Recently, again, another of our house church members received comments that seemed critical of Vineyard.

Some of the accusations are that Vineyard promotes “signs and wonders” over the fruit; We belittle “intellectualization” and are careless in adopting erroneous teachings and assimilating them into Vineyard practices; There is an emphasis of experience over the word, and not enough priority is placed on Scriptural teachings. Eventually the question is raised, “Are you linked to the Vineyard church that had the holy laughter?”

As newcomers to Vineyard these accusations naturally invoke deep concerns in us.

No one likes to have people close to them think, “Now, what on earth have you gotten yourself into?”

Actually a newcomer was responsible enough to say to us, “I need to clarify ALL these before I can have peace in moving on deeper in the Vineyard. I suppose to end it, please teach us how to deal with the people who will use material in these websites to attack the church that we are building.”

So how does Vineyard defend itself against criticism?

Vineyard has taken the trouble to publicly address some of the inaccuracies contained within those criticisms. The readings (found in the Vineyard website) are fairly extensive but for those who wish to hear two sides of the arguments, necessary, and well worth the effort.

Just as important, Vineyard is able to clearly articulate what it believes in. In short, Vineyard describes itself as being Conservative Evangelicals, and the beliefs do share the essential elements of Christian doctrine and practice. More details again can be found on the Vineyard website.

A final reference should be made here to Vineyard Authors and their Books.

One in particular, The Quest for the Radical Middle, by Bill Jackson, is a frank and transparent self-critical look at Vineyard’s History.

There is a section devoted to the “Toronto Blessings”, which is a name that the British media gave to the renewal experience (and “holy laughter”) that started at the Toronto Airport Vineyard (TAV).

The whole story is too long to be repeated here. (Again there is a considerable body of public literature to wade through for anyone truly interested to get the full and objective picture).

Vineyard leadership had decided in early December 1995 to withdraw its endorsement of the Toronto Airport Vineyard (TAV). There were two basic reasons for this action: It was perceived that the TAV had a different vision and direction from Vineyard, and it was felt that the TAV was not complying with policy decisions.

In practical terms withdrawal of endorsement meant that TAV was being asked to separate from Vineyard. Accordingly the Toronto church would become free to pursue its own direction and values.

Soon after the separation TAV changed its name to “Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship.” A brief summary of the renewal experience was given in their Internet home page. They said, “In early September 1995, cumulative attendance at what was later to become known as the Airport Christian Fellowship was about 600,000 including approximately 20,000 Christian leaders and 200,000 first time visitors from virtually every country and denomination. Attendance at evening services now numbers in the thousands, and ministry is carried out by a trained 45-member team. Within 20 months of the beginning of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit, 9,000 people had made first time commitment to Christ.”

The renewal was also embraced by other countries especially England. Bill Jackson recorded that it also spread to a prominent Anglican church in London called Holy Trinity Bromption (HTB). HTB’s Alpha Course would in fact explode all over the world after the release of power in 1994.

There was a recount in the HTB church newsletter of what happenned when Nicky Gumbel closed a particular staff meeting in prayer.

“The effect was instantaneous. People fell to the ground again and again. There were remarkable scenes as the Holy Spirit touched all those present in ways few had ever experienced or seen. Staff members walking pass the room were also affected.”

Much of the attention regarding the renewal was on the manifestations of the Holy Spirit that were present from the start. Most of these phenomena were not new to the Charismatic movement, but their breath and intensity were incredible.

The most obvious manifestation was people falling under the power of the Spirit. The services often resembled a battlefield with bodies strewn everywhere! One of the most criticized phenomenon was “holy laughter”. While some of the manifestations had biblical and historical precedent (such as prophecy, weeping and visions) many of the other things happening appeared strange indeed.

Of significance some conclusions that Vineyard itself reached with regards to the “Toronto Blessings” phenomena are as follows:

1) The Vineyard has always tried to “bless what the Father is doing” and will continue to invite the Holy Spirit to come, with willingness to the pastor the results.

2) While we are aware that people’s unique responses to the touch of God might look bizarre, we should avoid a this-is-that explanation. We should definitely not try to explain a non-biblical manifestation with a biblical allusion or “proof-text”.

3) We should never promote manifestations in any way, but focus on the main and plain issues of Scripture such as the fruit of the Spirit, evangelism and church planting. We are after long-term fruit not experiences. If God has truly touched a person, he or she should go home talking about Jesus, not about falling and shaking. The result of true renewal will be seen in the new passion for Jesus, and the words and works of the Kingdom.

4) We do not want church life to revolve around renewal meetings. We want to stick to what we are about – making disciples and church planting.

It is fair to conclude that Vineyard believed that the renewal was a genuine move of the Holy Spirit but that it had been poorly pastored.

Todd Hunter (John’s prodigy and successor) confirmed that though John Wimber and his leadership team had loving attempted to bring correction to the Toronto church, their words had not been heeded. It is interesting to note that the Toronto church leadership in parting admitted, “Some of what was happening in Toronto was outside the Vineyard model“.

As shepherds gathering people to Vineyard, we (Susan & Lye Heng) hope that you will understand why we are taking a very lengthy process here to address criticism against Vineyard. (Risking criticisms of being boring or long winded).

We believe that in a “God-way”, newcomers to Vineyard have a lot to bring to Vineyard in the post-Wimber era, just by asking questions!

Todd Hunter himself asked many pertinent questions when he assumed leadership over the movement.

In a sense, Todd was saying it’s not about perpetuating John or there is a high value to Vineyard per se. Moving forward as a movement and for evaluating its behavior, Todd suggested that we continue to ask ourselves: Is it biblical and consistent with Kingdom Theology? Is it righteous and ethical? Is it facilitating the mission of church planting? Is it in harmony with our values, priorities and practices?

We might add that as newcomers we are attracted to Vineyard when it is all about glorifying the Father, becoming more like Jesus, and being dependent on the Spirit. What’s really of high value is continuing with the work of Jesus: proclaiming the good news of the gospel, disciple making and doing all that He has commanded us to do.

Now that is the act we want our people to follow!