Our Plans for 2002-2003

As we begin a new school year, I thought you might appreciate hearing about where we see the church going this next year. What's the big picture? Beyond our weekly worship services and regularly scheduled events, what exactly is Vineyard Columbus planning in 2002-2003?

The pastors of the church have spent a very significant amount of time over the last four months seeking God's face and planning for the upcoming year. Let me share with you some of the things the Lord has laid upon my own heart, and also upon the hearts of the pastors here at the Vineyard.

Vineyard Columbus has been unusually aggressive in planting new churches for the past 6-7 years. We have planted 14 new churches in that time frame (more, in fact, than any other Vineyard church in the world). We've also given away about 700 people in the past two years, including some of our most seasoned pastors and lay leaders. Church planting will always be part of the primary mission of Vineyard Columbus. But in the year 2002-2003, we believe that Job #1 is to focus upon the growth and multiplication of small groups within our own church.

Surveys have indicated a falling off of small group participation. With the giving away of so many quality leaders, we need to raise up a new generation of leaders to care for the hundreds of individuals who are joining our church from utterly unchurched backgrounds. Towards that end I am calling a meeting on Wednesday, August 28, at 7:30 p.m. and I'm inviting the following groups of people to meet with me to talk about future leadership here at the Vineyard:

1. Former Vineyard leaders here at the church who, for one reason or other, have stopped leading a home group, men's group, or women's group.

2. Former pastors from other churches (or spouses), who are now attending the Vineyard.

3. Former leaders at another church, who are now attending the Vineyard.

I will be talking about leadership in the Vineyard. We need the body's help to pastor the many people who are making decisions for Christ each week and who are choosing to join the church.

By the grace of God, not only have we given away so many people, but God has chosen to give us back even more new people. For example, our newcomers' class this summer was the largest we've ever had for a summer class. We had 185 people attend (119 people chose to member). We do this class six times a year. Typically the classes in the Fall and Winter are even larger than the Summer class.

Other major happenings that you will hear more about in 2002-2003:

1. A new 2-story Vineyard Café will be opening in October. Lunches will be served daily. This will be a great place to meet friends or your small group during the week or before or after worship services.

2. We will break ground on a new 4-story office building to be built on the East side of our building (behind the main sanctuary toward the soccer fields) in October. The target date for completion is November 2003.

3. Don Williams, pastor, theologian, and prolific writer from Southern California, has retired from full-time pastoral ministry. Don has enjoyed a very close relationship with Vineyard Columbus for many years. He will be visiting our church once a month in 2002-2003 to do various conferences and training events for us. In September, Don will be leading a seminar on Inductive Bible Study. In October, Don will do a seminar that teaches people the story of the whole Bible. And in November, Don will be joining Dallas Willard (author of The Divine Conspiracy and The Spirit of the Disciplines) for a conference on Spiritual Disciplines. We are thrilled to have Don Williams join our staff team!

4. In January, Matt Redman, who is an internationally acclaimed songwriter from England, Cindy Rethmeier, a popular worship leader from California, Don Williams and I will be hosting a National Songwriters' Conference here for young songwriters from across the country (and a few of our older songwriters here at Vineyard Columbus).

5. In February, our Women's Ministry will host a women's conference with Eleanor Mumford from the SW London Vineyard. Eleanor is an extraordinary teacher and communicator and has been a popular conference speaker here in years past. She'll be joining my wife, Marlene, our women's pastor, in leading that conference.

6. In April, we are going to host a Power Ministry conference to continue to encourage the ministry of the Holy Spirit here at Vineyard. We will, of course, continue to have our annual Fall Festival, Missions Conference, Children's Ministry Harvest Bash, Godspeed Conference, Breathe Conference, Summer Camps for children, middleschoolers, etc.

7. Finally, in June we will host a major summit on Muslim Missions for hundreds of missionaries to the Muslim World.

Vineyard will continue to build and develop deeper relationships with other Central Ohio churches across racial lines. You can expect to see a pulpit exchange this year as well as a joint worship service with one of the city's largest predominantly African American churches. In addition, Vineyard will participate in a major outreach to our city alongside other Columbus area churches.

I ask each one of you to please pray for Vineyard Columbus-our staff, our leaders, our people and our programs this year.

With much affection,
Rich Nathan