Lots of my friends have tattoos.  Sometimes they ask me if I’m ever going to get one.  I always say that it would need to be something that has significant meaning to me.  Storms are one of those things, but I can’t imagine being satisfied with a little storm on my bicep.  It would have to be huge and intimidating to fit the image I have of a decent storm.

Life has been stormy around here lately. When you’re in the middle of it, you wonder if it’s going to destroy you, don’t you? I was water skiing one time as a boy and my mom was driving the boat.  A storm blew in, and we were hustling back to our dock/lodging.  I was huddled down on my seat under a towel when lightning struck the water somewhere  nearby. I remember it being the loudest sound I had ever heard.  I was fully expecting electricity to light us up and throw us onto the shore. Maybe that’s when I really learned to pray! But we made it back safely, and soon the storm blew over.

During Push (our pre-service prayer time) on Sunday, one of the men reported something he saw. He explained that storms around here (GA) usually hug the ground, and all you can see in the midst of the storm is more storm.  But he had been places (Texas) where he would see the storm rise up, and when you looked toward the horizon, you could see light on the other side. That’s what he saw; a dark storm, but  when you looked toward the horizon, you could see light on the other side of the storm. (click on picture above). As a former farmer from West Texas, I know that picture.  We always knew that a storm wasn’t terribly intense when you could see daylight on the other side.

What he saw has been a great source of encouragement to me. The longer I walk this life out, the more confidence I have in our God who loves to rescue, grow, discipline, teach, stretch and shape.  And he regularly uses storms to do it. Learning his ways builds trust in him – read faith. Maybe even more than when he makes life easy, storms followed by rescue/deliverance build faith. Storms blow in, and you start looking around for how he’s going to rescue you this time. For him to give us a picture of hope and light on the other side of this storm is quite comforting.

Embrace?

Throughout its history, the Vineyard movement has fostered a conversation about the kingdom of God. This conversation is ongoing, and so it is important both to remind those in the movement of what these concepts involve and to introduce those new to the Vineyard to these distinctive emphases.

Kingdom Theology & Practice

The Vineyard is committed to the theology and practice of the kingdom of God—rooted in the vision of the Hebrew prophets and fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. The movement is distinctively rooted in a renewed understanding of the centrality of the kingdom in biblical thought. We view the kingdom of God as the overarching and integrating theme of the Bible.

From the beginning, the Vineyard has been committed to proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and to bearing witness to the “already and not yet” of the kingdom in our words and deeds—through healing (physical, emotional, and social), doing justice, and delivering those held captive by evil. Since the kingdom of God is the future reign of God breaking into the present through the life and ministry of Jesus, we are a forward-leaning movement that emphasizes the ever-reforming nature of the church and engages the world in love.

Culturally Relevant Mission

The church exists for the sake of those who are exiled from God. We are called to bring the gospel of the kingdom to every nook and cranny of creation, faithfully translating the message of Jesus in language and forms that are relevant to diverse peoples and cultures.

The Vineyard seeks to plant churches that are culturally relevant in a wide variety of settings, both locally and internationally. Each Vineyard church is encouraged to reach those in its community not already reached by existing churches. To this end, we promote a creative, entrepreneurial, and innovative approach to ministry that is faithful to Jesus and expressive of his desire to reach those who are far away from God.

Compassionate Ministry

We lean toward the lost, the poor, the outcast, and the outsider with the compassion of Jesus, knowing we are sinners whose standing before God is utterly dependent on his mercy. This mercy can only be truly received inasmuch as we are willing to give it away.

We believe that ministry in Jesus’ name should be expressed in concrete ways through the local church. The poor are to be served as though we serve Jesus himself. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a church expressing the love of Christ in a local community.

In fact, in all forms of ministry, compassion is a hallmark of the One who was “moved with compassion” in the face of human need. This being the age of grace—and “the year of the Lord’s favor”—compassion should constitute the leading edge of our service to God, each other, and our broken world. With humility, we seek to avoid unauthorized judgments of others, realizing that we suffer and struggle along with the rest of humanity.

Reconciling Community

Jesus is reconciling people to God, to each other, and to the entire creation. He breaks down divisions between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female. Therefore, Vineyard churches are committed to being communities of healing, engaged in the work of reconciliation wherever sin and evil hold sway.

We also seek to be diverse communities of hope that realize the power of the cross to reconcile what has been separated by sin. This requires that we move beyond our personal preferences and engage those whom we perceive to be unlike us. We must actively work to break down barriers of race, culture, gender, social class, and ethnicity.

We are convinced that the church—locally, nationally, and globally—is meant to be a diverse community precisely because Jesus is Lord over every nation, tribe, and tongue. We are not satisfied with the status quo when it doesn’t reflect this kingdom reality. Instead, we pray eagerly for the coming of God’s kingdom here and now and hope to see the reconciliation that is evidence that kingdom in our midst.

Experiencing God

The triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is eager to be known and experienced by all. We believe that God is searching for the lost and longs to draw us into loving, intimate relationship with him. In Vineyard churches, we welcome God’s personal presence, we seek to be attentive to his presence, and we value the passionate pursuit of his presence in order to respond in obedience to his initiatives.

We understand God’s presence as a palpable reality. As we become increasingly sensitive and responsive to the Spirit’s presence, we too can learn to “see what the Father is doing” and support his work with our lives.

We value an approach to God’s presence that is respectful both of God and others. We eschew hype and other efforts to manipulate either God’s presence or the response of others to his presence. We distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the human response to the Holy Spirit, which shares in all the beauty and brokenness of our humanity.

These, then, are the core values that draw us together as a movement. They are different aspects of the treasure buried in the field that is the Vineyard. The treasure, of course, is the kingdom of God embodied and brought forth by Jesus of Nazareth.

The Athens Vineyard Church:  A community experiencing, expressing, and extending the life God gives through Jesus.

Now, read through our core values.  These won’t necessarily represent all that we are, but they sure help us govern our decisions as a church.

• God’s Awesomeness – We understand that God cannot be packaged or confined by humanity’s limited understanding and practices. We are drawn to worship Him fully. We prayerfully and expectantly seek to live responsive to the current prompting and empowering of the Holy Spirit. We never fully comprehend God, and seek to remain aware of and attentive to what He wants for us as a community.
• God’s Word – We honor the Scriptures as God’s Living Word to govern and guide our faith and practice. We rigorously and prayerfully seek to understand their proper, practical and prophetic meaning for us, and to shape our lives accordingly.
• God’s Mercy – We understand God’s loving mercy as central to His plan and our existence. All require His mercy, and we seek to tangibly and meaningfully extend His mercy to one another and to all to whom we minister.
• Authenticity and Relevance – We seek to be real, not hyped or over-produced, when we worship, when we relate to one another, and when we relate to our communities. We value honesty and transparency in our relationships. We seek to understand and incarnate the gospel in the cultural forms relevant to Athens and Northeast Georgia.
• Creativity – We value the creative impulse that God has woven into our beings, and we encourage believers to explore fresh expressions of eternal truths in all facets of our worship. We also value enduring historical traditions of Biblical Christian expression, and prayerfully seek contemporary renewal of the arts in our practice.
• Connections – We embrace God’s intent for us to live out our faith in relationship with other believers. We encourage and facilitate meaningful life-giving relationships through groups, small and large, and through prayer and counseling.
• Transformation – God’s love changes everything. We are transformed by saving faith, and value the increasing depth and authentic maturity of living with God. Our relationships, including those between the generations and between cultures, are transformed by the constant work of Christ’s love. Our community, and ultimately the world, is transformed by the present power of God incarnated in us and our fellowship.