The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is an international neocharismaticevangelicalChristian association of churches.[1]
The Vineyard Movement is rooted in the charismaticrenewal 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.
The Vineyard operates a publishing house, Vineyard International Publishing.
History
The Vineyard has its origins in the founding of a Calvary Chapel church by Kenn Gulliksen and his wife Joanie, members of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, in 1974, in Los Angeles in the United States.[3][4] In early 1975, thirteen groups met at the Beverly Hills Women's club.[5]:80 These Bible studies, and others like them, were attended by many popular actors/actresses and musicians including Bob Dylan.[5]:81 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.[6] Wimber's teaching on healing and the ministry of the Holy Spirit led to conflict. 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.[7] In 1982, Wimber's church changed its name to the Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Gulliksen turned over the churches under his oversight to Wimber, beginning his leadership of the Vineyard movement. Evangelist Lonnie Frisbee credits Gulliksen as founder of the Vineyard movement.[8] In 1982, 8 churches founded the Association of Vineyard Churches.[9]
Beginning in 1988, Wimber established relationships with leaders known for their prophetic ministry, 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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 2400 churches around the world, and this number continues to grow due to a strong priority placed on church-planting within the Vineyard mission.[6] In October, 2011, Phil Strout was selected by the National Board of Directors to succeed Waggoner as National Director in January 2013.[13] He served until October, 2021 when Jay Pathak was installed as the National Director.
Statistics
According to a census published by the association in 2022, it had 2,400 churches in 95 countries.[14]
Beliefs and practices
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 overtly dogmatic.
According to text in the official Vineyard Statement of Faith[15] 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."[16]
LGBTQ+ position
In a 2020 letter to local church leaders, Vineyard Canada expressed its position that having a non-heterosexual orientation is not itself sinful, however the church does not allow the officiating of same sex marriages or licensing people in same sex marriages for pastoral ministry. This letter also distinguished gender identity from sexual orientation as its own theology and policy matter that requires further consideration.[17]
Branches
United States
The national headquarters of Vineyard USA is currently located in Stafford, Texas. Vineyard USA is divided into eight regions, and each region has clusters of churches grouped together by 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 known as the Executive Team, and includes the National Director. Currently, the President and National Director is Jay Pathak. All major strategic decisions, including theological and doctrinal statements, are made by the National Board. In 2018, Vineyard USA is estimated to have approximately 200,000 members in 600 churches.[18]
In the United States, Vineyard is nondenominational and evangelical.[19]
Vineyard Worship is a record label created and used by the Association of Vineyard Churches. The organization uses it to release worship albums. A UK branch of the record label exists, called Vineyard Records. Its musicians include Samuel Lane, Brenton Brown,[20]Brian Doerksen, David Ruis, Cindy Rethmeier, Scott Underwood, Andy Park, Kevin Prosch, Anabeth Morgan, Tim Brown, Joshua Miller, Tina Colón Williams, Kyle Howard, Casey Corum, Ryan Delmore, Darren and Jessie Clarke, Johanna Blanding-Koskinen (singer/songwriter), Nigel Briggs, Nigel Hemming, Jeremy Riddle, Kathryn Scott,[21] and many others.[22]
History
Vineyard Music was developed by the Vineyard church in 1985. The church began to write its own worship songs, so John Wimber founded Mercy Records. This later became Vineyard Worship.
Early discography
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 1: Hosanna (1985)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 2: You Are Here (1985)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 3: Come Holy Spirit
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 4: Glory (1986)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 5: Draw Me Closer (1988)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 6: We Welcome You (1989)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 7: No One but You (1989)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 8: Give Him Praise (1990)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 9: I Want to Know You (1990)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 10: Refiner's Fire (1991)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 11: Bring Your Kingdom (1992)
Worship Songs Of The Vineyard 12: Lord Over All (1993)
In January 1994, the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church. a member of the association, experienced an outbreak of physical manifestations (such as laughter, weeping, and shaking) that it claimed were the work of the Holy Spirit.[23] These events continued for many months and became known as the Toronto Blessing.[23] Large numbers of Christians from numerous countries visited the church to experience the phenomena and take them back to their home congregations.[23] The "blessing" received considerable publicity and proved highly controversial.[23] Some Christian leaders disputed the church's assertion that the manifestations were divine in origin.[23] A leading critic was Hank Hanegraaff who wrote a book, Counterfeit Revival, which charged the church with promoting heresy.[24] However, other Christian leaders endorsed the "blessing" as a genuine work of God.[23] In December 1995, the Toronto church was removed from membership in the Association of Vineyard Churches for placing excessive emphasis on the manifestations and losing focus on the Bible.[25] The church then changed its name to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, and later to Catch The Fire Toronto.
