Visiting the Vineyard

In a few minutes Katie and I are leaving to visit Milan Vineyard church. Their website is under construction and wasn't really informative, so I emailed the church with some questions, this was the reply I received:

Sue,


Thank you for looking at the site and making contact. We have a team of guys trying to implement ideas for the site and hope it will be more friendly in the future. But, I will attempt to answer your immediate questions for now. The 10am service is correct. We are located at 1076 Wahl St in Milan (the old Army National Guard building ). We have a fairly contemporary service, as far as the worship and ministry are concerned, but, we are very traditional in values, that is, we understand the Bible to be true, and the message of the Good News to be relevant today. Thus, we may have a hymn every so often, but use a lot of Vineyard, Hillsong, etc. type of music for the purpose of relevance to the community and the context of society. We
attempt to be both "seeker friendly" and "user friendly". Being in the community we are, the blend is necessary. We understand that we are all "seekers" to a point, but that the majority of people coming on a given Sunday are "users" that is, they have become "new" in Jesus. For that reason we don't have an alter call every week but do have time for ministry and fellowship. We are laid back about services, but are very serious about the Kingdom. We are fairly casual in dress, street clothes are certainly acceptable, but one could come in a suit and tie, or formal dress if they
wanted. It's the heart not the clothes that count. Our pastor wears blue jeans over half the time.

Presently we have a good sized youth group, about 12 went to Honduras in June, another 21 are in inner City Washington D.C. as we write. We place significant resources and value in our kids. Our women have a monthly meeting called "Intimacy with Jesus", and they get together for a variety of events. We base much on relationships.

This is a fairly short description of the local Vineyard in Milan, you can find out more about philosophy, doctrine, values, etc. at www.vineyardusa.org and go the the "about us" section at the top, then click on "beliefs". (we hope ot have this info. on our site soon) If you have further questions please contact me again.

In Christ Jesus,
Robert M Freese'

A lot of the things in this reply are very similar to the principles of my church, Northbrook. I especially like the part that says "We have a fairly contemporary service, as far as the worship and ministry are concerned, but, we are very traditional in values, that is, we understand the Bible to be true, and the message of the Good News to be relevant today." and "We are laid back about services, but are very serious about the Kingdom." I too am serious about the Kingdom!

The marriage series is continuing at Northbrook, and today's message is on intimacy in a marital relationship. Next week we hear about pleasing our wives. Neither of these message topics thrill me, or Katie, and then there will be a message on pleasing our husband. *sigh* So, we are visiting some other churches in the area and seeing what else is going on around here, and how God is moving.

This is rather exciting for me because one may not realize it, but it is so easy to become so comfortable in your own church, your own circle of Christians, that you close yourself off from other believers. I don't ever think it is good to close oneself off from other believers! God is everywhere and I'm going to enjoy worshiping Him anywhere!