Cross Denominational Mission
The Vineyard Churches grew out of the Calvary Chapel Movement, a
non-denominational Church which began in the mid-1960s, focusing its
ministry initially on those whom it felt would not be attracted by the
formality of the conventional mainstream Churches. In 1982 a Calvary
Chapel pastor, John Wimber, felt that Christians should expect God to
intervene in the modern world in precisely the same way He did in the
early Church, and because his own congregation's understanding of
speaking in tongues, prophecy and direct experience of the Holy Spirit
had moved away from that of the Calvary Chapel Movement, they should
separate from their parent Church. He joined the nascent Vineyard
group, founded by Kenn Gulliksen in the mid-1970s. Increasingly
this group began to look toward Wimber for oversight, and over the
following years around 30 other Calvary Chapels also chose to follow
Wimber further encouraging the burgeoning Vineyard Movement.
John Wimber stated, “The Association of Vineyard Churches - for better
or worse - is a denomination” and shortly before his death in 1997,
Wimber changed the structure of Vineyard from what was effectively a
loose collection of independent churches to a more formal grouping, the
Association of Vineyard Churches.
The Association of Vineyard Churches currently has around 1,500
churches (600 of these in the USA). Although initially about half of
it's congregations came over to Vineyard from other denominations or
movements, growth in more recent years has been through a vigorous
process of Church planting in response to the great commission of the
New Testament.
Following John Wimber, the Association of Vineyard Churches believe
that Christians should be active in the world through all the Biblical
Gifts of the Spirit (including speaking in tongues, healing and
prophesy), and that Christians should expect God to intervene in the
modern world in precisely the same way He did in the early Church
(including the miraculous and 'supernatural'). For this reason the
Vineyard Churches are often seen by outsiders as belonging to the
family of Charismatic Churches. Vineyard Churches UK, however,
describes itself as a 'conservative evangelical movement' grounded in a
Biblically-based understanding typified in it's 'Statement of
Faith'. In fact members sometimes describe themselves as the
'radical middle’ between traditional Evangelicals and Charismatics,
seeing themselves as 'empowered Evangelicals' straddling an unnecessary
Evangelical/Charismatic divide. Above all, they see themselves as
Christians committed to a Biblical faith.
The Association of Vineyard Churches has a relaxed, informal style in
its meetings. Typically these combine both Bible study and worship, and
a significant amount of time is always devoted to inspirational
prayer. Contemporary worship music plays a key role, involving a
mixture of lively, upbeat songs and mellow, prayerful ones (this
musical emphasis owes much to John Wimber, who was formerly the
keyboard player in the band 'The Righteous Brothers'). Vineyard
Churches UK has it's own record label 'Vineyard Records' to promote its
distinctive style of music.
A Pastor or a lay leader can lead Vineyard meetings. In fact,
Vineyard Pastors are only officially ordained after serving in a lay
capacity for an extended period, and their ministry is functional and
pastoral rather than sacramental.
In the UK, the Association of Vineyard Churches (Vineyard Churches UK)
is governed by a Council (made up of Senior and Associate Pastors and
suitably qualified Lay members) that operates through a number of 'Task
Forces' (including a Board of Trustees). The Task Forces are
responsible for the day-to-day running of Vineyard Churches UK that
includes giving oversight to the Pastors of existing Churches and
helping to plant new Churches and congregations. Vineyard Churches UK,
however, seek to do this with the working minimum of bureaucracy,
wishing to maintain the autonomy of each local Church and wishing to
encourage within them the intimate sense of community seen as belonging
to the Churches of Apostolic age.
Links
Vineyard churches in the UK
Vineyard churches in the USA