The Network
The Network is an international group of churches founded by Steve Morgan which broke away from the Vineyard Association in 2006. The Network's methods and practices have been criticized for being spiritually abusive,[26] controlling, manipulative,[27] and misogynistic.[28] Steve Morgan's qualifications as a pastor have also been questioned because of his arrest in 1987 for allegedly committing aggravated criminal sodomy against a teenager in November, 1986.[29] Former Vineyard officials who had contact with Steve Morgan during the time of his ordination have denied knowledge of Steve Morgan's arrest.[30]
Steve Morgan had originally planted Vineyard Community Church of Carbondale, Illinois in 1995 after hearing John Wimber speak at a conference. Vineyard Community Church of Carbondale, Illinois, changed its name to Vine Church and left the Vineyard denomination in 2006, taking several midwest Vineyard churches with it to form an independent church planting network, which they called a "No Name, No Account Network."[31] Eventually, this name became shortened to "The Network."
↑ Despite the fact that some might see denominational labels as divisive, the founder of the movement John Wimber said "The Association of Vineyard Churches – for better or worse – is a denomination." Nigel Scotland Charismatics and the New Millennium (Guildford: Eagle, 1995).
1 2 3 4 Nigel Scotland Charismatics and the New Millennium (Guildford: Eagle, 1995)
↑ Drew Blankman, Todd Augustine, Pocket Dictionary of North American Denominations, InterVarsity Press, USA, 2010, p. 22
↑ Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 713
1 2 Jackson, Bill (1999). The Quest for the Radical Middle. Vineyard International Publishing. ISBN0-620-24319-8.
↑ Jackson, Bill. "A Short History of the Association of Vineyard Churches" in Church, Identity, and Change: Theology and Denominational Structures in Unsettled Times. David A. Roozen and James R. Nieman, Editors. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005. ISBN0-8028-2819-1. p. 136.
↑ Frisbee, Lonnie; Sachs, Roger (2012). Not By Might Nor By Power. Santa Maria, CA: Freedom Publications. p.127. ISBN978-0978543310.
↑ Peter Clarke, Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2004, p. 672
Freudenberg, Maren (2019). "Dynamics and Stability in Globally Expanding Charismatic Religions: The Case of the Vineyard Movement in Germany, Austria, andSwitzerland". Entangled Religions. 8.
Luhrmann, T. L. (2012). When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN978-0307264794.
Further reading
Worshiping with the Anaheim Vineyard: The Emergence of Contemporary Worship by Andy Park, Lester Ruth, and Cindy Rethmeier ISBN978-0-8028-7397-2
The Quest for the Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard by Bill Jackson ISBN0-620-24319-8 – A look at the history of the Vineyard through 1999.
The Way It Was by Carol Wimber ISBN0-340-73539-2 – A biography of John & Carol Wimber's life before and during their time in the Vineyard.
Power Healing by John Wimber ISBN0-340-39090-5 – John Wimber's teachings regarding healing
Power Evangelism by John Wimber ISBN0-340-56127-0 – John Wimber's teachings regarding evangelism
Empowered Evangelicals by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson ISBN0-89283-929-5
Conspiracy of Kindness by Steve Sjogren ISBN978-0-8307-4572-2 – 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 SchmelzerISBN1-4143-1583-X – A perspective on faith in Jesus from a former atheist-turned-Vineyard pastor.
Breakthrough by Dr. Derek Morphew, Academic Dean of Vineyard Institute. A perspective of the Gospel as a proclamation of the Kingdom of God. ISBN1-86823-039-2
Evangelicalism, also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes the centrality of sharing the "good news" of Christianity, being "born again" in which an individual experiences personal conversion, as authoritatively guided by the Bible, God's revelation to humanity. The word evangelical comes from the Greek word for "good news" (euangelion).
The Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement that began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, Central America, Australia and New Zealand, before it subsided in the late 1980s. Members of the movement were called Jesus people or Jesus freaks.
Nondenominational Christianity consists of churches, and individual Christians, which typically distance themselves from the confessionalism or creedalism of other Christian communities by not formally aligning with a specific Christian denomination. According to Arizona Christian University's Cultural Research Center, nondenominational faith leaders typically maintain a biblical worldview at higher percentages than those of other Christian groups.
Calvary Chapel is an international association of charismatic evangelical churches, with origins in Pentecostalism. It maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs.
The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream Christian denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata). It has affected most denominations in the US, and has spread widely across the world.
Lonnie Ray Frisbee was an American Charismatic evangelist in the late 1960s and in the 1970s; he was a self-described "seeing prophet". He had a hippie appearance. He was notable as a minister and evangelist in the Jesus movement.
John Richard Wimber was an American pastor, Christian author and musician. Initially ordained as a Quaker minister, he became an early, pioneering pastor of charismatic congregations, and a popular thought leader in modern Christian publications on the third person of the Christian Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit's action in modern churches through miraculous phenomena referred to as miracles, or signs and wonders. Wimber was a founding leader of the Vineyard Movement, a Christian movement that Ken Gulliksen began in the United States and that later became a wider denomination.
