Adoor Vineyard
In 1997, Alexi George gathered a group of young people from the College of Engineering, Adoor, and Faith Theological Seminary, Manakala and made plans for outreach. Beginning with two small groups at the Engineering College, the outreach expanded to several colleges in the nearby areas. From the early days, Jiffy Yohannan, a first year student at the Seminary, rose up to the challenge and naturally became a leader among these groups. It was in 1998 that Charlie George joined the seminary and subsequently joined these groups and took on a leadership role as well.
From the beginning, these groups reached out with a passion for reaching lost souls for the Kingdom. God worked in amazing ways, and the ministry expanded. Although the original plan was just to reach young people, this outreach naturally grew into a church, and began Sunday morning services in July 1999.
After moving to several rented facilities, we now meet in our own facility on Market Road, near All Saints Public School. Adoor Vineyard has planted several churches and continues with the vision of reaching the town of Adoor and the surrounding areas with the Good News of the Kingdom. Along with that, we’ll continue to reach other areas by intentionally and actively planting churches.
Vineyard International
The Vineyard story is about ordinary people who worship and serve an extraordinary God. The Vineyard is simply one thread in the rich tapestry of the historic and global Church of Jesus Christ. But it is a thread of God’s weaving.
From the beginning, Vineyard pastors and leaders have sought to hold in tension the biblical doctrines of the Christian faith with an ardent pursuit of the present day work of the Spirit of God. Maintaining that balance is never easy in the midst of rapid growth and renewal.
John Wimber was a founding leader of the Vineyard. His influence profoundly shaped the theology and practice of Vineyard churches from their earliest days until his death in November 1997. When John was conscripted by God he was, in the words of Christianity Today, a “beer-guzzling, drug-abusing pop musician, who was converted at the age of 29 while chain-smoking his way through a Quaker-led Bible study” (Christianity Today, editorial, Feb. 9 1998).
The Early Years
In John’s first decade as a Christian he led hundreds of people to Christ. By 1970 he was leading 11 Bible studies that involved more than 500 people. Under God’s grace, John became so fruitful as an evangelical pastor he was asked to lead the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth. He also later became an adjunct instructor at Fuller Theological Seminary where his classes set attendance records. In 1977, John reentered pastoral ministry to plant Calvary Chapel of Yorba Linda.
Throughout this time, John’s conservative evangelical paradigm for understanding the ministry of the church began to grow. George Eldon Ladd’s theological writings on the kingdom of God convinced John intellectually that the all the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit should be active in the church. Encounters with Fuller missiologists Donald McGavaran and C. Peter Wagner and seasoned missionaries and international students gave him credible evidence for combining evangelism with healing and prophecy. As he became more convinced of God’s desire to be active in the world through all the biblical gifts of the Spirit, John began to teach and train his church to imitate Jesus’ kingdom ministry. He began to “do the stuff” of the Bible that he had formerly only read about.
The Vineyard Is Born
As John and his congregation sought God in intimate worship they experienced empowerment by the Holy Spirit, significant renewal in the gifts and conversion growth. It became clear that the church’s emphasis on the experience of the Holy Spirit was not shared by some leaders in the Calvary Chapel movement. In 1982, John’s church left Calvary Chapel and joined a small group of Vineyard churches. Vineyard was a name chosen by Ken Gulliksen for a church he planted in Los Angeles in 1974. Ken was a prolific church planter affiliated with Calvary Chapel. Pastors and leaders from the handful of Vineyard churches began looking to John for direction. And the Vineyard movement was born.
A Season of Expansion
Twenty-five years later, there are more than 1,500 Vineyard churches worldwide, 550+ in the US, with 8 regions actively planting churches across the country. Vineyard worship songs, documented by Vineyard Music, have helped thousands of churches experience intimacy with God. Many churches have been equipped to continue Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming the kingdom, demonstrating the kingdom and training disciples.
The Vineyard’s journey has not been a straight path. It winds through many trials and triumphs. If you are interested in more, there are a number of books and DVDs available from Vineyard Resources that explore the history, events, issues and people who shaped the Vineyard in its first two decades.
Adoor Vineyard 