The Body of Christ is more than a Sunday morning meeting. Now, if the Holy Spirit was only given to enable the church to have great Sunday morning meetings, then I say this with all reverence, but the Holy Spirit is way over engineered for that task. God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, who is filled with infinite love and goodness, truth and power; God the Holy Spirit was not sent into the world merely to help the church to have a good meeting. The church was not created simply to have a meeting on Sunday morning. The meeting was created to equip the church for their task of serving Christ and serving the world. The biblical way to measure a church is not how much you like the Sunday morning meeting. The biblical measure of a church is how effectively employed is the church in doing the activity of Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, who was arrested by the Nazis Gestapo during WWII for his anti-Nazis activities. Bonhoeffer wrote one of the best little books on community titled, Life Together. And then when he was in prison, he wrote a number of letters that were collected in a book called Letters and Papers from Prison. The book was published following his execution in prison. But here is what Bonhoeffer said: “The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.”
Here at Vineyard we take Bonhoeffer’s statement that he made in prison to heart. And so the vision statement of our church reads, “Our vision as a church is to be a RELEVANT church that does not exist for itself, but for Christ and for the world.” And he is how we define a “RELEVANT” church:
RELEVANT
A relevant church keeps it REAL.
- A church where leaders model vulnerability
- A church where people can easily take off religious masks and find real fellowship
- A church that values simplicity
RELEVANT
A relevant church’s brand of Christianity is EMPOWERED EVANGELICAL.
- A church whose theology is centered upon the Kingdom of God
- A church where the power of God is present to heal people
- A church that holds in balance Word and Spirit
- A church where there is a high expectation of God’s presence and God’s present tense activity
- A church that submits itself to the Bible concerning all that we do and believe
- A church that welcomes all of the gifts of the Spirit
RELEVANT
A relevant church reaches out to the LEAST, the LAST and the LOST.
- A church that focuses on both evangelism and social justice.
- A church that does not exclude the weak.
- A church that practices both mercy and justice.
- A church that loves and devotes a large share of its time, energy and money to serve the needs of children.
- A church that passes on the faith from generation to generation.
- A church that does not simply grow by adding other churches’ members, but actually brings many people from darkness to light.
- A church where things are so clearly and reasonably articulated that they make sense to a thinking follower of Christ as well as the unchurched person.
- A church that is a friend to our community.
- A church that employs the talents of our church to serve our community.
- A church that gives away many of its people to plant churches in this country.
- A church that is actively engaged in world missions and particularly in planting churches among unreached people groups.
RELEVANT
A relevant church is one in which EVERYONE GETS TO PLAY.
- A church where every member serves, not just the pastor.
- A church that equips people through training both for serving others and for life.
- A church that equips families and supports marriages.
RELEVANT
A relevant church is VERTICALLY-ORIENTED.
- A relevant church serves an audience of one – God.
- A church in which people passionately worship God with all that they have: Their hearts, their intellects, their words, their bodies, their money – everything
- A church that is characterized by individual and corporate prayer.
- A church that seeks to honor God by having every endeavor marked by excellence, integrity, and love.
RELEVANT
A relevant church celebrates God’s AMAZING GRACE.
- A church whose atmosphere is grace.
- A church with many recovery and support groups.
RELEVANT
A relevant church helps people to deal with the NOT-YETS OF LIFE.
- A church that acknowledges that the fullness of the Kingdom is not yet here.
- A church that acknowledges “not-yets” in all areas of life.
RELEVANT
A relevant church believes that God’s kingdom comes when we work TOGETHER.
- A church in which individuals are connected to each other through a small group.
- A church that welcomes people from racially diverse backgrounds and is committed to becoming increasingly multicultural.
- A church that seeks to love and practice unity with the whole body of Christ.
