Association of Vineyard Churches
Encyclopedia
The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical
Christian denomination
with over 1,500 affiliated churches worldwide.
The Vineyard Movement is rooted in the charismatic
renewal
and historic evangelicalism. Instead of the mainstream charismatic label, however, the movement has preferred the term Empowered Evangelicals (a term coined by Rich Nathan
and Ken Wilson in their book of the same name) to reflect their roots in traditional evangelicalism as opposed to classical Pentecostalism
. Members also sometimes describe themselves as the "radical middle
" between evangelicals and Pentecostals, which is a reference to the book The Quest for the Radical Middle, a historical survey of the Vineyard by Bill Jackson.
It has been associated with the "Signs and Wonders
" movement, the Toronto blessing
, the Kansas City Prophets and a particular style of Christian worship music.
The Vineyard operates a publishing house, Vineyard International Publishing
.
and Chuck Girard
. In early 1975, thirteen groups met at the Beverley Hills Women's club. These Bible studies, and others like them, were attended by many popular actors/actresses and musicians including Bob Dylan
. Gulliksen's Vineyard had spun off sister churches.
In 1977, John Wimber
, an evangelical pastor and teacher on church growth, founded a Calvary Chapel
in Yorba Linda, California
. Wimber's teaching on healing and the ministry of the Holy Spirit
led to conflict with Calvary Chapel. In a meeting with Calvary Chapel leaders, it was suggested that Wimber's church stop using the Calvary name and affiliate with Gulliksen's Vineyard movement. In 1982, Wimber's church changed its name to the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Gulliksen turned over the churches in under his oversight to Wimber, beginning his leadership of the Vineyard movement.
Beginning in 1988, Wimber established relationships with prophetic figures such as Paul Cain
, Bob Jones, and Mike Bickle who pastored Kansas City Fellowship, an independent church which would come under the Vineyard banner as Metro Vineyard (see Kansas City Prophets). For a time, these men had considerable influence on Wimber and the Vineyard—according to Jackson, Wimber's son was delivered from drug addiction through a prophetic word from Jones. However, there were those in the Vineyard who were skeptical, and Wimber himself became disillusioned over the restorationist teaching and failed prophecies of these men. Around 1991, Wimber began to distance himself from the prophetic movement, leading the Vineyard back to a church-planting direction, while Bickle's church withdrew and dropped the Vineyard label.
The Vineyard Movement suffered a visible leadership vacuum after Wimber's death on November 16, 1997. However, Todd Hunter, who served as National Coordinator since February 1994 and as acting Director of the Vineyard at the time of Wimber's death, became the National Director in January 1998 and served in that capacity until he resigned in May 2000. After Hunter's resignation, the National Board of Directors named Bert Waggoner of Sugar Land, Texas
, as the new National Director. As of 2007, the Association of Vineyard Churches includes over 1,500 churches around the world, and this number continues to grow due to a strong priority placed on church-planting within the Vineyard mission.
According to text in the official Vineyard Statement of Faith released in 1994, an effort to create a common Statement of Faith had been underway since 1983, but took 10+ years to complete because: "On one hand, we felt obliged to set forth our biblical and historically orthodox beliefs, on the other hand, we wanted to describe the values and priorities that make the Vineyard unique within the context of Evangelicalism."
The Vineyard Statement of Faith is generally considered to be a biblically-based Evangelical
Christian
profession of faith, with no mention of any issues that are considered to be controversial or divisive. In addition to the Statement of Faith (released in 1994), the church released a statement of "Theological and Philosophical Statements" penned by Bert Waggoner in 2004 to clarify the church's position on some issues that had been unclear from the Statements of Faith, including the church's priorities as it relates to worship and Bible study. The church also has published a 10-point "Vineyard Genetic Code," taught to a session of senior leadership by John Wimber in 1992, that outlines the 10 areas of ministry considered essential to any Vineyard church. Rich Nathan
has described the Vineyard movement as part of a "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit
" in America.Vineyard philosophy has also played a key role in the development of the transformationalism
school of Christian thought.
is one of the primary reasons (along with the active nature of spiritual gifts discussed previously) that John Wimber gave for breaking with the Calvary Chapel
movement. Worship in the Vineyard almost always is performed in a contemporary worship
format, with a multi-piece band leading worship, but is not restricted to this style.
