Tag: contemplative

What is a Vineyard Church?

I am currently serving as a pastor of a Vineyard Church, and we have been in the process of hiring a new youth pastor. I’ve looked at over 130 resumes that have been submitted to us, and I have interviewed over 30 people so far for this position. One thing I keep running into is that very few people know what a Vineyard Church is. I end up having to give a little elevator speech about who we are. The following is usually how I answer the question, “What is a Vineyard Church?”

Vineyard, as a network of churches, was born out of the Jesus People movement of the 1960s and 70s where thousands of hippies surrendered their life to the Lord. It got started in the mid-70s with a few churches but really didn’t become a movement of churches until John Wimber began to lead it in the early 1980s. There are now about 2500 Vineyard churches around the globe with roughly 500 of those existing in the U.S. 

Originally, Vineyard churches were the result of trying to combine the evangelical and charismatic streams of the church. We emphasize experiential worship, sound biblical teaching, the priesthood of believers (“everyone gets to do the stuff of ministry”), and the operation of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit.

Although we engage in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit (like healing prayer, prophetic words, praying in tongues, words of knowledge, signs and wonders, etc) we do so with a Kingdom theology rather than a Pentecostal theology. (We’re huge fans of George Ladd and Dallas Willard). We stress that seeing the miraculous is one aspect of the Kingdom “already” being inaugurated on the earth. Yet, we should also expect moments of not seeing the miraculous because the Kingdom is “not yet” in its fullness. And it won’t be in its fullness until Jesus returns.  

After spreading east from southern California, over time Vineyard began to add two more streams of the Christian tradition: the social justice and contemplative streams. The social justice stream emphasizes care for the poor and recognition of those who have been marginalized by various societal structures. The contemplative stream emphasizes spiritual formation and discipleship by way of Ignatian practices. The hope is to walk with Jesus daily in a way that creates space for a deep interior life with God. Vineyard practices spiritual formation from an evangelical perspective rather than a Catholic perspective. 

Each local Vineyard Church tries to hold these four streams together in tension:
Evangelical Stream, Charismatic Stream, Social Justice Stream, and Contemplative Stream. Each local Vineyard Church expresses this convergence of streams in different ways. Each church tends to choose one or two of these streams to emphasize over the other ones while still believing in the importance of all four of them. That’s why Vineyard Churches can feel a little different from one another. 

As far as hot button issues: Vineyard affirms women in all roles of ministry but does not affirm the LGBTQ lifestyles. Vineyard believes that the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit are alive and well and should be used in the church, but does so by empowering every believer rather than creating an unnecessary hierarchy of gifts. Vineyard believes that spiritual formation is key in helping people to deepen their walk with the Lord and provides opportunities for people to experiment with spiritual practices to that end. 

I am biased, but I believe the convergence of these four streams within one church community makes Vineyard one of the most holistic expressions of the Kingdom of God that I’ve ever experienced in a church setting. If you want a community that cares about a deep, interior life with God while also expressing the powerful manifestations of the Spirit, a place that teaches from the authoritative word of God while also reaching out to the marginalized in our society, then Vineyard is the place for you.

We often say that people don’t “become” Vineyard, they simply realize one day that they already are Vineyard.

Disembodied

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5, 9-14

Too often conservative evangelicals want the wisdom and the insight of the Kingdom of God without the intimacy of the Kingdom. They want the depth of the word of God without the depth of the Word of God, the practical life application of principles without an encounter with a Person.

Too often progressive Christians want the justice and righteousness of God displayed in culture but not in their own lives. They want to see the righteousness of God manifest “out there” in society, but don’t see purity in their own lives as something to be bothered with.

Too often charismatics want the power of God but not the humility of Christ. They want to destroy the works of the devil, like sickness and demonic oppression, but forget to lock the back door where pride and arrogance slip in.

Too often contemplative Christians want the mystery of God but close their eyes to the revelation of God. They want to experience the transcendent reality of the Divine but forget that God put on flesh and bone to reveal Himself to us plainly and practically.

Each of these exaggerations of the faith embrace one aspect of the Kingdom of God without embracing Jesus Himself. And in this way they are disembodied expressions of Christianity. They hint of gnosticism.

The fullness of the gospel is embodied. It’s incarnational. It’s the fullness of Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life.