship services.

 

Scripture teaches the opposite: God does not reside in a house built with sticks and stones, but in human beings through the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God advances by new creation, not external constraint - by the Spirit giving new life, not by leaders gatekeeping and managing access to it.

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The kingdom of God is not limited to one congregation, one movement, one teacher or a specific worship ceremony. The King Himself determines who belongs to His kingdom, granting new life through the Spirit to those who truly believe in Christ.

 

The New Testament speaks of many churches but one Kingdom, many congregations but one Lord, many communities but one faith. The Kingdom belongs entirely to God and is given entirely by grace.  Jesus Himself is the gate. He alone can say, “I am the door… whoever enters through Me will be saved.”

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You Do Not Leave the Kingdom by Leaving a Church

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For those us who grew up at Wellspring, it was difficult to disentangle our spiritual identity from the institution, from the leadership and from the founder. We were taught, sometimes subtly, sometimes openly, that stepping away from Wellspring was equivalent to abandoning God. But the Bible teaches the opposite.

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A believer belongs to the Kingdom because God has made them His child through Christ. Their place in the Kingdom is anchored in God’s promise, God’s grace, and God’s Spirit - not in their relationship to a particular group of people. Leaving a church may be painful; it may involve loss and confusion. But it does not undo God’s work. It does not remove the Spirit. It does not unravel God's gracious work of being born again. It does not cancel His love.

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As Scripture says, “The Lord knows those who are His” and “No one can snatch them out of My hand.” These promises do not depend on Wellspring Church, or any church.

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Why Wellspring’s Teaching Feels So Binding

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The founder of Wellspring Church connected his own doctrinal formula to the act of entering God’s kingdom. He taught that his understanding of baptism and being born again was the restored truth God had given to him, and therefore only those who followed this pattern could truly be part of God’s kingdom.

 

In practice, this made his teaching function as a gate to the kingdom, placing Norman James in the role of interpreter and gatekeeper rather than simply a preacher of the gospel. When a church ties God’s kingdom to its own authority, it naturally creates fear, dependency, and the sense that leaving the group means leaving God.

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But this is not the gospel Jesus preached. This is not the teaching of the apostles. This is not the faith of the historic Christian church.

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The Kingdom of God does not rise or fall with any single congregation. It does not collapse when someone leaves a group. It does not hinge on the spoken words of a pastor at baptism or spiritual gifts. It does not come through human control, but divine grace.

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Good News for Those Who Are Afraid

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When Jesus died, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). The barrier that once symbolized restricted access to God was removed through the death of Christ.

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Our access to God and His kingdom does not come through a temple ceremony, a prescribed order of worship, the manifestation of certain spiritual gifts, or the spoken words of religious leaders. We are not “birthed” into the kingdom by human leaders standing in the temple. We enter by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection opened the way to God.

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The kingdom of God is not entered through human gatekeepers claiming authority over the new birth, but through the Son of God Himself.​

 

Your place in His Kingdom is not fragile. It is not dependent on your attendance record. It is not controlled by any human leader. It is rooted in Christ alone. And the God who gave you life in the Spirit is faithful to keep and lead you, wherever you go.

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The Church Age Will End - But God’s Kingdom Will Not

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Scripture teaches that the visible church exists within history, for the duration of this present age, as the gathered people of Christ on earth. But when Christ returns, the church in its earthly form will give way to something far greater: the fullness of God’s eternal Kingdom. The church age will come to its close, but the Kingdom of God will never pass away. It existed before Wellspring Church, before any congregation, and even before the creation of the world. And it will endure long after every earthly institution has completed its course.

 

This reality reminds us that no local church can ever claim to be the Kingdom, because the Kingdom belongs to God alone. It is eternal, unshakable, and rooted not in human authority but in the reign of Christ Himself.