The unique nature of this contemporary worship music (especially unique in the 70s and 80s, when most mainstream denominations limited their worship to more traditional hymns) gained a lot of interest, and led to the formation of a special music ministry, later formed into a church-supported music recording and distribution company, Vineyard Music.
Many Vineyard Churches have no official membership procedures or membership records, and such a policy is not dictated by the national Vineyard Church. Instead, a community of believers is formed by those who attend Sunday or weekend services, weekday homegroups, and participate in various church ministries.
. Vineyard USA is divided into eight regions, and each region has clusters of churches grouped together by relationship and location, facilitated by an Area Pastoral Care Leader (APCL). The APCL's work together with the Regional Overseer (RO) to provide leadership and encouragement to the region. The central governing body of the Vineyard in the U.S. is a 12-member National Board, made up of the eight regional overseers plus four additional leadership members, including the National Director. Currently, the President and National Director is Bert Waggoner. All major strategic decisions, including theological and doctrinal statements, are made by the National Board. In 2004, Vineyard USA had 140,000 members in 600 churches.
was the first country outside the United States to be accorded its own independent National Association. The first Canadian Vineyard was established in Vancouver
in January 1985. Within a year, a second Vineyard was established in the Vancouver area. More churches followed, and by the time of the release of the Association of Vineyard Churches Canada in the summer of 1995 and the appointment of Gary and Joy Best as National Directors of Canada, there had been fifty Vineyards established across the country.
. There are more than 100 Vineyard Churches in the United Kingdom
and the Republic of Ireland
.
, Perth
, Adelaide
and Brisbane
, Australia
. On 13 March 2003, the Association of Vineyard Churches, Australia was formed, with Peter and Kathy Downes commissioned as National Directors. As of June 2009, there were 33 Vineyard Churches in Australia.
In February 2009, the Association launched a School of Ministry, in conjunction with Perth Bible College
.
(EKD) or Roman Catholic Church. Vineyard DACH is governed by a leadership council, supported by task forces (church planting, worship, theology, training) and active in missions in countries such as Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast,Togo, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, Moldovia, France, Spain etc. Vineyard DACH has started an African Migration Vineyard Movement in Europe with 12 Vineyards and is also very active in reaching Roma Gypsies in different European countries.
, Samuel Lane, Marc James, Nigel Hemming
, Casey Corum, Carl Tuttle, Brenton Brown
, Brian Doerksen
, David Ruis, Andy Park
, Jeremy Riddle
, Scott Underwood, Johanna Blanding-Koskinen, Jeff Searles, Rita Springer, Kevin Prosch
and Steve Southworth.
founded Mercy Records. This later became Vineyard Music.
Vineyard Music has won some industry awards, such as an award from ASCAP. Breathe was recognized in 2002 as ASCAPs most recorded song of the year.
, and is directed by Steve Robbins. VLI is also offered in many Vineyard and some non-Vineyard churches through video and correspondence course curriculum. Vineyard clergy are not required to have been trained through VLI.
The Vineyard Bible Institute, a distance-learning Bible studies program, is based out of a Vineyard church in Cape Town, South Africa.
, gained notoriety due to the large crowds, lengthy meetings, and reports of unorderly manifestations of the Holy Spirit
, including people laughing, crying, and shaking. Critics, such as Hank Hanegraaf in his book, "Counterfeit Revival
", charged the Toronto Blessing
(under Wimber's authority at the time) with promoting heresy
for three main reasons: first, claiming unusual experiences of the Holy Spirit
including physical responses, speaking in tongues, and prophesying; second, claiming that these experiences of spiritual revelation were equal in importance to the Bible; and third, claiming that these experiences were a sign that God was doing "something new." Hanegraaf held that the Toronto Blessing (and thus the Vineyard movement) was denying sola scriptura
or the “sufficiency of Scripture”, a doctrinal tenet that Protestant churches have held to be incontrovertibly true, by suggesting that all believers should come to see what "new thing" God was doing in Toronto. To cessationist and conservative thinking, this "new thing" felt dangerous and potentially cultist, putting the inerrant word of God on equal footing with the expression of a spiritual gift or, in the Hanagraaf's position, undermining the Bible with false teachings. Ultimately, the Toronto church was released from the Vineyard movement due to the controversy of how the meetings were being handled. For a detailed treatment of this topic, refer to "The Quest For the Radical Middle" by Bill Jackson (see related books below).
