WORSHIPAt the begining of the year we turn our attention to what we were created to do - worship God.

UPDATE FROM

NEIL & KATENeil & Kate take a look at what’s been going on in the life of the church and our response as leaders.

CHURCH

PLANTSSWLV has planted 3 churches in the past

3 years; Croydon, Kennington and Balham. Find out what they’ve been up to.

S P R I N G 2 0 1 6

LEADERS’UPDATE

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Welcome to the first termly update of 2016 from us both for leaders at SW London Vineyard.

Earlier this month we spent two wonderful evenings with a number of you reflecting back over all that the Lord has done in and through us as a church in 2015 and looking ahead to all He has in store for 2016.

It’s always a lot of fun gathering with such a great group of leaders, but also very heartening and encouraging.

It was wonderful to hear heart-warming stories of how you have been seeing Jesus at work in the lives of others through JobClub and FoodBank and other ministries at the Yard like Little Fish, Counselling, Alpha etc. It was great to hear so many of you encouraging Manny & Sinead through the great job they and the team are doing with Vineyard Kids. It was exciting to hear of what the Lord’s doing with the Youth and what’s been going on with all the wonderful new people the Lord’s been sending us.

And, as promised, we tried to capture as much as we could of what was said and have listed it below.

•

• 2015 HIGHLIGHTS

• Lots of great speakers• Weekends away - Hothorpe & Newcomers weekends• Young people’s ‘Find Your Ideal Job’• Worship Team• Little Fish• More things happening at The Yard• Small Groups working well and bedded in• Seeing more people from Job Club coming to church

on a Sunday• Great changes happening in Vineyard Kids• Worship is awesome• The church is like a tanker at the end of its turning

circle

UPDATE FROM NEIL & KATE

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the

prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14

Join us for our next SW London

Vineyard Women’s Gathering:

an opportunity for women

of all ages to gather

together to connect,

to worship together

and to pray for

one another.  We

are thrilled that

Christine Hand

will be joining us

to help us reflect

on the topic of

‘Faith Not Fear’. 10am

- 12:30pm Saturday 5

March

S P O T LI

GHT

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• Lots of faithful obedience even though it may have been costly and challenging

• Lots more small groups in New Malden• There’s been more of a prophetic focus on Sundays • Great things happening in the Youth• More continuity with Vineyard Kids• A greater choice for Vineyard Kids• Alpha• Lots of new people at church• We really are becoming a church without walls and much

more outward-focussed• Alpha invested in by church• Worship growing • Lots of new people every week• Manny and Sinead• Balham Vineyard Church Plant• Better Together• Job Club being an answer to people’s prayers• FoodBank expanding and reaching out to people• So many new people coming to the church• Sozo launch• Youth growing • New people willing to serve• Alpha momentum • Small Groups – seems like more people are involved than

ever before• There’s been a real shift in worship as we press into new

ground• New Vineyard Kids is awesome• People stepping into places left by Balham plant• Embedding of Alpha and small groups• Newcomers weekend away

• Manny and Sinead knocking it out the park• How the church is positioning itself to be available to

people outside the church through things like JobClub, Alpha and Carol Services

• Hothorpe Hall was amazing reminding us how important it is to spend time in one other’s company

• Changing seasons of Small Groups really helpful• Little Fish seeing people so open to the Holy Spirit and

also coming to church• Seeing a counseling service being set up at The Yard• Randy Clark Healing Conference at Trent Vineyard• Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting and seeing the prophetic

increase• The Year of Prayer has led to a richer, deeper intimacy

that we’re seeing bear fruit across the life of the church• Faithful obedience in the church, come what may

• Church is mobilising to be much more outward focus

However, as is often the case, along with all the wonderful stories we heard of the Lord at work in our midst, for some of us 2015 was not without challenge. Some of us have been through some pretty difficult times. Some of us have realized, maybe even for the first time, that Jesus was absolutely right when he said in John 16:33, ‘In this world you will have trouble.’ It may have been through a health scare we’ve faced, or relationship troubles, or challenges at work, or struggles with our finances. It may have been through grief or loss, but some of us found much of 2015 a challenge.

As a church, the year started with us announcing our third church plant in as many years; something we knew was going to be a challenge for us all. We knew it was going to be great for Steve & Viv, we knew it was going to be great for Balham, but we knew it was going to be pretty hard for us as the sending church. The sacrificial giving of your time, energy and resources is not without cost!

