Vineyard 101: Our history, values and distinctives

One of Wimber’s most famous sayings was “everyone gets to play.” John had a firm belief that ‘everybody gets to play’ by which he was keen to deflect attention away from the person with the microphone, and taught that everyone gets to ‘do the stuff’ not just the person on the stage. He was strongly suspicious of the professionalization of ministry, and wanted ordinary people to feel equipped to participate in God’s kingdom. (Vineyard USA)

Kenn Gulliksen was one of many thousands of young people who came to faith in Jesus Christ in California during what Time magazine called “The Jesus Revolution”, or “Jesus People Revival”, in the late 1960’s. In 1974, after working as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California and planting a church called Jesus Chapel in El Paso, Texas, Kenn and his wife Joannie moved to Los Angeles to begin a ministry that had been on their hearts for several years. Starting as a small Bible study, the fellowship quickly grew into a church. God prophetically gave the name “Vineyard” to those who initially gathered together. In the next few years literally thousands received Jesus Christ through the ministries of the church. Several couples went out and began other Vineyards in California: quickly growing churches with priorities of worship, relationship, healing, training and giving.

John Wimber became a part of the fledgling group of new churches, and by 1981 it soon became obvious that God had called John to pastor the pastors, and to train and encourage men and women to pursue what God had given them. As a result, the people called the Vineyard have reached out to bless and encourage churches all over the world, as well as planting churches. (VSA: https://www.vineyardsa.org.za/about)

In May and June we will shift our focus to a sermon series entitled: Vineyard 101. We will take time to reflect on our history as a movement. Each week, we will be looking at a specific Vineyard distinctive and discover how these impact our church, community and sphere of influence in our daily lives.

We will be focusing on these values and distinctives for the next eight weeks:

May 7:    Welcome to the Vineyard
May 14:  What is the Kingdom?
May 21:  What is worship?
May 28: Come Holy Spirit (Pentecost)
June 4:  Winnipeg Centre Vineyard History and Distinctives
June 11: Remember the Poor
June 18: Justice (Reconciliation)
June 25: Authentic Community

For more information on these and other values and distinctives please visit Vineyard USA.