Wimber consistently emphasized that clear, accurate teaching and knowledge of the scripture is critical for every Vineyard church, without expressly stating the scriptures to be the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith. These items are included in the "Vineyard Genetic Code" paper he released in 1992.
Throughout the early years of the Vineyard (1970s to 1992), Wimber avoided publicly responding to his critics. Instead, he invited his critics to meet with him personally to talk through their charges in accordance with his understanding of Scripture (Mat 18:15–17, Gal 6:1, 1 Tim 5:1). However, as the influence of the Vineyard broadened and certain misunderstandings were repeated from different sources, both outside the church and within, Wimber made the decision to respond publicly. The decision is detailed in Vineyard Position Paper #1 entitled "Why I respond to criticism" authored by John Wimber.
This was followed by a number of other position papers from various sources within the national Vineyard leadership which sought to address the most serious and widespread of the criticisms leveled against the movement.
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
with over 1,500 affiliated churches worldwide.
The Vineyard Movement is rooted in the charismatic
Charismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
renewal
Renewal
Renew or renewal may refer to:*Urban renewal, a function of urban planning*Renewal theory, a branch of probability theory*Renewal , a 2008 documentary on the religious environmental movement...
and historic evangelicalism. Instead of the mainstream charismatic label, however, the movement has preferred the term Empowered Evangelicals (a term coined by Rich Nathan
Rich Nathan
Rich Nathan has been the senior Pastor of the Vineyard Church of Columbus since 1987. Nathan came to believe in Jesus at the age of 18. Prior to pastoring, he was an assistant professor of business law at The Ohio State University for five years. He has a Bachelor's degrees in history and...
and Ken Wilson in their book of the same name) to reflect their roots in traditional evangelicalism as opposed to classical Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
. Members also sometimes describe themselves as the "radical middle
Radical middle
The terms radical center , radical middle or radical centrism describe a philosophy as well as an associated political movement and position on the political spectrum...
" between evangelicals and Pentecostals, which is a reference to the book The Quest for the Radical Middle, a historical survey of the Vineyard by Bill Jackson.
It has been associated with the "Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders
Signs and Wonders was a phrase used often by leaders of the Charismatic movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is closely associated with the ministry of John Wimber and the Vineyard Movement...
" movement, the Toronto blessing
Toronto Blessing
The Toronto blessing, a term coined by British churches, describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship , a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, the Kansas City Prophets and a particular style of Christian worship music.
The Vineyard operates a publishing house, Vineyard International Publishing
Vineyard International Publishing
Vineyard International Publishing is a publisher of Christian books, created as a result of discussions between Bob Fulton, John Wimber and Derek Morphew...
.
History
The first Vineyard Church started when Kenn Gulliksen brought together two Bible studies, both meeting at the houses of singer/songwriters: Larry NormanLarry Norman
Larry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
and Chuck Girard
Chuck Girard
Chuck Girard is a pioneer of Contemporary Christian music. He was born August 27, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and moved to Santa Rosa, California in his young teens...
. In early 1975, thirteen groups met at the Beverley Hills Women's club. These Bible studies, and others like them, were attended by many popular actors/actresses and musicians including Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Gulliksen's Vineyard had spun off sister churches.
In 1977, John Wimber
John Wimber
John Richard Wimber was a musician, charismatic pastor and one of the founding leaders of the Vineyard Movement, a neocharismatic Evangelical Christian denomination which began in the USA and has now spread to many countries world-wide.-Life and ministry:John Richard Wimber was the son of Basil...
, an evangelical pastor and teacher on church growth, founded a Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches with over one thousand congregations worldwide. Calvary Chapel also maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of...
in Yorba Linda, California
Yorba Linda, California
Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, approximately northeast of Downtown Santa Ana, and southeast of Downtown Los Angeles....
. Wimber's teaching on healing and the ministry of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
led to conflict with Calvary Chapel. In a meeting with Calvary Chapel leaders, it was suggested that Wimber's church stop using the Calvary name and affiliate with Gulliksen's Vineyard movement. In 1982, Wimber's church changed its name to the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Gulliksen turned over the churches in under his oversight to Wimber, beginning his leadership of the Vineyard movement.
Beginning in 1988, Wimber established relationships with prophetic figures such as Paul Cain
Paul Cain (minister)
Paul Cain is a Pentecostal Christian minister involved with both neo-charismatic churches and the Charismatic Movement. As a young man he was one of the Voice of Healing revivalists of the 50s. Cain currently resides in California and ministers monthly at a local church in Santa...
