Vineyard Columbus New Year Report: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Congregational Letter

January 2017

By Rich Nathan

The Bible continually commands us to remember all that God has done in our lives. For example, we read this in Job 36:24: Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song.

And Psalm 105:5 says: Remember the wonders he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.

Why should we remember what God has done? One reason is to thank and praise the Lord as we are commanded to do.

1 Chronicles 16:8 says: Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

We are commanded to give thanks for answered prayers, for converts, and for the power and presence of God. Indeed, we are called to give thanks for everything!

Ephesians 5:20 says: Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, what might we give thanks for here at Vineyard Columbus this past year? We give thanks for conversions.

• 905 people gave their lives to Christ through Vineyard Columbus this past year, the most in our history.
• 40% of our weekend attendees reported on our annual congregational survey that they made commitments or recommitments to Christ at Vineyard Columbus. This is the highest percentage in our history.
  
  
• We give thanks that people are being made into disciples at Vineyard Columbus

• Small group involvement at Vineyard Columbus increased to 55% of our weekend attendees, the highest percentage in our history. We have slightly more than 600 small groups now operating throughout the church.
• On average, 250 women attend Beth Moore Bible studies.
• 8,000 people were involved in the Good Life Campaign.
• 419 new groups were hosted during the campaign.
• Slightly more than 2,400 people went through Vineyard Growth Classes with 900 people choosing to become members at Vineyard Columbus – the highest number in our history.
  
  
• We give thanks that God is extending the reach of Vineyard Columbus throughout our community and our world.

• Last year, Vineyard Columbus spent $1.3 million on international missions.
• We had international workers in Brazil, North Africa, Central Asia, Amsterdam, and Sudan.
• Locally, our ESL classes average 180 people in attendance each week.
• 445 women in crisis pregnancies were served. 85% of them came from outside the church.
• 3,000 people on average are served each month through our food pantries. We distributed over 375 tons of food. Vineyard Columbus ministers in five local prisons.
• For the first time in our history, one of our medical clinics was open five days a week. The other clinic at our community center is open two days a week.
  
  
• We give thanks that our children are being exposed to the Gospel and walking into discipleship at an early age.

• More than 1,700 children and youth on average attend each week at Vineyard Columbus.
• We have 17 middle and high school small groups.
• And we have hundreds of volunteers who disciple and teach our kids each week.
• We give thanks for the lay chaplaincy program.

• For the first time in our history, we have the capacity to care for each and every member and attendee at Vineyard Columbus who is hospitalized, shut-in, or in a long-term care facility.I could easily encourage thanks for the more than one thousand people served through our financial counseling ministry, hundreds of couples served through Marriage and Family, hundreds ministered to through our Singles Ministry, our hospitality team, our six campuses….
  
  
• But what is the Lord directing our attention to in 2017? As we look ahead, I would invite your prayers specifically for the following:
• I feel like the author of the book of Hebrews who at the end of Hebrews 11, reflected on a long list of heroes who championed a life of faith. The author exclaims, “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me if I tell of [another list of heroes of faith].”

• Pray for the Fully Alive Campaign that will take place during the season of Lent (March 1-April 9). During this campaign, we’ll be discipling our entire church to become more spiritually alive, more physically alive, more relationally alive, more emotionally alive, and more financially alive. And we’ll be reaching out to our community to make our world more alive.
• Pray for our 18-30-year-old community. We are investing more attention and focus in building up our outreach to millennials. Pray that our efforts will succeed.
• Pray that church members will become more invitational to our weekend services and to small groups. We know that people need Christ here at Vineyard Columbus, and we know that people are being made into disciples.
• Pray for 1,000 conversions this year through the ministry of the church.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit’s presence and physical healing to characterize our church.
• One thing I would love to see in my life is Vineyard Columbus becoming a Mark 2 church in that, the house that Jesus was staying was so crowded because the power of God was present to heal the sick. People literally dug through the roof to get the sick to Jesus. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of our campuses at Vineyard Columbus overflowed with people because of the healing presence of Christ? Pray for me and the other staff pastors that our teaching and our living truly honors Jesus Christ and Vineyard Columbus.

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