What We Believe

In the Vineyard, we see Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God as the overarching and integrating theme of the Scriptures.
From our beginnings, the Vineyard has been committed to the proclamation of the kingdom of God, and to bearing witness to the deeds of the kingdom through healing (physical, emotional, and social), doing justice, and delivering those held captive by evil. We want to see what the Father is doing, and join Him in His transforming work.

We are a people of the Kingdom of God who...

We are not simply implementing the best church strategies and trying to accomplish what is humanly possible. Rather, our mission involves praying and finding power from God Himself to accomplish what humans could never accomplish on their own.
We pray for the sick, we confront injustice, and we seek to hear the voice of God on behalf of others. This involves partnership with a Person beyond ourselves.

The kingdom of God is not a geo-political territory, nor is it the people of God. Rather, the kingdom of God is a dynamic realm.
When one enters the kingdom she/he experiences the dynamic reality which exists within the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This means that the experience of the kingdom of God (and thus, the experience of God’s presence) is central to our faith and Christian life.

Jesus is reconciling humans to God, to each other, and to the entire creation, breaking down divisions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female.
Therefore, we are committed to becoming healing communities engaged in the work of reconciliation wherever sin and evil hold sway. We seek to be diverse communities of hope that realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin.

We lean toward the lost, the poor, the outcast, and the outsider with the compassion of Jesus as sinners whose only standing before God is utterly dependent on the mercy of God. This mercy can only be truly received inasmuch as we are willing to give it away.
We believe that ministry in Jesus’ name should be expressed in concrete ways through the local church. The poor are to be served as though serving Jesus Himself. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a church expressing the love of Christ in a local community.

The Church exists for the sake of those who are exiled from God. We are called to bring the Gospel of the kingdom to every nook and cranny of creation, faithfully translating the message of Jesus into language and forms that are relevant to diverse peoples and cultures.
To this end, we promote a creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative approach to ministry that is faithful to Jesus and expressive of His heart to reach those who are far away from God. As the Apostle Paul said, we are ready to “become all things” (1 Cor. 9:19-23) to all mankind to see many come to faith in Christ.

The Bible is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. However, since the Bible is a diverse collection of narrative stories, poetry, law, and letters, it is helpful to summarize its teaching in a concise form that can be comprehended by both those deeply rooted in the Church and those who have little exposure to the Bible. This is the historical function of the ancient church creeds in the first 400 years of Christ-centered faith.

Every community of faith has two major obligations in regards to its faith, namely absolute faithfulness to the Word of God, and sensitivity to the world in which they live. This means that the Vineyard movement must express the historical, biblical, orthodox Christian beliefs that we hold in common with all Christians, and the particular doctrines that are our distinctive voice, in terms that are relevant to 21st century Christians.

Our Statement of Faith is based on the conviction that the kingdom of God is the central theological motif that gives definition to all that we believe. It is a “kingdom of God” centered theology. This statement is our best current understanding of the Bible from that kingdom perspective.