Again, this is a church that I don’t know a whole lot about, since I’m not a part of the Vineyard Denomination. From what I know of them they have a mix of charismatic theology and conservative doctrine and I always enjoyed visiting the Cincinnati Vineyard when I had a chance on Saturday nights.
Here’s why I think that they are a positive example of a church growing in the right way. First, they have a lot of things that many churches rely on: big building, AWESOME music, great coffee bar (heck, it’s a food court in their foyer), small groups. But that’s not why they have grown.
They have grown by going out and serving their community. You know all the talk about servant evangelism and acts of random kindness? Well, it was the Vineyard who popularized the idea, specifically in Steve Sjogren’s book “Conspiracy of Kindness.” Every Saturday they go out and serve their community: handing out water, planting flowers, giving out free stuff, whatever. Every Christmas they take donuts to those who have to work Christmas (police, ambulance drivers, Waffle House workers, etc.). You see a lot of churches doing this stuff now: they were the ones who got the idea rolling. And they did all this in the name of Jesus.
Now, mind you, acts of service is NOT evangelism. If you are not sharing the Gospel you are just doing kind things. By itself acts of service makes you no different than a service organization. But you combine that with sound preaching and excellent worship and you have positive growth. By doing these acts of service they are getting their members out of the church walls and into the lives of the lost, giving them a chance to share the Gospel and to show that Christians are not just huddled together waiting for Jesus to return.
I think the Cincey Vineyard runs about 20,000 the last I heard. Here is an example of a church growing in the right way: with sweat and a determination to go to where the lost are.
Okay, so what’s the difference between what this church is doing in going out to the community in service and using that service to draw people to their church gatherings where the people hear the gospel preached, and the things that the first two items on this page say aren’t proper?
Or are the people of this church, as they hand out water, also evangelizing — presenting the gospel of repentance from sin as they give out the bottle, or serve the dinner at the police station, or whatever particular thing it is they’re doing that night? (If so, I will retract the question and ask you to be a little clearer as to exactly what this congregation is doing as they go to the police stations and water-handing-out places and such.)
[...] 31st, 2007 by sprocket23 A good friend of mine left the following comment on my post “Positive Example: Steve Sjogren and Cincinnati Vineyard”: Okay, so what’s the difference between what this church is doing in going out to the community in [...]
Guys, this is great stuff! Here’s a thought to toss into the mix of the above discussion… Evangelism, according to Paul, is not merely the verbalization of the ‘kerigma’ (the exact verbalized message of the gospel) but is a wholistic process (encourage you to say that word three times to get that into your heart). As Americans, we are by far the most unaware culture in the world to understand the idea of process. In 1 Cor. 3:6 Paul refers to the “Planting, watering, harvesting” sequence that occurs in evangelism all evangelism. Giving out bottles of water and telling people, “This is a small way to show you God is totally in love with you” along with a connect card (see ServantEvangelism.com), et al, is indeed, a part of the evangelism process, but not the final part. To only value the “harvest” is to discount the big picture Paul made clear. There are numbers of references to this concept in the Gospels (cf. Matt. 13) as well as Paul’s writings – (cf. Rom. 2:4) – “God’s kindness leads to repentance.”
I’m glad to see that last line in Steve’s reply. I am preaching out of Acts right now, and I have noticed that God cares about results. But not results like we think (numbers, church membership, offerings) but changed hearts. I sense Sprocket is passionate about that as he discusses these ideas here…getting our focus back to the hearts that need transformed.