From the VCC Newsletter on 2/24:Kids are the Key

Many thinkers, scholars, and pastors are worried about the American church and the sad state of evangelism in the church. As I have often reminded us, there is not a single county in the USA that has seen the percentage of church growth increase in 40 years. We do have some larger churches today, but it is primarily because they are taking people from small churches, or they are sometimes the only churches doing outreach (mostly in the form of advertising and entertainment) but not really making disciples of Jesus Christ. This attraction conversion model is producing converts who barely know their bibles, who lack depth or commitment. It is not in spite of our efforts but as a direct result of them. Our system is perfectly designed to get the results that we are getting. 

What does all of this have to do with children? Well, we know that our most effective efforts in evangelism are our efforts to reach children between 4 years old and 14 years of age. We call it the 4-14 window. Over eighty percent of all people who come to Christ do so between the ages of 4-14. Despite the stats, we tend to spend 95% of our budgets trying to reach the other twenty percent (those over 14). We spend the majority of our teaching efforts, and our energy on them too. And in many cases children’s ministry is left with warm bodies to do little more than babysit while the adults get their church on. This should not be! 

I know that not everyone is cut out for children’s ministry, but everyone can pray for and support the children's ministry. One of the advantages we have is that we have two services. You can attend a service and serve a service. Meaning you don’t have to miss out on anything the adults do, and still do some teaching. You can still be a mentor, and help keep our children’s environment safe, comfortable, and encouraging. You can invest in the future, and do some effective evangelism. If we want the church of the future to be there, then we must invest in the children in the present. So that we not only reach them, but we disciple them, so that they will Love God, Love People, and Pass It On, not just now, but for the rest of their lives. I am certain the dropout rate after high school is not in spite of our efforts but as a result of not making disciples of Jesus among our children and grandchildren, but rather placating them with color pages, moralisms, and using the Bible to scold bad behavior. Please join me in making our children a priority at the Vineyard. 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/17/2020: Mission Drift (Part 5)

It has been said that what we believe is important, but what we are committed to is what we become. Commitment, whether it is to relationship, ideas/values, a way of life, a way of eating--you name it--we become what we are committed to. And vice versa, no matter what we say we value, our real values are what we actually do, those are the things we are actually committed to. Here at the Vineyard we talk about five commitments. These are the things that we believe every believer ought to be committed to doing, not just giving mental assent toward these things, but engaging in each of them. We post them on the website, both in the about section and as the key words for the drop down menu/headers across the top of the home page. They are posted at the top of the news/info sheets in the bathroom. On the app, when you hit the menu button in the top left corner, the categories down the side are based on these five commitments. You can see them in our rotating slides both before the service and on the lobby television. If you attend Vitally Vineyard (our intro to the Vineyard class), these five commitments are the last thing we talk about. And every week, when you watch the “What’s Happening” videos on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, they begin every video with those five commitments.  It’s really hard to miss, yet almost everyday somebody asks if they are new. Nope! They have been posted for years. So let me introduce these to you again for three critical reasons: 

1) To avoid mission drift as a church

2) Because we become what we are committed to

3) So that you can clearly articulate what being part of the Vineyard means

Connect 

Being a part of the Body, not just attending. That includes participating in a small group--like a LifeGroup, Celebrate Recovery, or a Kingdom U course. Small groups are one of the best ways to build community and encourage spiritual growth. Through our groups, you can connect with others as you grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Grow

This church exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ, by extending the invitation to the kingdom of God, and to experience God’s forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As well as pursuing continual spiritual maturity through study and the equipping of the saints. Growth requires an investment of your time in spiritual practices (disciplines) and learning.  

Serve

God has designed each one of us with unique gifts and callings to serve the body of believers and the world at large. At the Vineyard, we provide you with opportunities to use those talents to serve God by volunteering in the local church. We have a class called Discovering my D.E.S.I.G.N. to help you discover your place of service here at the Vineyard.

Give 

We consider it a privilege to give back to God what he has so freely given us. We celebrate generosity and the work God does through our consistent and sacrificial giving. In the Bible, there is no example of generous giving that is less than a tithe (Old or New Testament), so we begin with the tithe and then give as we have been prospered. 

Live 

To love God through a lifestyle of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control--and to avoid the works of the flesh: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like that. 

We believe that these five things are critical to being the church, rather than being a consumer of religious goods and services who simply attend church. It is our goal for everyone at the VIneyard to be the church. This is ordinary Christianity! 

Grace and peace,

Hal

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/10/2020: Mission Drift (Part 4)

Last week we began looking at how we can fulfill our mission. That newsletter focused on the topic of loving God. This week we pick back up with loving people and passing it on. While loving people is rooted in God’s love for humanity, it is also about recognizing the fingerprint of God on every person. The Apostle John asked the question, if you cannot love your brother whom you can see, then how can you love God whom you cannot see? Every person is created in the image of God, and therefore every person deserves the chance to hear the gospel and to be treated with dignity and respect. Nobody is worthless. At Vineyard it means we take extra time to treat our guests with respect and dignity. It means we do nice things for our guests, like making them feel welcome, giving them something to drink, and treating them like guests in our own home. It means we give mercy to people not because they deserve it, but because we need mercy too. It means we love people enough to teach them the gospel, even if it isn’t convenient. We also are doing outreaches, feeding the hungry, giving out cups of cold water in Jesus’ name, participating in large city-wide events, giving aid to strangers, allowing our facilities to be used for community services, and other acts of kindness.  Sometimes it means knowing when to hold our tongue, not because we don’t have rights as citizens of the USA but because we have the fruit of the Spirit ( love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control), and we choose to be kingdom-hearted people.  

Finally, we come to "Pass It On." It is not enough to be Christ-like to one another in the church, but we must be Christ-like to the whole world. This includes sharing the gospel (teaching, evangelizing, discipling) one-on-one to the last, lost, or the least of these. It means having special assemblies for the public, praying for other churches, other countries, and for our national leaders. It means serving people who may never return our kindness, or even appreciate it. It means we adapt to serve within our culture rather than asking people to change to fit our church’s subculture. It means we never compromise the gospel, but we are always willing to lay down everything else.     

That leads us into next week’s topic: the Five Commitments of the Vineyard. 

Grace and peace,

Hal 

   

From the VCC Newsletter on 2/3/2020: Mission Drift Part 3

How do we fulfill our mission to love God, love people, and pass it on? Well, let’s begin with loving God. In the Bible love and obedience are synonymous. It isn't that we show love by obeying (because you can obey outwardly and have a hard heart), but rather, it is out of our deep love for God that we listen and obey, believing his ways are not only good but strategic. Loving God flows from the church in a number of ways but includes authentic, heartfelt worship. God is worthy of our worship--not just in song--Romans 12.1 says we should present our bodies as a living sacrifice as our act of worship.  This means our whole life is devoted to God. Of course really loving anyone also means loving whom he or she loves. We should love the world because God loved the world enough to send his son (John 3:16). Therefore a church on mission is a church who worships and obeys God and loves the people he sent his son to redeem. At Vineyard we are intentional about worship, both in the assembly and with our lives. It is our desire to create assemblies that honor God and build up the body of believers. It means we give to God our offerings, not out of compulsion, but out of a heart like his to see the world reached, the church strengthened, and servants of God cared for. 

Next week I will focus on loving people, and passing it on. 

Grace and peace,

Hal