Dear Dawn who is editor of vineyard vines in Vineyard Singapore thought that I might be able to talk about our values in a number of very short articles. (We have a readership of about 60). She is very persuasive and I agreed but confessed that I won’t be able to say anything meaningful if at each go I was just limited to just 100 words; she would be free to liberally edit what I contributed. Anyhow here is what I wrote for the first installment.

An integration of beliefs, values and actual practices is the way Vineyard “does church”. And if you consider that Vineyard has become distinctive it is also because its kingdom theology is clear and central.

Each specific (local) Vineyard Church should have a belief about the part or role that God has called it to play in the overall body. This is its vision and mission, its purpose statement, the reason for existence. John Wimber’s advice was to be focused, keeping to the “few bare essentials”. Next, the statement of faith is another important declaration, at the foundation of each church. However I must confess that until recently when I came across some writings of Don Williams, pastor of the Vineyard in LaJolla California, I was rather dismissive of the declaration as just another “creed”. But evidently, the Vineyard’s “Statement of Faith” is also the Vineyard’s “Story of Faith.” I will tell more of this in the coming weeks. Suffice to say for now that it is written to reflect our beliefs about the kingdom of God, and as we live out this faith, we contribute to the larger Church.

Permeating the whole way we do church are our values. Our values describe what we consider of great worth, that is, worthy of our time, efforts and money. They are the reasons for what we are doing and serve as the criteria to guide our decisions and evaluations. A lot of other things may change but values will not. They may not be found directly in scripture but they will be Biblical values, and for example we will value the pursuit of God, servant leadership, being Spirit led and filled, offering “culturally current” worship, preaching the gospel, building community, mercy, and planting churches. Don’t be surprised if over time these guiding values become the character of the church and its members.

Finally, what we actually do are our priorities, and the practices we aim to in instill in every member. The practices deal with “people” issues and the practical skills that every disciple ought to have, like, leadership requirements; prayer skills, marriage and family skills, and general ministry skill.

Vineyard’s approach to doing church is obviously a tested and working model. It is a blueprint or for building a church from the bottom up.

It’s really tough to say anything simply and with an economy of words. But Dawn apparently feels that I have done a resaonably decent job this round. (Thanks for being so encouraging!)