Our Faith Statement

 

Formally speaking, Hope Vineyard stands firmly in the center of orthodox Christian teaching. We adhere to the Apostle’s, Nicene, and Chalcedonian Creeds of the Christian church. Out of loyalty to Christ and the gospel, we have come to a number of convictions concerning the clear teaching of the Bible. At the same time, we have not included in our statement of faith much that can be legitimately debated by orthodox Christians. In other words, we do have boundaries, but our boundaries are broad and inclusive. On the spectrum of Christian churches:

 

We are orthodox.
We are evangelical.
We are empowered evangelicals.

 

Read full Faith statement

We are a part of the Vineyard Community of Churches

 

 

Our Vision, Values, and Distinctives

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Our Vision

 

We are a community of disciples partnering with Jesus to redeem and restore our world.

 

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”                --Jesus

 

..........community of disciples

We are disciples, people who have trusted in Jesus for salvation and who have committed to follow him and learn to become like him. But we are not just individual disciples. God lives and delights in community as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As He has created us in His image, we are also live and enjoy community as Jesus’ disciples. We support, encourage and spur one another on to living as God has designed and called us to live.

 

…......partnering with Jesus

We see partnering with Jesus in two different ways. First of all as followers of Jesus, His church, we have to realize with all humility that it is Jesus’ mission we are entering into, not ours. We are simply carrying on His mission to bring the kingdom of God to this world. The other way we are partnering with Jesus is through the empowering of His presence and power, the Holy Spirit. We cannot fulfill His mission without His power. Acts 1:8

 

….......to redeem and restore

The two main activities Jesus did in bringing the kingdom of God was to redeem and restore people. As such these are our two main priorities. To redeem someone is to set them free – set them free from sin, Satan, sickness, etc. The gospels (and Acts – the beginning of our story) are full of Jesus forgiving, healing, and setting people free. Likewise we see Jesus restoring people, to God, to community, to justice – giving them dignity and hope. To restore someone is to put them back on track of being and becoming the person God created them to be.

 

…......our world

In all of Jesus’ commissions to his disciples the reach is much further than the local area. To be sure it starts there, continues there, but is not limited to there. We are to take his kingdom of redeeming and restoring people to everyone no matter race, creed, economic or social status, geography, or proximity.

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Our Values

 

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Every house is built upon a foundation. Vineyard is built upon the foundation of the Bible and our theology— how we think about God—and our values, the kinds of ideas and attitudes that we feel are important. Values concern what a church feels like, the atmosphere of the church, the ethos. It is possible for two churches to believe exactly the same doctrine, but to feel very different because the two churches have different value systems.

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Biblical truth and empowering grace

We are people of the Bible. Through it the Father reveals himself to us. We hold it as truth and as such long to apply it to our lives. At the same time we recognize our inability to live out the lifestyle the Bible calls us to without the empowering of his grace in our lives. We need his grace to both understand and to live the way that Jesus lived.

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Welcoming community and accountable relationships

Jesus practiced a belonging before believing lifestyle. As such we are a welcoming community to all comers, seekers and believers. Our desire is that no matter what stage of your journey toward Jesus you can find a place at Hope Vineyard. At the same time we realize that no one grows and matures without accountability, challenging them to live the life they have committed to living. But accountability is only effective when in the context of relationship where we are able to speak the truth in love.

 

Mercy and justice

Jesus is quite clear about offering kindness to the poor. We show mercy in meeting the needs of others, whether that be physical, spiritual, emotional, etc. Water for the thirsty; Forgiveness for the sinner; healing for the broken. But it is not enough to simply meet needs. Jesus came to establish a kingdom of justice tearing down systems that keep people in need and bondage and building up ones that foster freedom and well-being for all.

 

Naturally supernatural

The supernatural was a lifestyle for Jesus and this is how he teaches his followers to live. Seeing the power of God in healing, deliverance, restoration and miraculous provision is not something relegated to special events or meetings. It is to be expected in our everyday life as followers of Jesus. As we “go” about living our lives we look for opportunities for the Holy Spirit to break in – the supernatural making itself known in the natural. There is no need for a hyping up, setting the mood or getting in the “anointing”. The supernatural is part of our heritage as sons and daughters of the King.

