st. cro x vineyard

A Guide to Understanding the SCV Community

st. cro x vineyard

A Guide to Understanding the SCV Community

Welcome to St. Croix Vineyard! We are glad that you are here. Whether you visit for one or two weeks or stay for years, whether you come to services on a regular basis or just hang out at parties and social events, you are welcome. We have tried to create a social and spiritual atmosphere that offers many kinds of dynamics, and we are happy for people to pick and choose the ones that mean the most to them in any particular season of their lives.

SCV is a church but it is also a multi-faceted community that was started by a group of people in 1992. Currently, there are at least two worship services a week (the early morning Celtic Liturgy and the Main Service that follows), there are training courses during the mid-week, there are monthly worship events, there are youth events, and there’s a monthly event called The Gathering that gives a sense of community and some practical helps to some of our neighbours.

There are other sorts of occasions as well. Some relate to social concerns, some are musical concerts, some are small groups that gather in people’s homes, and some are parties and dances. One of our newer projects is a community garden.

We encourage people to get involved in the life of the towns in which they live. We don’t like the arbitrary distinction between sacred and secular issues—all of life is important and can be holy. So we advise people not to over-church (although we acknowledge that there can be a time for this). A good tactic is to be involved in both church and town activities, trying in both arenas to help out in whatever ways seem appropriate.

Music—we work hard at this. Many different musicians give their time and talent because we believe that music creates a great atmo-sphere for people to come face to face with God

Good quality fair-trade coffee

& tea—why not?

Interaction—our pastors know some things, but we know others do too.

Fun—we value laughter in this place

Making children feel we lcome (don ’t be surprised if there are some

free-range children buzzing about)

Mus i c —we work hard a t th i s . Many different musicians

give their time and talent because we believe that music

creates a great atmosphere for people to come face

to face with God.

As a community of friends, hoping to figure out how to love God and people better, we have decided that we like some of the following things:

Listening—often better than

words. ?Questions

—often better than answers

Prayer—we believe it changes us and makes a

difference in the world.

Intelligent & practical teaching from the

Bible —at least we try!

Helping people—if we can, we’ll do

our best

Accepting people where they really

are

Honesty and authenticity

Creativity and flexibility

Our dream is to build a vibrant and loving community where people can grow in their own relationship with God and gradually develop character, skill and knowledge so that they can be better representatives of God’s love in the world. We value humility and compassion in this pursuit, and we work locally and in a few other places in the world with people that have a similar attitude.

Organization and Leadership

The organization of our community is a little different than that of normal churches. We have a small group of leaders and staff members that are responsible for various aspects of the life of the community, but everyone has at least one other job. No one here is a full-time paid profes-sional. We currently give small salaries or stipends to 5 or 6 people for their regular work for SCV, but we manage to run things with an army of volunteers. We have leaders who teach or meet with people when asked, others that work with youth or children, others that do practical tasks, and others that visit people when life makes this seem necessary or important. This means that job descriptions for the people who lead are quite specific, and one part of finding your way here is learning who to turn to for a specific question or request. A list is published at the front of the church directory each year.

Most decisions that affect the life and direction of SCV are made through consensus by this team of leaders. The team itself is comprised of three separate groups:

1) long-term leaders who remain in place as long as seems right to them and to the rest of the group;

2) short-term leaders who come on for a temporary period representing various groups or age levels in the church; and

3) staff members and interns.

One of the advantages of this model is that we don’t have membership votes. These can be good, but they can also create divisiveness in a church. We want to ensure, though, that we are always hearing the views and ideas from all who participate and support SCV. For this reason, we encourage everyone to connect with someone on the leaders team and share thoughts and concerns. Ideas for improvement are always welcome, especially if they are offered in a spirit of gentleness and humility (if ideas are presented with anger we try to take them seriously but, speaking quite honestly, it’s harder to do). At least once a year we have an open community meeting to review our life together.

Getting Connected

We understand that it can all seem a bit confusing at first. With a little patience and the courage to ask questions and come out to some of the events, people will usually feel connected before too long and become familiar with how things get accomplished.

