The Athens Vineyard is part of a growing community of churches called The Vineyard: A Community of Churches.

John Wimber was a founding leader of the Vineyard. His influence profoundly shaped the theology and practice of Vineyard churches from their earliest days until his death in November 1997. When John was conscripted by God he was, in the words of Christianity Today, a “beer-guzzling, drug-abusing pop musician, who was converted at the age of 29 while chain-smoking his way through a Quaker-led Bible study” (Christianity Today, editorial, Feb. 9 1998).

In John’s first decade as a Christian he led hundreds of people to Christ. By 1970 he was leading 11 Bible studies that involved more than 500 people. Under God’s grace, John became so fruitful as an evangelical pastor he was asked to lead the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth. He also later became an adjunct instructor at Fuller Theological Seminary where his classes set attendance records. In 1977, John reentered pastoral ministry to plant Calvary Chapel of Yorba.

Throughout this time, John’s conservative evangelical paradigm for understanding the ministry of the church began to grow. George Eldon Ladd’s theological writings on the kingdom of God convinced John intellectually that the all the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit should be active in the church. Encounters with Fuller missiologists Donald McGavaran and C. Peter Wagner and seasoned missionaries and international students gave him credible evidence for combining evangelism with healing and prophecy. As he became more convinced of God’s desire to be active in the world through all the biblical gifts of the Spirit, John began to teach and train his church to imitate Jesus’ full-orbed kingdom ministry. He began to ‘do the stuff’ of the Bible that he had formerly only read about.

As John and his congregation sought God in intimate worship they experienced empowerment by the Holy Spirit, significant renewal in the gifts and conversion growth. It became clear that the church’s emphasis on the experience of the Holy Spirit was not shared by some leaders in the Calvary Chapel movement. In 1982, John’s church left Calvary Chapel and joined a small group of Vineyard churches. Vineyard was a name chosen by Kenn Gulliksen, a prolific church planter affiliated with Calvary Chapel, for a church he planted in Los Angeles in 1974. Pastors and leaders from the handful of Vineyard churches began looking to John for direction. And the Vineyard movement was born.

Twenty years later, there are more than 850 Vineyard churches worldwide, an international church planting movement, a publishing house and a music production company. Vineyard worship songs have helped thousands of churches experience intimacy with God. Many churches have been equipped to continue Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming the kingdom, healing the sick, casting out demons and training disciples.

More can be found about this community of churches at www.vineyardusa.org.

The Athens Vineyard began in January of 1999, in a living room in Holly Hills, meeting on Wednesday nights. We were being sponsored and supported by the Atlanta Vineyard. We all had a dream of creating a place where God was worshiped intimately and passionately and his kingdom was made available to people who asked. Our heart was for the people of Athens, that they would find their satisfaction in Him alone. In a word, what we were dreaming for, was life.

By October of that same year, needing a larger place to meet, we moved to Sunday nights, and started renting the gymnasium at Timothy Road Elementary School.

We held two big events that year. James Ryle, an author, Vineyard pastor, and a Promise Keepers founder/speaker, and John Paul Jackson, an author and prominent leader in the prophetic, spoke to crowds of Athenians and stirred up interest in this new church that was getting off the ground.

On March 13, 2000, the Vineyard officially ‘launched’ when we held our first Sunday morning service. In the hot summer of 2003, we moved to Ware Street, and cooled off in our first air-conditioned building.

Over the next several years, we’ve increased the size of our staff leadership with a part time worship leader and a children’s ministry director, and a full time associate pastor. We also rented an additional 3000 sq. ft. of space directly across the parking lot, which houses our children’s and youth ministry, additional office space, a prayer room, and storage.

This church has developed into a wonderful place of authenticity and acceptance. We value being real, and emphasize honesty and openness, rather than putting on a ‘Christian face’ and pretending life is something it is not. We recognize the only way people can be so open, is if they feel safe to be so. Therefore the Athens Vineyard encourages attitudes of mercy for people’s brokenness and acceptance of people where they are, while promoting healing and growth toward wholeness in relationship with God.

Similarly, in our openness to the ministry of God’s Spirit, we try to value the person and their feelings. We emphasize gentle and encouraging prophetic words, staying sensitive to what may embarrass or offend. Even in our hope for freedom in worship, we try not to perform acts which may draw attention to ourselves or distract others in their worship. For example, we love dancing, flags and banners in worship, but we generally make a place in the rear of the church for those expressions. From time to time, we hold special meetings for worship where we encourage others to explore some of the more expressive forms of worship.

This is who we are, and we are constantly being more and more transformed into who God is making us to be.