, Bob Jones, and Mike Bickle who pastored Kansas City Fellowship, an independent church which would come under the Vineyard banner as Metro Vineyard (see Kansas City Prophets). For a time, these men had considerable influence on Wimber and the Vineyard—according to Jackson, Wimber's son was delivered from drug addiction through a prophetic word from Jones. However, there were those in the Vineyard who were skeptical, and Wimber himself became disillusioned over the restorationist teaching and failed prophecies of these men. Around 1991, Wimber began to distance himself from the prophetic movement, leading the Vineyard back to a church-planting direction, while Bickle's church withdrew and dropped the Vineyard label.
The Vineyard Movement suffered a visible leadership vacuum after Wimber's death on November 16, 1997. However, Todd Hunter, who served as National Coordinator since February 1994 and as acting Director of the Vineyard at the time of Wimber's death, became the National Director in January 1998 and served in that capacity until he resigned in May 2000. After Hunter's resignation, the National Board of Directors named Bert Waggoner of Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Sugar Land is one of the most affluent and fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158 percent in the last decade. In the time period of 2000–2007, Sugar Land also enjoyed a...
, as the new National Director. As of 2007, the Association of Vineyard Churches includes over 1,500 churches around the world, and this number continues to grow due to a strong priority placed on church-planting within the Vineyard mission.
Doctrinal statements
For most of the early life of the Vineyard Movement, Vineyard churches had no official statement of faith. This is not to be interpreted as an absence of a common belief structure; rather, the primary reasons for the absence of such a declaration were:- the demonstrative teaching of John Wimber, who effectively set the tone and doctrinal beliefs of the Movement
- a desire to reflect the "low-key," "low-pressure" environment of the church that encouraged people to "come as you are"
- specifically, de-emphasizing any atmosphere or actions that could be considered patently dogmatic.
According to text in the official Vineyard Statement of Faith released in 1994, an effort to create a common Statement of Faith had been underway since 1983, but took 10+ years to complete because: "On one hand, we felt obliged to set forth our biblical and historically orthodox beliefs, on the other hand, we wanted to describe the values and priorities that make the Vineyard unique within the context of Evangelicalism."
The Vineyard Statement of Faith is generally considered to be a biblically-based Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
profession of faith, with no mention of any issues that are considered to be controversial or divisive. In addition to the Statement of Faith (released in 1994), the church released a statement of "Theological and Philosophical Statements" penned by Bert Waggoner in 2004 to clarify the church's position on some issues that had been unclear from the Statements of Faith, including the church's priorities as it relates to worship and Bible study. The church also has published a 10-point "Vineyard Genetic Code," taught to a session of senior leadership by John Wimber in 1992, that outlines the 10 areas of ministry considered essential to any Vineyard church. Rich Nathan
Rich Nathan
Rich Nathan has been the senior Pastor of the Vineyard Church of Columbus since 1987. Nathan came to believe in Jesus at the age of 18. Prior to pastoring, he was an assistant professor of business law at The Ohio State University for five years. He has a Bachelor's degrees in history and...
has described the Vineyard movement as part of a "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit
Third Wave of the Holy Spirit
The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit is a Christian theological theory first introduced by C. Peter Wagner to describe what he believed to be three historical periods of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the 20th century and beyond...
" in America.Vineyard philosophy has also played a key role in the development of the transformationalism
Transformationalism
Transformationalism, or Transformational Christianity, represents a fusion of evangelicalism, Pentecostalism, and ecumenism that started becoming prominent in the early 21st century...
school of Christian thought.
Worship
One of the most important aspects of the Vineyard church model is the strong emphasis on connecting with God through worship. Generally in regular gatherings, whether they are main Sunday services or small “homegroups” based in private homes, equal time is given to both worship and Bible study, and a significant amount of time is also devoted to prayer and one-on-one ministry. This focus on worship and connection with the Holy SpiritHoly Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
is one of the primary reasons (along with the active nature of spiritual gifts discussed previously) that John Wimber gave for breaking with the Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches with over one thousand congregations worldwide. Calvary Chapel also maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of...
movement. Worship in the Vineyard almost always is performed in a contemporary worship
Contemporary worship
Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the twentieth century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found to varying extents in a wide range of churches, including many that do not subscribe to a...
format, with a multi-piece band leading worship, but is not restricted to this style.
