An Open Letter to the Vinvard Church of Columbus

To the staff and members of the Vineyard Church of Columbus (VCC),

I formerly attended Vineyard Columbus for more than 12 years, serving as a kinship worship leader, KidsQuest teacher, and event volunteer before leaving the VCC in 2008. Recently, The Lord has pulled me back to Vineyard Columbus for a season. Since my return, I have been attending the Saturday night service. The Lord has been repeatedly speaking through dreams, about something and pressing me to speak up regarding it. I ask that you carefully and prayerfully inquire of The Lord and let Him confirm or deny what I say.

The essence of the issue is this: over the years, there has been a progressive ebbing of the presence of the Holy Spirit at VCC. Time was, that Vineyard Columbus was much more in tune with the Spirit, but over the years, the VCC service has become a superficial, homogenized, service that is aesthetically pleasing but lacks the breadth, richness, and individuality brought by the spectrum of spiritual gifts mandated in scripture.

1 Corinthians 14:26 (NIV)

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

In September, I asked The Lord to let me to see what He sees and was shown a contrast between the bricks of the Tower of Babel and stones of The Lord's alter. Scripture emphasizes that the Tower of Babel; a human attempt to unite mankind; was made from bricks; not stones:

Genesis 11:3 (NIV)

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

Bricks are identical with no uniqueness. In contrast, The Lord's alter is made from uncut stone. Using an iron tool to shape the stone was forbidden (an iron tool would alter a stone's divinely inspired uniqueness).

Deuteronomy 27:5-6

Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.

We, like stones, are unique and we each have gifts that are necessary for the proper functioning of the church. VCC is in need of the complete spectrum of spiritual gifts but I see scant spiritual giftings or their development. Even individuality as expressed in acts of worship have been limited and homogenized. One VCC kinship leader, a fine man and well known, used to sway while he worshiped till he was told by church leadership to stop swaying on the grounds that it attracted attention to himself. I know a few who loved to dance during worship but they too were told to stop. At one time there were calls for prophetic words at the end of service, but a common report was that the church leadership, listened politely but then ignored it. The VCC is producing spiritual bricks.

I attend VCC on Saturday night but a different church on Sunday morning. The other church, worships longer and each worships differently with individuality of worship. Some sit, some stand, some dance, some kneel, some bow down, some wave banners, some shout praises to God, some paint biblical and spiritual scenes on canvas. At the end of worship, the band plays a gentle contemplative music while the congregation waits for The Lord. Prophecy is sometimes spoken, and sometimes sung, we speak in tongues, we see miracles and healings and see a wide range of spiritual gifts. It comes from the many and not just a few. Even the children receive prophetic words. Occasionally the Spirit will move the church to spend the service in worship, meditation, or prayer. It is not a perfect place, but the church is built of living spiritual stones.

The VCC is turning spiritual stones into spiritual bricks. The service has become homogenized with little individuality, freedom of worship or spiritual giftings. There has been an artificial emphasis on being multinational and multicultural. What few spiritual giftings I see are not being exercised by the many but by a select few. The spiritual giftings of the body and the spiritual growth that flows from those gifts have been arrested.

I believe that The Lord is trying to speak to Vineyard Columbus and has given the VCC staff a sign that there is a deep spiritual problem. In little more than a year, three VCC pastors have fallen into sexual sin. I ask you, were there no prophetic voices within the church to warn the church in advance? This is not a coincidence, it is a sign from The Lord indicating that something is terribly wrong.

If I had to choose an epic event that started VCC down the road toward this condition I would say it was when the Association of Vineyard Churches removed the Toronto Airport Vineyard Christian fellowship from it's membership. At that time, some were criticizing the Vineyard because of the unusual spiritual manifestations, such as laughter (The Toronto Blessing). Rather than suffer the scorn for what was a wondrous move of God, the Vineyard made the tragic decision to cast aside a messy gift to maintain respectability. Let me elaborate on what The Vineyard has missed.

In those days, few, had ever heard of Roland or Heidi Baker or the orphanage they operated in Mozambique, Africa (Iris Ministries). The Bakers had, with great difficulty, planted 4 churches in 18 years of ministry. They were constantly harassed by the Marxist government and the persecution, poverty and daily burdens were so taxing on them that they were ready to quit. Against doctors orders, a very sick Heidi Baker traveled to Toronto and under the power of The Lord she spent 7 days on the floor receiving visions, healing, and an apostolic anointing from The Lord. Since that time, under the Holy Spirit's leading, The Bakers have planted over 10,000 churches in the African bush. Heidi received truly apostolic gifts of miraculous healings that dwarf those of John Wimber. They credit the miraculous change to what happened at the Toronto church.

The Lord is not a respecter of man. The “Toronto blessing” was messy but as Jesus gladly associated with the prostitutes and tax collectors, we know that The Lord cares more about building tomorrows champion than about today's dirty diapers. The Vineyard could have shared in a true apostolic birth but they shut the door on a move of God and time has shown that the Vineyard suffered a substantial loss.

Vineyard Columbus and the Association of Vineyard Churches needs Spirit guided introspection, and repentance. Again, I ask that you prayerfully inquire of The Lord and let him speak to you.