We are part of the Vineyard movement and have been involved in pastoring Vineyard Churches for over 17 years,, We don't really care about the name or label but we do care about the values that name represents.....
Worship - songs to God to express our love to him rather than songs about God
Grace- An all pervasive sense of God's love for all of mankind weaving thru all that we do.
Everyone can be part of God's kingdom.... or everyone can play..... means that everyone gets to be involved in seeing the kingdom come and also as a church we provide teaching to make sure that we give away all the knowledge we have to pray for others, hear from God, see healing come etc. This is not secret information that only the leadership get to be privy to.
All of these Vineyard values and more are what we want to see throughout Tanzania in churches that reflect certain aspects of the kingdom. Too many churches here have little or no grace (with things like "sin chairs" where guilty members sit after confession for a few months to pay penance) and punish confession or shame the broken. Likewise, ministry is done by a few important people and the congregation serve their leaders who maintain a position of power and elevation.
Please pray for the values of humility, intimacy, grace and worship to find relevant cultural expression in Tanzania. We have just had the privilege of meeting 4 national Tanzanian Vineyard pastors who are pastoring Vineyard churches in different parts of Tanzania...
Costa Mitchell, who heads up the Vineyard in Africa has just spent a couple of days with us and we are glad to be part of the same family. We are also blessed to have so many brothers and sisters who are allies in the fight, no matter what their denominational allegiance.
Comments