The unique nature of this contemporary worship music (especially unique in the 70s and 80s, when most mainstream denominations limited their worship to more traditional hymns) gained a lot of interest, and led to the formation of a special music ministry, later formed into a church-supported music recording and distribution company, Vineyard Music.
Ministry and the local church
Vineyard Church pastors and ministers are officially ordained after years of church service in the role of a lay leader, rather than after seminary education as in mainline Protestant denominations. Clergy in the Vineyard, like the membership and the church as a whole, are known for their “relaxed” style. More likely than not, clergy will be seen preaching on Sunday morning in jeans and a button-down shirt, and they never wear ceremonial vestments.Many Vineyard Churches have no official membership procedures or membership records, and such a policy is not dictated by the national Vineyard Church. Instead, a community of believers is formed by those who attend Sunday or weekend services, weekday homegroups, and participate in various church ministries.
Branches
The Vineyard has a highly decentralized organizational structure, reflecting the church's belief that local and regionally-based management, ministries and outreach are more effective. Besides the nations listed below, the Vineyard also exists in many countries across Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Far East. Most national Vineyard churches are charged with their own governance, although some smaller groups exist with the support and oversight of another nation's leadership.United States
The national headquarters of Vineyard USA is currently located in Sugar Land, TexasSugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and Fort Bend County. Sugar Land is one of the most affluent and fastest-growing cities in Texas, having grown more than 158 percent in the last decade. In the time period of 2000–2007, Sugar Land also enjoyed a...
. Vineyard USA is divided into eight regions, and each region has clusters of churches grouped together by relationship and location, facilitated by an Area Pastoral Care Leader (APCL). The APCL's work together with the Regional Overseer (RO) to provide leadership and encouragement to the region. The central governing body of the Vineyard in the U.S. is a 12-member National Board, made up of the eight regional overseers plus four additional leadership members, including the National Director. Currently, the President and National Director is Bert Waggoner. All major strategic decisions, including theological and doctrinal statements, are made by the National Board. In 2004, Vineyard USA had 140,000 members in 600 churches.
Canada
CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
was the first country outside the United States to be accorded its own independent National Association. The first Canadian Vineyard was established in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
in January 1985. Within a year, a second Vineyard was established in the Vancouver area. More churches followed, and by the time of the release of the Association of Vineyard Churches Canada in the summer of 1995 and the appointment of Gary and Joy Best as National Directors of Canada, there had been fifty Vineyards established across the country.
United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland
The Association of Vineyard Churches UK (AVC) was released in the spring of 1996 by the international association as its own national organisation. It is governed by a Council through a number of task forces, including a Board of Trustees, which oversees the pastors of existing churches and facilitates church plantingChurch planting
Church planting is a process that results in a new Christian church being established. It should be distinguished from church development, where a new service, new worship centre or fresh expression is created that is integrated into an already established congregation...
. There are more than 100 Vineyard Churches in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
.
Australia
In 1995, the first Vineyard churches were commenced in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
and Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. On 13 March 2003, the Association of Vineyard Churches, Australia was formed, with Peter and Kathy Downes commissioned as National Directors. As of June 2009, there were 33 Vineyard Churches in Australia.
In February 2009, the Association launched a School of Ministry, in conjunction with Perth Bible College
Perth Bible College
Perth Bible College is an interdenominational Bible college in Perth, Western Australia.-History:The college was established in 1928, and is a participating member of the South Pacific Association of Bible Colleges, with all PBC courses internationally recognised by evangelical and parachurch...
.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland
The first Vineyard church in Germany started in the mid-nineties near Munich. In 1999, the national association - Vineyard DACH (Deutschland, Austria, CH-Switzerland) - was released under the leadership of Martin and Georgia Bühlmann as National Directors. As of summer 2011, there are more than 70 Vineyard Churches in Vineyard DACH, with some of them within the Evangelical Church in GermanyEvangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
(EKD) or Roman Catholic Church. Vineyard DACH is governed by a leadership council, supported by task forces (church planting, worship, theology, training) and active in missions in countries such as Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast,Togo, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, Moldovia, France, Spain etc. Vineyard DACH has started an African Migration Vineyard Movement in Europe with 12 Vineyards and is also very active in reaching Roma Gypsies in different European countries.