We value small groups that meet in people’s homes during the mid-week as an excellent way to build relationships. However, after years of trying to organize these, we feel that they work best for us when they emerge spontaneously. This means that we don’t often organize them from the centre of the church; rather, we encourage their growth when people

in the church decide to build them. Leaders at SCV are almost always available to give advice regarding materials to study or to talk with about how best to do something.

Instead of organizing a network of small groups, we some-times offer a collection of short-duration courses through the mid-week for parts of the year. Some of these are held at The Vineyard Centre and some are in homes. They offer training in various aspects of life over a wide range of topics. Some are for spiritual seekers and some are for emotional healing or training in caring for people. Others are for practical concerns related to money or family matters; some have to do with Bible study or with learning spiritual disciplines. Taking part in one or more of these courses (generally from 6-12 weeks in length) is a great way to learn something and to get to know some people in a deeper way.

Thinking About Finances

We don’t tend to talk a lot about money during our public services, though we do receive a weekly offering for the ongoing work of the church (sometimes, instead of passing baskets, we use a donation box). Many people make regular contributions online or through pre-approved banking. At times we do fund-raisers or take a special offering for some particular concern. Information about annual budgets is provided once or twice a year, but is always available from Lorna Jones, our secretary treasurer. All questions are valid.

We believe that financial support of SCV ought to be seen as an invitation rather than a requirement. We encourage the Biblical notion of tithing (giving the first tenth of your

income to God through your local church), but we feel that whatever level of support you decide to give is up to you and God. We are grateful for everyone who joins in with us at whatever level they feel is appropriate to give. Often, the amount of people who are tithing or giving serious, regular support at any one time is fairly small; SCV exists as a gift to everyone through their faithfulness in this regard. If the number of people who feel called to do this increases, it will affect the number of things that can be accomplished through our community. We hope for that.

Philosophy of Community

We do our best to value and honour all people and to treat everyone with dignity and respect. We believe that we have all been created in the image of God as His representatives on the earth, and we believe that His heart is full of love for all people. We do not judge where people are coming from; we do not mind if they do not think the same way or believe the same things as we do. We share about a quality of life that has invaded our life because we have experienced an on-going and meaningful relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and we try to live according to the ideas and principles that we find Jesus modelling in the Bible. We will not foist upon people our sense of how they ought to live. However, if someone asks for advice, we will gladly give it, and we will try to help people discern the best way forward in life if they think we can help.

We do not think of life as a concrete grid of standards or laws, though we do believe some things are clearly right or wrong. It is always right to “treat others as you would like

to be treated,” for instance. It is always wrong to demean people or to abuse them. We accept others where they really are, and we walk forward into life together. As we do this, we are confident that the Living God walks with us, and we believe that He accepts people better than anyone. So people are welcome to have a true sense of belonging here as soon as they would like to. There are no hoops of belief or behaviour that precede belonging. However, some choices are better than others, and as we all try to figure out life together, we hope that we all learn to look more like Jesus, to care for others with greater maturity and skill, and to make wise choices about the earth and its peoples.

One other thing we’d like you to know: we try not to have parent/child relationships with people. This might seem obvious, but for some reason religious communities some-times seem to fall into a pattern of creating or sustaining dependent relationships. When this happens, leaders are seen as wiser or better than they really are and people tend to demean their own capabilities and judgment. We don’t like this tendency. We think everyone ought to be growing toward maturity at his or her own pace and we all ought to be able to learn from each other. Your voice matters!

