Deep Church

As a wrap up to our series on vineyard values we are pleased to have this posting from Josh Hopping... I had the pleasure of talking to Tri Robinson (senior pastor of the Vineyard Boise) last week and he mentioned that he recently wrote a position paper about the future of the Vineyard Movement. Seeing that this paper is connected to the recent blogsphere conversation - and seeing that Tri has been in the Vineyard for over 30 years and has served as regional overseer and national board member – I think it is important to read and discuss the concepts in his paper. See “TAKE THE BEST AND GO” Part 1 and “TAKE THE BEST AND GO” Part 2 In a nutshell, it seems to me that Tri is feeling like the Vineyard is becoming more and more "bound" (as in a bounded set) with various doctrinal and organizational mandates (examples: the ruling a few years ago about women leadership; requirements and process for planting churches; etc).

* What do you guys think? Do you see the Vineyard Movement becoming a bounded set? Is this necessarily a bad thing? * What should (if anything) the Vineyard do with those churches who are more Pentecostal (like those following Bill Johnson's Bethel Church)? Or the more conservative ones (like those following N.T. Wright or Rick Warren)? My thoughts: Some of Tri's concerns may come from his experiences in early days of the Vineyard. Back then there was very little to no structure. Leaving plenty of room for pioneers to go out and build something “new” and different with no one standing over them telling them no or giving them a rule book. The attitude was simply, if it works, then God is in it. If not, well, at least you tried. Twently-five years later things are different in the Vineyard. For example, there are now guidelines and rules concerning church planting. Yet, at the same time, there isn't a hierarchy that forbids new leaders from going outside of their region and engaging in conversation with other leaders – something that would be frowned upon in a traditional denomination. My first introduction to the Vineyard Movement was through the Vineyard Boise seven years ago. I came because of the worship and the outreach/mercy ministries of the church. As the years went by, I stayed in the Vineyard because of the Kingdom Theology that underlines everything. This was a conscious decision by my wife and me as we sought the Lord's guidance for our lives. As such as a church planter and leader within the movement, I love the push by Bert Waggoner and Don Williams to define the “center” to which we are moving as it relates to Kingdom Theology. However, I think it would be a mistake if this push led to the Vineyard casting out or pushing out those churches who lean towards Bill Johnson's version of the Kingdom - just like we should not push out those influenced by N.T. Wright. There is room for everyone - as long as we are all running towards the Center. Granted, as mentioned early, the center will need to be defined - but the act of defining the center to which the majority of the churches are running towards does not mean the exclusion of those who want to "play" but have a slightly different view of the center. Tri does have a good point about the USA National Board setting mandates and doctrine. For example, a few years ago the National Board drew a theological “line in the sand” concerning women pastors and leaders. On one hand I can see the need to make this decision as in doing so it would help open up the “pool” of national leaders. At the same time, it feels like there is an unnatural push by leadership to increase the number of women pastors. So much so, that I, as a someone who is pro women leaders, felt at tad uncomfortable at the 2009 USA National Conference in Texas. To me if God calls a lady to be a pastor, let them go and do it - or, in different words, if we are a center set movement, why must the National Board push this issue so hard? Why don't they just let it happen naturally? Or is it? (being a fairly new Vineyard leader, there very well could be things I don't know about...) Again, on one level, I can see the benefits to having a line in the sand for some things... which bring us back to the issue on whether or not the Vineyard is truly a center-set movement or just another Christian denomination?