Vineyard Music
Vineyard Music is a record label created and used by the Association of Vineyard Churches. The organisation uses it to release worship albums. A UK branch of the record label exists, called Vineyard Records. Its musicians include Kathryn Scott, Nigel BriggsNigel Briggs
Nigel Briggs is a Christian songwriter and worship leader, who has written songs such as 'For Me', 'What a Love', 'Hold On', 'Unfailing Love' and 'Perfect Sacrifice' for use in Christian worship, which have been published through the Vineyard Music label.In the summer of 1996, John and Debby...
, Samuel Lane, Marc James, Nigel Hemming
Nigel Hemming
Nigel Hemming is a British artist, specialising in animal portraits and artwork. He was born in 1957 in Staffordshire. Initially a painter of birds, it was his paintings of dogs which became the more famous....
, Casey Corum, Carl Tuttle, Brenton Brown
Brenton Brown
Brenton Brown, born in South Africa, is a Christian songwriter and worship leader. He left South Africa for Oxford, England in his early twenties on a Rhodes Scholarship. While studying politics, philosophy and theology he joined the Vineyard music , serving as worship pastor at the Oxford...
, Brian Doerksen
Brian Doerksen
Brian Robert Doerksen is a Canadian Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader from Abbotsford, British Columbia born in 1965.-Musical career:...
, David Ruis, Andy Park
Andy Park (musician)
Andy Park is a musician, worship leader and author who is associated with Vineyard Music. He was born in 1957 in Los Angeles, California. He studied at UCLA, earning a bachelor of arts....
, Jeremy Riddle
Jeremy Riddle
Jeremy Riddle is a Christian musician, songwriter, and worship leader. On March 6, 2007, his debut album, Full Attention, was released. The album includes the song "Sweetly Broken."-Biography:...
, Scott Underwood, Johanna Blanding-Koskinen, Jeff Searles, Rita Springer, Kevin Prosch
Kevin Prosch
Kevin Prosch is an American Christian musician and worship leader, playing a variety of musical instruments including the piano and the mandolin....
and Steve Southworth.
History
Vineyard Music was developed by the Vineyard church in 1986. The church began to write its own worship songs, so John WimberJohn Wimber
John Richard Wimber was a musician, charismatic pastor and one of the founding leaders of the Vineyard Movement, a neocharismatic Evangelical Christian denomination which began in the USA and has now spread to many countries world-wide.-Life and ministry:John Richard Wimber was the son of Basil...
founded Mercy Records. This later became Vineyard Music.
Vineyard Music has won some industry awards, such as an award from ASCAP. Breathe was recognized in 2002 as ASCAPs most recorded song of the year.
Discography
- Come Now Is the Time (1998)
- Hungry (1999)
- Surrender (2000)
- Fall on Me
- Beautiful
- Playlist: Sweetly Broken
- Dwell
- Holy
- I love Your Presence (2001)
- You and You Alone (2002)
- Lord reign in Me (2003)
- Hold On (2004)
Education and training
The Vineyard operates its own 2-year leadership training program called Vineyard Leadership Institute, or VLI. VLI is housed on the campus of Vineyard Church of Columbus in Westerville, OhioWesterville, Ohio
Westerville, once known as "The Dry Capital of the World", is a city in Franklin and Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 35,318 at the 2000 census.-Early history:...
, and is directed by Steve Robbins. VLI is also offered in many Vineyard and some non-Vineyard churches through video and correspondence course curriculum. Vineyard clergy are not required to have been trained through VLI.
The Vineyard Bible Institute, a distance-learning Bible studies program, is based out of a Vineyard church in Cape Town, South Africa.
Criticism and the Toronto Blessing
During the 1990s, the Vineyard was widely criticized by conservative Christians due to events during a series of revival meetings at the then Toronto Vineyard. These meetings, dubbed the Toronto BlessingToronto Blessing
The Toronto blessing, a term coined by British churches, describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship , a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, gained notoriety due to the large crowds, lengthy meetings, and reports of unorderly manifestations of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
, including people laughing, crying, and shaking. Critics, such as Hank Hanegraaf in his book, "Counterfeit Revival
Counterfeit Revival
Counterfeit Revival is a book by Hank Hanegraaff critical of many aspects of the modern charismatic and Third Wave movements in Evangelical Christianity.-Overview:...
