Well Of Life first met in the Umm Suqeim villa of John and Lou-Anne Sinclair on January 19th, 2001. Recalling that first meeting of just 13 adults and 10 children, John said: “That was an awesome experience. I couldn’t believe the way that God just chose us. He just showed up in our home. From there onwards it just grew. Something came from nothing. It was the first time I’d ever seen anything come from nothing. We were just passengers on the whole thing. We were just there and it just happened. God said, ‘Just adore Me, worship Me, seek My face, that’s all.’”

Members of the New Covenant Ministries International (NCMI) team realised the potential in Dubai for a base church in 1998 and put a lot of prayer into it. “That’s where the power came,” said John.

John first met current elder Mike Eltringham and his wife Charmaine at the 2000 Bloemfontein Leadership Training Time (LTT). The couple were leading Gateway church in Durban, South Africa, at the time, but had a heart for the Middle East.

“Mike told me his vision and where he thought God was going,” John recalled. “He said, ‘Well look, let’s just come out to Dubai and see what we think.’ That was in September 2000. They came out the next month.”

During the Eltinghams’ first visit to Dubai in October 2000, John and Mike prayed every morning for direction. “We went on the beach, marching around praying,” said John. “After a while Mike said, ‘John I really think this is a God thing. We mustn’t build this on our own thinking. We must build it on God’s thinking.’ Soon afterwards, Mike phoned me and said, ‘John, I think we should do this. We should start the church.’ I said, ‘Fine, let’s do it.’ He said, ‘Just start it up in your home and see how it goes.’ And we did.”

Well Of Life moved from the Sinclairs’ home to Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) in October 2001, when a bigger venue was needed. In the summer of 2002, the wandering church was on the move again, to Nad Al Sheba, where it met in various corporate hospitality rooms on the upper floors of the Millennium Grandstand. By late summer that year, the Eltringhams had moved to Dubai, lock, stock and Muffy the dog, having left Gateway in the able hands of Rob and Linda Hutton.

In early 2003, with between 100 and 150 members, Well Of Life settled for a season in the first floor press room at Nad Al Sheba. It was when that door closed shortly before the 2004 Dubai World Cup horse race that another door opened at Dubai Evangelical Church Centre (DECC), Jebel Ali. By summer 2006 at DECC, Well Of Life had grown to around 400 members and God was preparing the church for yet another move to a larger venue.