Current Issue - News

“State of the Church Address” to Costa Mitchell –

Leader of the Vineyard in South Africa.

Dear Costa

I just wanted to thank you personally for a very stimulating and satisfying conversation the other night amidst the sounds of enjoyment. I really felt that we are connecting and that was a great feeling. Thanks for not turfing me out and putting pressure on us to conform from the beginning. It takes great leadership to let people go and still provide a place of safety. It takes great dollops of grace to love the ones amongst us who are different, especially while they are finding their feet in their new surroundings and I think you and Jesus did well to show us patience and the love of compassion.

The fruit is evident in our lives and for that you will be recompensed by Him who can see in the secret places of our hearts.

I attach our latest newsletter, called ‘CrossContact’ for your information. I have not written anything this time personally as I had enough submissions from others.

The newsletter goes out to 74 households. These people represent some 20 odd groups that range from 2 to 12 people who are meeting regularly around Jesus in a couple of countries. Some of the groups are involved in missionary activities, others are serving, and others are just building accountability type relationship. There is enough cross pollination as I visit about 7 of the groups weekly to have a pretty good idea of what is happening all round. Many people are involved in at least two groups – an intimate, relational and accountability group that is not about doing but about being and then at least one outreach or serving group that is about doing. We encourage this kind of belonging although we organize nothing of this sort. The only structure and organisation that there is, is the finance team that handles the money that comes into the network. Other organizational work is around helping groups to serve and reach out at their request. Groups are more and more feeling the need to get involved in ministry or outreach type of activities. These are not centrally organized or even encouraged but we wait on the love of Jesus to constrain us into giving our lives for others.

Teaching is done in the small group settings and through the newsletter and it is amazing how the information era has changed the way people look for knowledge.

We get together one Sunday afternoon – always the first Sunday – in our building that we are now sharing with the NCMI church where we eat together and afterwards sit in concentric circles, minister to the children, worship and share what the Lord has been doing during the last month. I often have time in these gatherings to share and bring doctrinal correction or direction and so do other elders without standing behind a pulpit. We encourage the children to share openly in the meetings and find to our amazement that they are more than willing! We have between 30 and 60 people at the meetings but meetings are not a priority at all and are not a barometer of our spiritual growth.

We measure our spiritual growth against the following:

1. Are you accountable somewhere?

2. Are you serving someone?

3. Are you actively building relationship with Jesus and others?

We encourage people to look at their cheque books and diaries to see how high these things are on their priority lists.

 People are encouraged to look for the church in town with the best Bible teacher if they feel they need teaching or to invite me or a couple of other teachers in the network to spend time on certain topics with their small groups. Some watch videos if they need it but the main activity of the groups start with the phrase, ‘What is the Lord doing in your lives’, or ‘what is the Lord saying to you?’ It has become a kind of trigger phrase that gets the focus off grandchildren and everyday affairs and put it on Jesus. We have set out to discover how to meet around Jesus and how to let Him have freedom in every get together. We are still making discoveries everyday and will continue to do that till we see Him face to face.

We even encourage people to belong to churches but discourage them to give their allegiance and loyalty to anything but Jesus. If we are asked which church we belong to, we say, ‘the Church at Ladysmith.’ We are as much part of the church at Ladysmith as the Anglican believer who loves Jesus and we don’t want labels to confuse the issue. If we are pressurized to say which church group we belong to, most would say, ‘the Vineyard’ – it just makes it easier for someone who cannot understand the freedom of belonging to the whole church while committed to a group of friends with the same values and vision.

Our DNA is probably still the same – we do and say nothing that is not Vineyard values, we just live it out in a different way.

I hope that helps but it is certainly not exhaustive. Let me know if you have specific questions.

I am praying for grace for you and Lorraine to prevent burn out and increase the service constraints of the love of Jesus.

Much love

Stephan

The response from Costa Mitchell.

Dear Stephan

I enjoyed your newsletter, and also the personal description you gave about what the Lord is doing among you. As I said to you a couple of years ago, I don't pretend to understand the model you're employing, but it seems to be working for you and not violating any values we hold dear, so I'm very happy with it!

What I see in your description, is that you are not falling into the trap of "phantomism" that others who are trying to be more organic have often been caught in. Church history is littered with the bones of groups who were not sensible about this. I think the rhythms of creation are built into the

nature of certain relationships, which is why He is so emphatic, for instance, about having us use a 7-day pattern of life and worship, without making it an idol. He calls us to enjoy accountable community without exclusivism, to balance between healthy inner growth and responsible stewardship of divine life in serving others. I loved the description you gave of how you are applying these dynamics in "the church at Ladysmith".

So, my friend, thank you for keeping me in the loop. Please continue to do so, even when I don't reply. I hope we can get that visit to Ladysmith planned in next year. I also want to thank you for praying for us. It makes a difference, and knowing that you do so makes for a connection in the

Spirit that is precious to me.

Please give love from Lorraine and me, to Linda and both levels of your

family. And keep some for yourself!

 Costa

The cross is both the symbol of our salvation and the pattern of our lives. Everything that happened to Christ in some way happens to us. When darkness envelops us and we are deaf to everything except the shriek of our own pain, it helps to know that the Father is tracing in us the image of his Son, that the signature of Jesus is being stamped on our souls.

Brennan Manning - The Signature of Jesus on the pages of our lives.