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We knew we were going to have to find ways to make sure that JobClub and Foodbank and all the things happening at the Yard carried on regardless. And, by the grace of God – and through the sheer hard work and commitment of many of our leaders – those things haven’t just carried on, they’ve flourished!

Over 2015 we knew we were going to have to find someone to take on Vineyard Kids, but had no idea where that was going to come from. We knew we were going to have to find a way to keep the Youth ministry going, and had no idea how that was going to happen! We also knew that 2015 was going to be a year where we’d be saying goodbye to a whole group of people, many of whom have been part of this church for years.

And so for some of us much of 2015 was about trying to be faithful to the Lord’s leading and trying to be obedient to what we felt God was calling us to as a church, even though it felt hard at times. But, as Paul says in the verse from Philippians, our focus and attention is not to be on where we’ve come from – ‘on what is behind’. Instead we are to ‘press on and strain toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’

And, as we began to look ahead to all the Lord has in store for us in 2016, we were not disappointed. These are some of the things we sensed the Lord highlighting for us to pray for and press into…

• LOOKING TO 2016

• People of all types coming together to do life together: young & old, single & married

• Expecting new believers to leave speaking in tongues and having encountered God

• Alpha continuing to grow and develop into being a core area of ministry

• Wanting to see more testimonies of God changing people’s lives

• Even greater expansion of ministries like JobClub, Little Fish etc.

• Seeing prophecy and words of knowledge becoming the norm and becoming more specific and practical

• Sensing that 2015 has been about building a net that can support more people that God is sending us

• Personal growth by doing outreach while growing ourselves

• An even greater mix of ages, demographic and ethnicity connecting across the church

• A strong sense that the kingdom of God is coming and will come but that it might look different to the way we have come to expect

• More Ryans • Youth getting more involved in serving• That What Pram? will continue to expand and develop• That there will be an increase in faith and we’ll risk more

for Jesus• That we would see more power encounters• God continuing to drop the walls of the church; blurring

lines between church and the world• Sharing the excitement of our church with others• Introducing and welcoming new people to the church

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National Leaders’ Conference January 2016

From Monday 25th to Thursday 28th January the staff team, along with a number of other

leaders from SW London Vineyard, will be attending the Vineyard National Leaders’

Conference at Trent Vineyard in Nottingham. The theme for this year’s conference, which

is always a highlight in the year, will be ‘Dangerous Dreamers’. Sadly, the conference

has now sold out, but the main sessions will be streamed on-line (do check http://2016.

vineyardnlc.org for details). Every year individuals and small groups from the church

who are unable to attend the conference in person have gathered together to watch

the sessions and been impacted by the Spirit of God at work. Do pray for our leaders

in Vineyard Churches as they seek the Lord’s leading for us as a movement and pray for

those attending from SWLV that they would encounter Jesus in such a way that blesses

both the local church and our local communities.

S P O T LI

GHT

• SWLV creating its own identity - some of this happening in worship

• Something about people ministering through allotments

• The dam between The Yard and Sundays is breaking and we will see a flood of people coming to church from JobClub, Foodbank, Little Fish etc.

• Grabbing people out of the storm with one hand and cleaning fish with the other

• Increasing awe and wonder during worship• Our mouths will be opened more to praise Him• As we praise God, people flood in the back of the

church• When the rain falls on dry earth it might be muddy

and messy and we need to be centered and focused • We are going to see fireworks and be taken by surprise • Queues to tell stories at the microphone and queues

out the door to get in on a Sunday

Will we be ready when our defining moment arrives?

So….the Lord is on the move…and can we encourage you to pray through all of these things? The Lord is calling us to strain toward what is ahead and to press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. We are to fix our eyes on Him and focus on Him as we move into the New Year.

We hope you enjoy this update and should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

With our love and gratitude for you all

As always

Neil & Kate

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WORSHIPTurning Our Attention To...

“Worship is the way in which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the

presence of God. It’s the time and place that we assign for deliberate attentiveness to God because our self-

importance is so insidiously relentless that if we don’t deliberately interrupt ourselves regularly, we have no

chance of attending to him at all at other times and in other places.”

Eugene Peterson

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At SW London Vineyard we are certain that we have been called by God to participate with Him in many things, but we believe that there is one call-ing which is more important than any other. And that is to worship Him.

We know that our whole lives are meant to glorify God as explained for us in Romans 12. But we also know that we all need to set aside specific times to worship God. I like how Eugene Peterson (who translated The Message) puts it:

“Worship is the way in which we interrupt our preoc-cupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God. It’s the time and place that we assign for deliber-ate attentiveness to God because our self-importance is so insidiously relentless that if we don’t deliberately interrupt ourselves regularly, we have no chance of attending to him at all at other times and in other places.”