", charged the Toronto Blessing
Toronto Blessing
The Toronto blessing, a term coined by British churches, describes the revival and resulting phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, now the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship , a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
(under Wimber's authority at the time) with promoting heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
for three main reasons: first, claiming unusual experiences of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
including physical responses, speaking in tongues, and prophesying; second, claiming that these experiences of spiritual revelation were equal in importance to the Bible; and third, claiming that these experiences were a sign that God was doing "something new." Hanegraaf held that the Toronto Blessing (and thus the Vineyard movement) was denying sola scriptura
Sola scriptura
Sola scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Consequently, sola scriptura demands that only those doctrines are to be admitted or confessed that are found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid...
or the “sufficiency of Scripture”, a doctrinal tenet that Protestant churches have held to be incontrovertibly true, by suggesting that all believers should come to see what "new thing" God was doing in Toronto. To cessationist and conservative thinking, this "new thing" felt dangerous and potentially cultist, putting the inerrant word of God on equal footing with the expression of a spiritual gift or, in the Hanagraaf's position, undermining the Bible with false teachings. Ultimately, the Toronto church was released from the Vineyard movement due to the controversy of how the meetings were being handled. For a detailed treatment of this topic, refer to "The Quest For the Radical Middle" by Bill Jackson (see related books below).
Wimber consistently emphasized that clear, accurate teaching and knowledge of the scripture is critical for every Vineyard church, without expressly stating the scriptures to be the final and supreme authority in all matters of faith. These items are included in the "Vineyard Genetic Code" paper he released in 1992.
Throughout the early years of the Vineyard (1970s to 1992), Wimber avoided publicly responding to his critics. Instead, he invited his critics to meet with him personally to talk through their charges in accordance with his understanding of Scripture (Mat 18:15–17, Gal 6:1, 1 Tim 5:1). However, as the influence of the Vineyard broadened and certain misunderstandings were repeated from different sources, both outside the church and within, Wimber made the decision to respond publicly. The decision is detailed in Vineyard Position Paper #1 entitled "Why I respond to criticism" authored by John Wimber.
This was followed by a number of other position papers from various sources within the national Vineyard leadership which sought to address the most serious and widespread of the criticisms leveled against the movement.
Further reading
- The Quest for the Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard by Bill Jackson ISBN 0-620-24319-8 – A look at the history of the Vineyard through 1999.
- The Way It Was by Carol Wimber ISBN 0-340-73539-2 – A biography of John & Carol Wimber's life before and during their time in the Vineyard.
- Power Healing by John Wimber ISBN 0-340-39090-5 – John Wimber's teachings regarding healing
- Power Evangelism by John Wimber ISBN 0-340-56127-0 – John Wimber's teachings regarding evangelism
- Empowered Evangelicals by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson ISBN 0-89283-929-5
- Who Is My Enemy by Rich Nathan ISBN 0-310-23882-X
- Jesus Brand Spirituality by Ken Wilson ISBN 0-8499-2053-1
- Saving God's Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church's Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship by Tri Robinson ISBN 0-9748825-8-5
- Small Footprint, Big Handprint: How to Live Simply and Love Extravagantly by Tri Robinson ISBN 0-9786394-8-0
- Naturally Supernatural by Gary Best ISBN 0-620-34814-3
- Conspiracy of Kindness by Steve Sjogren ISBN 978-0-8307-4572-2 – Detailing the practice of "Servant Evangelism" embraced and employed by many of the churches within the Vineyard Movement in early 1990s to present as well as a large portion of evangelical churches outside the movement.
- Not The Religious Type by Dave SchmelzerDave SchmelzerDave Schmelzer is an American author, playwright, and pastor in the Association of Vineyard Churches. He is best known for his non-fiction book, Not The Religious Type, Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist, which details his movement away from atheism and towards the Christian faith, and for...
ISBN 1-4143-1583-X – A perspective on faith in Jesus from a former atheist-turned-Vineyard pastor. - Breakthrough by Dr. Derek Morphew, international director of Vineyard Bible Institute. A perspective of the Gospel as a proclamation of the Kingdom of God. ISBN 1-86823-039-2
- The John Wimber Collection at Regent University – Journal articles by and about John Wimber, conference materials, course syllabi, Vineyard publications, brochures, newspaper articles, correspondence and memorabilia.
- John Wimber Teachings Available for sale at www.vineyardresources.com – Buy John Wimber DVDs, Audio CDs, and MP3s.