Greg Laurie is an American evangelical author, pastor and evangelist who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, based in Riverside, California. He also is the founder of Harvest Crusades. Laurie is also the subject of the 2023 film Jesus Revolution, which tells the story of how he converted to Christianity and got his start in ministry in the midst of the Jesus movement.
The Toronto Blessing, a term coined by British newspapers, refers to the Christian revival and associated phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church (TAV), which was renamed in 1996 to Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) and then later in 2010 renamed to Catch the Fire Toronto. It is categorized as a neo-charismatic Evangelical Christian church and is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The revival impacted charismatic Christian culture through an increase in popularity and international reach and intensified criticism and denominational disputes. Criticism primarily centered around disagreements about charismatic doctrine, the Latter Rain Movement, and whether or not the physical manifestations people experienced were in line with biblical doctrine or were actually heretical practices.
Slain in the Spirit or slaying in the Spirit are terms used by Pentecostal and charismatic Christians to describe a form of prostration in which an individual falls to the floor while experiencing religious ecstasy. Believers attribute this behavior to the power of the Holy Spirit. Other terms used to describe the experience include falling under the power, overcome by the Spirit, and resting in the Spirit. The practice is associated with faith healing because individuals are often slain while seeking prayer for illness.
Signs and wonders refers to experiences that are perceived to be miraculous as being normative in the modern Christian experience, and is a phrase associated with groups that are a part of modern charismatic movements and Pentecostalism. This phrase is seen multiple times throughout the Bible to describe the activities of the early church, and is historically recorded as continuing, at least in practice, since the time of Christ. The phrase is primarily derived from Old and New Testament references and is now used in the Christian and mainstream press and in scholarly religious discourse to communicate a strong emphasis on recognizing perceived manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the contemporary lives of Christian believers. It also communicates a focus on the expectation that divine action would be experienced in the individual and corporate life of the modern Christian church, and a further insistence that followers actively seek the "gifts of the Spirit".
Catch the Fire World is a global non-denominational Charismatic Christian ministry that includes churches, music, books, schools and events.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
Michael Leroy Bickle is an American evangelical leader who was the founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC). Once the leader of IHOPKC, Bickle oversaw several ministries and a Bible school. Bickle has written a number of books and served as the pastor of multiple churches.
Rich Nathan is an American pastor and author who has been the senior Pastor of Vineyard Columbus since 1987. In January 2021, Pastor Nathan handed the Senior Pastor role to Eric and Julia Pickerill. He is still on staff as Founding Pastor and in charge of the Pastors Residency Program.
The Apostolic-Prophetic movement is a US-based Christian movement founded in the early 2000s. It is a network of non-denominational alliances of independent churches and ministries.
Holy laughter is a term used within charismatic Christianity that describes a religious behaviour in which individuals spontaneously laugh during church meetings. It has occurred in many revivals throughout church history, but it became normative in the early 1990s in Neo-charismatic churches and the Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. Many people claimed to experience this phenomenon at a large revival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada known as the Toronto Blessing.
Todd Dean Hunter is an American author, church planter, and bishop in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). He is the founding diocesan bishop of The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others. In 2021, Hunter founded the Center for Formation, Justice and Peace, an interdenominational community that seeks to develop the Christlike character necessary to activate justice, leading to a life of deep peace for all people.
Independent Network Charismatic (INC) Christianity is a movement within evangelical charismatic Christianity which is focused on the authority of charismatic apostles and seeks the wholesale transformation of society. The term was first used in 2017 by sociologists Brad Christerson and Richard Flory in their book The Rise of Network Christianity: How Independent Leaders are Changing the Religious Landscape to describe the rapid growth of a form of Protestant Christianity from 1970 to 2010, and has since been adopted by other commentators. The movement is distinguished from other forms of Christianity by its use of network governance, based on networks of charismatic apostles, rather than more traditional church structures and hierarchies. These networks are sustained by the use of new communications technologies such as social media, which both facilitates communication between leaders in the network and enables leaders to build a following which is not tied to a geographical area. It is characterised by belief in and encouragement of the use of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, along with a focus on the transformation of society according to Christian values through prayer and by Christians reaching positions of leadership in the areas of business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, family, and religion. INC Christianity tends to be politically conservative and, in the US, associated with support for Republican politicians.
Protestant liturgy or Evangelical liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Protestant congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The term liturgy comes from Greek and means "public work". Liturgy is especially important in the Historical Protestant churches, both mainline and evangelical, while Baptist, Pentecostal, and nondenominational churches tend to be very flexible and in some cases have no liturgy at all. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday.
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