At the beginning of the year we turn our attention to what we were created to do - worship God.

JOHN WIMBER - THE KING’S WORSHIP

This is an excerpt from the last sermon that John Wimber ever preached, entitled ‘The King’s Worship’, using 1 Corinthians 8: 5&6:

We come to God because he is worth it. I think it was David Watson that said, “Worship is worth-ship.” I remember it was very meaningful to me. I have not forgotten it.

We need to understand that worship is for the King. I have been in church a long time and I have heart people say, “I don’t get anything out of wor-ship.” I say, “Listen stupid it isn’t about you getting anything out of worship. It is about you giving wor-ship to God who is worth worshiping.”

It is not for entertainment purposes and it is not even to prepare the audience for the sermon or to manipulate a lot of money out of you in the giving! It is for God. It isn’t because he has a weak ego and he needs to be bolstered and encouraged, poor

old God.

Revelations 4: 11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

It isn’t about you getting anything out of worship. It is about you giving worship to God

God is worthy of worship for who he is and what he has done. We need to understand that whether he has ever done anything for you or not, after the cross, what more does he owe you? He didn’t owe you the cross but He did it, nonetheless, for the purpose of redeeming a people who would worship Him. He is a jealous God and doesn’t share that worship.

In Isa 42: 8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” The Hebrews is a very stringent. The Lord is a jealous God. And he is jealous for two basic reasons. One is because he knows he is only good God offered to mankind. The Australians have an expression that I have heard, “Good on yeh mate!” and “She’ll come right!” Do you understand that the Lord is “Good on yeh!” He is the only good God offered to mankind. The reason he is jealous about that is if he shared His glory with others you wouldn’t get the best benefit.

Now it is interesting in the trinity they pass it off all the time. You can’t hardly praise the Son without him telling you about his Dad. And you can’t approach his Dad without him telling you about his Son and you can’t talk to the Holy Spirit at all without him telling you how great the Son and the Father are.

So our God is worthy of our praise and worship!

Got questions about life

#TryAlphaAlpha.org

Alpha

We had a great first night at Alpha with

3 small groups of 8 and a real buzz in

the room. There was a great mix of new

people — some of who’d signed up and

some who just showed up — along

with some familiar faces.

Giles did an outstanding job with his

talk and the whole atmosphere was

warm, welcoming and fun.

We’re so grateful to all those of you

were able to come along and help out

S P O T LI

GHT

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BRIAN DOERKSON -

INTIMACY IN WORSHIP

For most of my life, I remember singing songs in church about God, or singing songs that were exhortations to live better. But what I was hungry for, even as a boy, was to communicate directly with my maker. I wanted to sing to God. I wanted to reveal my heart to Cod and I wanted Him to reveal His heart to me. In the summer of ‘85 I encountered the Vineyard at a Wimber conference where the worship leader began to sing songs that helped me express my heart to God. It was so simple.

Intimacy in worship is one of the foundations of the Vineyard movement. When John & Carol Wimber and others began meeting in a home in 1977 in California, they gathered because they were hungry to meet with God.

The other thing that has marked Vineyard worship is our expectancy of God’s presence

And so for years, Vineyard worship around the world has been marked by songs that are simple expressions of love and devotion, The other thing that has marked Vineyard worship is our expectancy of God’s presence, His heart revealed after we have revealed our heart to Him. This is real intimacy, a living relationship with God. What an incredible joy when we discover that He is longing for these intimate times as well.

Some people have asked me, “Do all intimate songs need to be slow and gentle in their musical style?” My answer is, (with a chuckle) NO! Some of the music we use is chosen because it seems to encourage intimate dialogue and the opening of our hearts to God.

Intimacy in the ‘narrow’ sense means we sing to God, in the broad sense, intimacy means we live our whole lives in the presence of God. If we give ourselves away to other loves, to other gods, we will lose intimacy with God, or we will try and manufacture it in a way that is shallow and purely physical. This is an empty encounter for both God and us. We cannot spend our entire week in pursuit of the world, and then wonder why our worship on Sunday feels flat. Real intimacy cannot be created by simply singing the right songs.

Intimate worship will always be our highest calling

Intimate worship really happens when the songs come as an overflow of a heart full of love. Real intimacy is like marriage, and it only works as we forsake all others. Intimacy is reverent, not flippantly casual as some might say. I believe that the more intimate, the more reverent it actually becomes. A husband and wife approach physical lovemaking on their wedding night with great reverence. Intimacy in marriage is so powerful because it is so reverent. Without reverence, intimacy in marriage will

most certainly die. Without reverence, we will not experience real intimacy in worship.

