Our Values
The Kingdom of God is His future reign and yet through Jesus, it has been inaugurated. So here and now we can experience the future reality of God’s reign even as we wait for it to come in full. We believe this was Jesus’ central message and that the church is called to join Him in making all things new.
Since the church is called to join Jesus in His work, it is founded on the Scriptures (the Bible), interpreted primarily through the Kingdom of God. And to be a community of God’s family, we join God in His mission of making all things new and destroying the works of the enemy. This leads us to have key emphasis on these core values:
We believe that God seeks to draw humanity into an intimate relationship with Himself. In response to God’s initiative, we value the life-changing power of the experience of His presence that is nurtured and developed in the act of worship. From our earliest days in almost every country where the Vineyard exists, hosting the presence of God in worship has been an important part of who we are.
It excited Jesus to promise the Holy Spirit. He brings transformation, reveals the heart of the Father, teaches us how to abide in Him and then invites us on an amazing adventure. We lay hands on the sick and pray for their healing. We pray for the release of those oppressed by evil spirits. We seek to bring good news to the poor and to show love even to those locked away. We long to join God in what He is doing, not just in words, but in power and authority out of a relationship with Him.
The way of Jesus is to be lived out. It is a lifestyle, and not just good philosophy and theology. We seek to live in obedience to Jesus, not just like Him and not just when we agree with Him or when it is easy for us. Our aim is to become more like Jesus and join Him in bringing life to those around us. Following Jesus and being transformed is how we participate in God making all things new.
True worship causes us to respond with compassion to the world around us. Like our Father, we must act to bring mercy and justice. To remember the poor, to speak up for the voiceless, for the sake of the orphan, the foreigner, the widowed, the least of these. God’s heart is always with the weak, and we seek to follow Him.
We keep the main thing the main thing. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is to be preached. We are keen to do everything we can to share the Gospel of the Kingdom in a language and style that is culturally relevant and accessible to those around us. God so loved the world that He gave His Son, we are His hands and feet, we join Him in the field in ways that His children can recognise, understand and respond to.