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
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