A great place to start this blog is to ask the basic question, what is the Vineyard movement all about?
A simple visit to the open-editorial encyclopedia,
Wikipedia, reveals the following key points (with a few additions of my own):
1. We are
Empowered Evangelicals - living out the Word by the power of the Spirit
2. We seek the
'radical middle' - the narrow, balanced ground between legalism (idolatry of the Word) and gnosticism (idolatry of the Spirit).
3. This approach has independently influenced the
Transformationalist school that has developed in 21st century.
4.
Kenn and Joanie Gulliksen are the original founders of the Vineyard movement when they began with
a home-based Bible study group that multiplied in the 70's in Los Angeles. They called the network "Vineyard". Many famous musicians joined: Larry Norman, Keith Green, and even Bob Dylan visited for a while. Musician and convert
John Wimber joined in 1982 and became the
de facto mover and shaper of the movement. Wimber died on November 16, 1997 - on my birthday!
5. Wimber was followed by Todd Hunter (1998-2000) and then
Bert Waggoner (2000 -) as the US National Director.
6. We offer the
Vineyard Leadership Institute, in Ohio, as a 2 year programme. It is not compulsory for Vineyard Team Leaders (senior pastors) to follow.
7. We also offer the
Vineyard Bible Institute that gives various courses from lay to Bachelor level available through distance learning. It is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
8. We also offer
Vineyard International Publishing and
Vineyard Music. Some of our best known musicians include
Brian Doerksen, David Ruis,
Andy Park and
Kathryn Scott (who's Northern Irish, like me!).
9. We have a
decentralised organisational structure. We are based primarily in the
US, Latin America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Far East. Each region is responsible for its own governance, though regular meetings take place between the regional directors.
10.
My own church,
Vineyard Ganda, comes under the regional directorship of
Vineyard Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg), under the leadership of
Jan Bernard and Tinneke Struik.
11. Our
Statement of Faith was released in 1994. It looks at the Biblical story from a
'Kingdom' perspective. As the Vineyard represents the Kingdom, we are a movement not a denomination. Our Statement is highly respected and received in all our churches. It guides us in our steps but is not our end-goal. Our end-goal is always to follow Jesus. In Vineyard terms we are
'centred-set,' (focused on Jesus as our centre),
not 'bounded-set' (focused on dogmatic boundaries as our centre).
12. We also have a
Genetic Code that outlines our 10 essential DNA building blocks. This is our value system.
13. We have released a series of
5 position papers in response to some misunderstandings about our view on things.
14. The so-called
'Toronto Blessing' began in a Vineyard church in the early 90's. However, due to a change in emphasis in its practice and beliefs, this church was eventually disaffiliated from the Vineyard movement by Wimber.
15. The
Vineyard movement continues to grow at a steady pace due to its influence on church planting as a means of evangelism. Some
new church plants in the Netherlands are taking place in
Amsterdam and Amersfort.
That's more than enough to get your teeth into!