The Bible is full of accounts of intimate worship. As David looked after the sheep he sang intimate worship songs to the Lord. He continued to do the same when he became the king of Israel. The woman in Luke 7 worshipped intimately as she poured the perfume out on the feet of Jesus. When we embrace intimacy, real intimacy in worship, we are fulfilling our destiny to be in a surrendered relationship with God. And so we sing to the Lord as Psalm 96. 1 says “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.”

Intimate worship will always be our highest calling and aim in this life, and then, when we pass on to the other side, it’s only going to get better.

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CHURCH PLANTS

Focus On...

Croydon VineyardCatch up with Tom & Lesley Thompson as they give us an update from Croydon after three years into the church plant. Just click on the logo.

Kennington VineyardAfter two years Roanna Quirke and team give us an update on what they’ve been upto. Click on the logo to find out more.

Balham VineyardThe third of our Church plants, announced one year ago. Click on the logo to check out what Steve & Viv Bateman have been up to at Balham Vineyard.

Part of the vision God has given us as a church is to plant churches across the capital. When the Lord called John & Eleanor Mumford to plant SW London Vineyard He told them to ‘plant a church that will plant other churches’ – and as John used to say, ‘Old orders is good orders!’In the last 3 years we’ve planted 3 churches in London: Croydon, Kenning-ton, and Balham. Find out what they’ve been up to here.

Safeguarding

We as a church want to put the children, young

people and vulnerable adults that attend our

ministries first. In doing so we are committed to the

safeguarding of our children, young people and

vulnerable adults and ensuring their well- being.

Our responsibility as leaders and team members

in those ministries is to partner with each other as

we seek to protect all those entrusted to our care.

Youth

The Lord is doing wonderful things in and through the youth at SWLV. We

have a growing number of youth, lots of new team and are so excited for

all that is in store for 2016.

Youth events coming soon...

- Dreaming The Impossible (DTI) 29th April – 2nd May 2016

-Soul Survivor -19th August – 24th August 2016 (Week C)

Family Services

They might be a little louder, shorter and busier but the family services are here to stay. The way we see

it, these are our family services, not just a service for families; they are an opportunity to be all together.

At a typical family service we are all in the hall together: kids, youth, adults - we worship together,

there is a short talk and we have a time of prayer ministry. It ’s not wildly different from a usual Sunday

morning but does have a different flavour.

There are four months in the calendar year which have five Sundays in them rather than four. We are

going to use those extra Sundays for our family services, which in 2016 will be 31 January, 29 May, 24

July (the exception to the rule) and 30 October.

SPOTLIGHTS ON VINEYARD KIDS AND YOUTH...

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DATES FOR YOUR DIARY...

JANUARY

Thursday 14 Youth Team Meeting

Friday 15 VK Leadership Team Meeting

Monday 18 Small Group Term Begins

Mon 25-Thur 28 Vineyard National Leaders’ Conference

Sunday 31 Newcomers’ Lunch at the Yard

FEBRUARYMonday 1 Worship Team Gathering

w/c Monday 22 SWLV Trustees’ Meeting

Fri 26 - Sun 28 Alpha Weekend

Sunday 28 Newcomers’ Lunch at the Yard

MARCH

Saturday 5 Women’s Gathering

Monday 14 Worship Team Social

Saturday 19 Safeguarding Training

Mon 21-Thur 24 Last Week of Small Groups

Friday 25 Good Friday Service

Sunday 27 Easter Sunday Service with Baptisms

FURTHER AHEAD

25 & 26 April Leaders’ Meetings

29 April to 2 May Dreaming The Impossible

20 to 22 May Newcomers’ Weekend

7 to 9 October Leaders’ Weekend at Hothorpe Hall

28 to 30 October Newcomers’ Weekend

2016

LEADERS’ UPDATES P R I N G 2 0 1 6

GOD HAS CALLED US TO

MAKE, TRAIN AND EQUIP DISCIPLES

WHO LOVE AND SERVE JESUS,

WHO LOVE AND SERVE ONE ANOTHER, AND

WHO LOVE AND SERVE THEIR NEIGHBOURS

GOD HAS CALLED US TO

BE THE CHURCH ACROSS SW LONDON

THROUGH CENTRAL CELEBRATION AND

LOCAL MISSION

GOD HAS CALLED US TO

PLANT CHURCHES ACROSS THE CAPITAL