SCV as a "Thin Place"

Many people have encountered God in surprising and delightful ways through their interactions with our community. For this reason, some people have referred to SCV as a "thin place." This is drawn from the Celtic notion of a place where the veil between this world and the next is particularly thin. Our sense is that this can happen whenever a group of people attempts to take God seriously and invites Him into all dimensions of life. We have tried to create a culture of love for God and people by building an atmosphere where people are free to learn how to worship “in spirit and truth” ( John 4:23) and where many practical acts of love are done for people both inside and outside of the church ( John 14:23). Our sense is that these two work together as an invitation for God’s Presence to remain close. When groups get involved in both of these they have an opportunity to create a situation where the community actually becomes the container for the active Presence of God. Extraordinary weaving of circumstances; surges of creativity in worship, work, and play; imaginative symbols being described by people that relate precisely to other people’s lives; and an occasional breakthrough in emotional or physical healing, are all examples of this. So, in our opinion, are acts of love, sacrifice, mercy, and justice. These provide an invitation for God to be close so that a community can live quite near the veil between earth and heaven. Perhaps this type of thinking is an appropriate

response to Jesus’ teaching on prayer: “Our Father, who art in heaven, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven . . ..” If we try to live in God’s way, it’s easier for Him to invade all of life.

Try it Out and Don’t Be Afraid to Ask!

We have tried to describe the nature of our community in these pages. It is really impossible to do. As with all communities, SCV needs to be experienced to be properly understood. But this should give you some idea. If you’d like to know more, please ask one of the people taking a public lead. He or she ought to be able to help or to connect you with someone who can.

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WELCOME to

ST. CROIX VINEYARD!

For Further Reading:

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Not all of this small book will seem relevant today (it was prepared by Bonhoeffer for an illegal seminary on the German-Polish border that he led between 1935 and 1937), but it does provide excellent insight into some of the dangers and strengths of community life.

Community and Growth by Jean Vanier. Founder of L’Arche, a movement that cares for disabled people in small communi-ties throughout the world, Vanier provides a rich vision of the gifts of inclusion and diversity. He teaches that although it is true that weaker people need the strong and able, the strong also need the weak. He believes that the call to respond to the needs of those around us provides our best opportunity to become human.

Power Evangelism by John Wimber. This book, from the beginning of the Vineyard movement, captures the excite-ment of a group of people coming to believe that God is willing and able to work through people today as He did in the days of the Bible.

Made for Goodness and Why This Makes All the Difference by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu. Challenging conventional Christian thought, Archbishop Tutu and his daughter, Mpho, remind us of the goodness of creation and God’s love for all people. It is a refreshing rethink of theological priorities forged from the lessons of South Africa’s battle against Apartheid.

The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, Aged 37 ¾ by Adrian PlassThis fictional diary of a member of a small, modern-styled

church in England provides humorous insight into the foibles of religious communities. This book has enriched many of the talks at SCV over the years.

Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr. The task of the first half of life is to come to peace with who we really are. The task of the second half is to live out of that reality instead of the false projections of self or others.

A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. Each flavour of Christianity through the ages has strengths that are needed for a healthy spirituality for today and tomorrow.

In Addition...

There are many short pieces of writing about SCV’s history or about priorities of this community that are available on our website (scvine.com ) under "Articles."

Our regular teachers, Dr. Peter Fitch and Dr. Walter Thiessen, have written the following books:

Learning to Suffer Well by Peter Fitch. This is a devotional workbook for individuals or for small groups that integrates Protestant and Catholic and ancient and new ideas about how to grow through various forms of adversity. It includes study questions from Scripture and prayer exercises. As such, it is really a course in Christian development and maturity.

Learning to Interpret Toward Love: Actually Embracing People of Different Sexuality (in the kind of churches where they haven’t been) by Peter Fitch. At times the heart can be a better theologian than the brain. In this reflection on the meaning of Scripture, Peter argues that the Bible itself gives many clues as to the appropriate lens with which to read it: love. It is not meant as a rulebook, binding for all generations; rather, it provides an atmosphere for people to meet with and be transformed by a living God.

Glimpses of a Good Life: Rhythms and Practices that Invite Wholeness by Walter Thiessen. This book is a gentle invitation to explore some of the rhythms and practices that open up the possibility of wholeness in our lives. As wholeness is gained, alone and with others, it is possible to find resilience in the midst of the highs and lows of daily life.

THE ST. CROIX VINEYARDBuilding Address: 32 Victoria Street, St. Stephen, NBMailing Address: 13 Main St, St. Stephen, NB, E3L 1Y7(506) 466-5725 / mefitch@gmail.com / scvine.com