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Life-on-life discipleship

Jesus did not have a program of discipleship. He lived it out and invited and challenged his followers to do the same. We do not see discipleship as something that is done in a classroom. It is done in our life together as the people of God. We learn from each other, equally through knowledge and experience. We become like Jesus as we see Jesus’ life lived out in the other followers both one-on-one and in community.

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Leadership integrity and humility

Our leaders facilitate and guard the vision and values of our community. We value leaders who live lives of transparency and accountability. Who are not perfect nor claim to be. But walk with humility as one who has experienced and understands the empowering grace that has been given to them. Not looking for position, they lead out of obedience to the invitation God has called them into.

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Our Distinctives

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Listed as Values on the Vineyard USA website, we see the following as beliefs and practices that are distinctive to a Vineyard church. As such we seek to see these established and lived out in our community.

Kingdom Theology & Practice

The Vineyard is committed to the theology and practice of the kingdom of God—rooted in the vision of the Hebrew prophets and fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. We view the kingdom of God as the overarching and integrating theme of the Bible.

 

From the beginning, the Vineyard has been committed to proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and to bearing witness to the “already and not yet” of the kingdom in our words and deeds—through healing (physical, emotional, and social), doing justice, and delivering those held captive by evil. Since the kingdom of God is the future reign of God breaking into the present through the life and ministry of Jesus, we are a forward-leaning movement that emphasizes the ever-reforming nature of the church and engages the world in love.

 

Experiencing God

The triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is eager to be known and experienced by all. We believe that God is searching for the lost and longs to draw us into loving, intimate relationship with him. We welcome God’s personal presence, we seek to be attentive to his presence, and we value the passionate pursuit of his presence in order to respond in obedience to his initiatives.

 

We understand God’s presence as a palpable reality. As we become increasingly sensitive and responsive to the Spirit’s presence, we too can learn to “see what the Father is doing” and support his work with our lives. We value an approach to God’s presence that is respectful both of God and others. We eschew hype and other efforts to manipulate either God’s presence or the response of others to his presence. We distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the human response to the Holy Spirit, which shares in all the beauty and brokenness of our humanity.

 

Reconciling Community

Jesus is reconciling people to God, to each other, and to the entire creation. He breaks down divisions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female. Therefore, we are committed to being communities of healing, engaged in the work of reconciliation wherever sin and evil hold sway.

 

We also seek to be diverse communities of hope that realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin. This requires that we move beyond our personal preferences and engage those whom we perceive to be unlike us. We must actively work to break down barriers of race, culture, gender, social class, and ethnicity. We are convinced that the church—locally, nationally, and globally—is meant to be a diverse community precisely because Jesus is Lord over every nation, tribe, and tongue. We are not satisfied with the status quo when it doesn’t reflect this kingdom reality. Instead, we pray eagerly for the coming of God’s kingdom here and now and hope to see the reconciliation that is evidence that kingdom in our midst.

 

Culturally Relevant Mission

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 in language and forms that are relevant to diverse peoples and cultures.

 

The Vineyard seeks to plant churches that are culturally relevant in a wide variety of settings, both locally and internationally. Each Vineyard church is encouraged to reach those in its community not already reached by existing churches. To this end, we promote a creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative approach to ministry that is faithful to Jesus and expressive of his desire to reach those who are far away from God.

 

Compassionate Ministry

We lean toward the lost, the poor, the outcast, and the outsider with the compassion of Jesus, knowing we are sinners whose standing before God is utterly dependent on his mercy. 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 we serve Jesus himself. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a church expressing the love of Christ in a local community.

 

In fact, in all forms of ministry, compassion is a hallmark of the One who was “moved with compassion” in the face of human need. This being the age of grace—and “the year of the Lord’s favor”—compassion should constitute the leading edge of our service to God, each other, and our broken world. With humility, we seek to avoid unauthorized judgments of others, realizing that we suffer and struggle along with the rest of humanity.

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