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The Vine is a community of people pursuing new life, hope, and peace in East Vancouver and beyond. We do so as followers of Jesus, who we believe is the Son of God and who shows us the way to experience every good thing God has for us in this life and the next. Our number one goal is to show the world how incredibly glorious God is.
As of January 2012, The Vine is in the beginning stages of being planted. This means that we are forming a core group of people who are interested in seeing The Vine become a reality.
As a church in-the-making, we are fully devoted to following Jesus. At the same time, we are also devoted to welcoming people from any stage on their spiritual walk to this growing community. The Vine is a place to journey with other people, not a destination at which to arrive. We recognize that faith and life are processes that each of us go through. We believe that humans are made to go through these processes with others who love and support them.
The Vine believes that the kind of life Jesus teaches us about is a seven-day-a-week spirituality that involves every aspect of our lives. Because of this, we encourage each other to become transformed people, not just members of a particular church. We love to worship and celebrate together, but we also help each other live lives of service and love beyond our gatherings.
Below you will find some of the stories and beliefs that we hold in the center of our hearts. Please explore these sections to find out more about our thoughts and feelings as a community. At the same time, experience is the only real way to see the reality of these words, and you’ll find that by participating in The Vine and becoming involved in our community.
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The Vine is a community of Jesus followers pursuing New Life, Hope & Peace in the neighbourhoods of East Vancouver and beyond.
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"The Story of God" is an attempt by the lead minister of The Vine church to describe the central beliefs of our leadership in short-story form. (NOTE: Each link will open a separate pdf document)
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These beliefs motivate us and shape the goals of our community.
- God's Love is Transformaing
- God's Word is Living
- God's Redemption is Healing
- God's Promises Bring Hope
- God's Kingdom is Among Us
- God's Spirit Lives in and Guides Us
- Jesus Brings Life and is Life
- Jesus Followers Thrive in Community
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These are the values that drive and shape our community:
- The Mission of God - God is at work in the world uniting all things under Christ, and bringing new life, hope, peace, mercy, and justice. Jesus calls us to join in this mission through sharing the good news story and acts of social justice. Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 4:18-21.
- Transforming People - The Bible teaches that in Christ we are new creations, but also that we are "being made new." God's desire is for us to become like Jesus; a people made ready for deep relationship with God. We look at everyone through eyes of hope, join one another on our spiritual journeys, and see each person's potential under God's care. 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 2 Corinthians 3:18
- Movement - God calls his people to be a part of a movement. When God's Spirit connects with a person or community, we expect to see exponential growth. This is the image of God's Kingdom, starting small, but exploding out in startling ways. 2 Timothy 2:2; Colossians 1:5-6; Mark 4:26-28
- Living Worship - Our lives are lived as a response to God and His glory. We seek Him. We pray passionately. We listen. We live in a state of wonder. We celebrate. We sacrifice. We give. This is who God calls us to be, and as we live this way, we believe God transforms the community around us. 1 Peter 4:8-11; Romans 12:1-2
- Authentic Community - God made us to live in community as He is community. We grow, celebrate, and are made new as community. And community is best accomplished when people can truly give themselves to each other. Acts 2:42-47; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
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Watch a vine grow and you can’t help but notice a beautiful mix of spontaneity and order. It’s impossible to predict exactly how a vine will wrap its way around a lattice or tree limb. When Jesus talked about the movement of God’s Spirit in people’s lives he compared it to another unpredictable act of nature: the wind. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You here its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8; TNIV).
The Vine wants to grow organically wherever the Spirit of God is at work. To be able to move quickly we emphasize the need for simplicity in how we “do” church. This often means that we meet in homes or public places with low overhead costs. Our times together are rich in relationship and spiritual growth, and can be flexible enough to change based on whatever God is doing at a given time.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t pursue structure and organization. The natural world is organic, but its underlying structure is amazing. The Vine wants a strong underlying structure that will bear fruit in making followers of Jesus. We’ve been at work learning and creating this underlying structure. Through the direction of God’s Spirit, our prayer is that The Vine’s combination of organic growth and organization will produce a movement toward God in East Vancouver and beyond.
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The Vine is connected to a wide variety of people in Vancouver & across North America. Yet at our roots we are birthed out of a historical Christian movement called the Restoration Movement. Three groups have come from this movement in Canada and the U.S.: the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ.
Our heritage of churches is the Churches of Christ. This family of churches is united by a strong desire to follow the Bible over any other teachings or religious creeds. It respects the ability of each person to discover truth about God from studying the Scriptures. The movement also began with the goal of uniting divided Christianity by asking if we could “just be Christians.” We wanted to be “Christians only, not the only Christians.” Churches of Christ have also desired to be counter-cultural, at least in the sense of pursuing the values of God’s Kingdom over the “kingdoms” of this world. Finally, the overall goal of the Restoration Movement is to restore Christians and the Church to the ideals of the early Jesus followers presented in the Scriptures.
No movement or church is perfect, and there are certain characteristics of our heritage that we and many other Churches of Christ recognize as unhealthy. But we are extremely grateful to be a part of a heritage of faith that has done and will do much good in the world for God’s mission. The Vine’s draws from the strengths of the Restoration Movement and especially the Churches of Christ.
For further resources and links concerning the Restoration Movement and Churches of Christ, see our Resources page.
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The name Kairos means “time” in ancient Greek. The idea for Kairos: Church Planting Support is that the “time” is now for church planting among Churches of Christ.
The Vine church planters received assessment and training through Kairos. We currently receive coaching from Kairos coaches and we are able to share ideas as part of the Kairos network. One of Kairos’ mission statements is “no one plants alone.” The Vine is extremely grateful to Kairos for its support and instruction. As part of the Kairos network, The Vine is part of something that we hope is the beginning of a movement of church planting among Churches of Christ and other Christian groups.
For more information on Kairos: Church Planting Support, see our Resources page.
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