LIFE IN THE VINEYARD—for such a time as this. (Esther 4:14b)

What follows are some reflections on the things that are central to who we are as a Vineyard church, and as the Vineyard Movement. If your heart seems to beat along with mine as you read about these things, you may sense that KVCF could become a good fit for you.  Should you be thinking of making KVCF your church home, it’s important for you to know that this is so.

We believe God calls us into particular Christian communities, at particular times, to accomplish particular things—in terms of how God can minister to us through his Body, and how we can minister to others according to the various resources God has given us. There are particular callings in your life; there are particular values in this church—values that underpin how we walk out the ministries into which God is drawing us.  And it may just be that God has drawn you here “for such a time as this”. (Esther 4:14b)   So in this short paper we are going to take a look at the kind of church we seek to be.

From the very outset I should honestly admit that all Christian churches, KVCF as well, have been organized to some degree around the ideas of human leaders.  Of course those ideas have Biblical foundations. And, we believe we have been led by the Spirit of God as we have interpreted the Scriptural record of the early church and applied the principles we find there to KVCF today.  That said, even with the Biblical record before us, and the Holy Spirit to guide us, human nature will sometimes compel us to want to organize church around our own personal spiritual passions.

I’m going to form the following remarks around something that Vern Tompke of the Chilliwack Vineyard once wrote.  He argued that you don’t have to listen long in order to discover what people’s passions are.  He suggests that the church can often be divided into four separate sets of passionate people.  If you listen carefully you can organize “who’s who in the zoo” around these four passions—as you hear people cry out…….What we really need is an

Upward Church

It all about our spiritual connection—we need to turn from the world and seek the Father’s face, we need more inspired worship (with no time limits!), we need to know God’s voice and follow it alone, we need to pray continually, we need to petition him for ourselves and intercede for others, we need him to come and pour out his Spirit among us.  We need the prophetic, we need miracles, we need healing, we need revival.  And by the way, when was the last time anyone fasted around here!   We need to be an upward church. 

Others however say, we need an Outward Church

We need to look out.  We need to stop asking “More Lord!” and start acting upon what we’ve already got!  There’s a world of people all around us going about their business without God while we are chasing after more spiritual experience for ourselves.  What about the poor?  We need to minister to them.  One of the last things Jesus said was “go out to all the world”.  Did you get that word “go”!  Let’s get going: get our minds off ourselves and our own relationship with the Father.  Let’s tell someone else about him. We need to be an outward Church.

Still others say, no, no, we need to be an Inward Church

We need to be about relationship.  If we don’t love each other what are we bringing people into, anyway?  We need to love deeply from the heart.  We need to care for our own hurting, needy people—not just grow a church.  Our church has got to be a safe place for people to be real, and get healed.  It also has to be safe place to bring our non-Christian friends, where things don’t get too weird!  What’s more, we need to minister to our children in an environment of stability. Even a little decorum would be good.  Sunday morning church celebrations are different than Christian conferences where anything seems to go. Let’s be more sensitive to one another and the newcomers in our midst. We need to be an inward church.

But, what about the Downward Church

We need a church that gets down to some fundamental basic Christian disciplines.  We’re not called to make converts and simply bring them into a revival atmosphere where everyone is crying out for “more”, or into a “love-in” where everything is relationally warm and wonderful.  We are called to be fully devoted followers of Jesus: Disciples.  We learn how to be disciples by studying and following his Word.  We’ve got to get down to some serious teaching and preaching around here.  We need a church that delivers real meat you can chew on.  Where’s the meat!   We need to be a downward Church.

Have you heard those comments from time to time?  Of course you have: and that’s not a bad thing.  However, what I want to underline is this.  At KVCF we seek to be an Upward, Outward, Inward, Downward church.  That’s the kind of church that Judi and I envisioned when we planted KVCF.  We know that such a balanced approach to church  may not appeal to everyone.  Some may desire church life that only majors on their personal passions.  If that should be you, you probably won’t be comfortable here, because we remain committed to building a  balanced church where each ingredient I’ve talked about is given an equal place, even if several of these four building blocks do not reflect everyone’s personal passions.

Building this way is not easy—you need to do so slowly and carefully.  And, you need a variety of voices speaking into the vision and values of the church.  That is one reason that our church is overseen by a team of leaders—because within our team you will find inward, outward, upward, downward people.  We’re an inward, outward, upward, downward team.  And, God is building through all of our efforts, and all of our diverse ministry passions, an inward, outward, upward, downward church—the healthy balanced church that he desires.

As I look around at what God is up to here at KVCF, as He continues to form and build this church, I get excited.   I have a strong sense of expectation of what God is going to do, as well as a spirit of thanksgiving for what he has done, and is doing in our midst right now.   God is the author of a tremendous kingdom adventure.  This little church has an important part to play in that kingdom story as it continues to unfold.  I pray that everyone who reads these words will want to fully share in that adventure.

 I know that God does have an important part for every one of his kingdom kids to play in his kingdom story, no matter what church we may be a part of.  Selfishly however, my prayer is that you will come to believe that God has written the part you are to play in this great adventure into the chapters where he unfolds the kingdom life of the Kamloops Vineyard.  Of course, this is not for me to say.  You will need to prayerfully discern if God has drawn you here for “for such a time as this”.  If you should determine that he has done so, or, if you decide to travel with us for a while until you can decide if this is so, we say “welcome”.  We are on an exciting kingdom adventure: it is great to have you in our midst! 

Don Harrison

Lead Pastor, KVCF

June 2007