North Surrey Vineyard
Our Vision
North Surrey Vineyard Church - Who We Are
As a church in the relatively new and growing denomination commonly called "The Vineyard", we hold to values and beliefs that are common across the board with many better-known traditions and expressions of Christian faith. Sometimes it helps to try to bridge the gap of understanding by using terms that are culturally understood. In an effort to do such a thing, a term that we use to describe ourselves is "Empowered Evangelicals".
We see ourselves as aligned with the Protestant tradition as it has been expressed commonly in the Evangelical world. Included in this is a firm belief in the infallibility and authority of scripture, relationally centered evangelism, and discipleship training that equips people to live as faithful and devoted followers of Christ.
Included in the "Empowered" part of the term is a faith and trust in the power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives and corporate experience. We rely on the gifts of the Spirit to empower us to do the work of the church, build our community up and to grow in maturity as followers of Jesus.
Our Vision – Worship, Discipleship and Mission
We are a Worshipping Community
• We have been invited, through Jesus, into the eternal and intimate relationship already existent between Jesus and the Father. The activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives makes it possible for us to begin to know God.
• Genuine worship is a response to God through understanding his nature as explained in the scriptures, and having personal encounters with Him and an ongoing posture of listening for his voice.
• Worship entails far more than words; it involves a total submission of all that we do, all that we have, and all that we are to the Father’s will. Worship is a mysterious blend of mercy, holiness, love, adoration, repentance, awe, obedience, and joy.
• Intercession, prayer and the prophetic gifts are active expressions of our encounters with the presence of the Holy Spirit and are to be found in both personal and communal gatherings of worship.
We are a Discipling Community
• God is community – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are born separated from that community. Community involves connecting. When we invite the Spirit of God to make his home in us, his central job is connecting us with God and then others. God is our first community and our first place of connection for life and growth.
• This community is an environment that encourages and sustains spiritual growth and reproduction. We believe that receptivity to the presence of the Holy Spirit, the spoken truth of God’s Word, and a climate of self-disclosure and open, honest dialogue with one another combine to produce spiritual growth.
• We are intended to grow in community, not in isolation. Individualism, independence and chosen isolation are in complete opposition to the biblical example of community and connecting.
• Discipleship is not the task only of professional ministers or priests. Every child of God is commissioned to make disciples of all nations. The role of the Old Testament priest (Exodus 19:6) was to help bridge the gap between creator God and created human. The New Testament (I Peter 2:9) places this priestly responsibility on every Christian. We are truly a “Kingdom of Priests”.
• One important example of this is the role of parents in discipling their children. We believe parents are the primary influencers of their children and have been given the responsibility of “training up children in the way they should go” (Prov. 22:6), in their lifestyle and by their instruction and interaction with their children (Deut. 6:1-9).
• To be a discipling community means we must also be an equipping community. To live out the vision of Jesus to “go and make disciples,” requires that the people of God must be equipped and empowered to that end. Training and releasing people to live out the words and works of Jesus is essential to becoming a discipling community.
• As ambassadors of Jesus, we bring God’s love and kingdom in word and deed to our families, our fellow Christians, our local communities and all nations of the world.
We are a Missional Community
• The mission of the church is to bring people into community with God and others. As we have been reconciled to God through Jesus, so we are called to bring the gift of reconciliation to those around us, and around the world (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
• When a community is not driven by programs but is consumed by a passion for Jesus and his priorities, then anyone can take initiative to bring God’s love to those around them in the course of everyday life.
• The church is about the chosen many, not the anointed few (I Peter 2:9). The role of leadership serves the community by equipping people to be the priests God has intended them to be. The gift of leadership recognizes and makes room for the other gifts. When the gift of leadership is functioning healthily, the church flourishes.
• We are called to a lifestyle of justice (Micah 6:8). Jesus says the good news of his kingdom is for the lost, those without hope, and those who are treated with injustice. While this can apply to all people in our society, we know that it is the poor and marginalized that often suffer the most severely. Living justly means we live sacrificially. It means we become a voice for those who are being treated unjustly. We are not satisfied with a lifestyle of increasing comfort and wealth if it means others go with out the abundant life that Jesus promised.