Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Maybe I am missing something...
I have been hearing a lot about the Vineyard Church in Columbus recently so I decided to go on their website and check it out. I was intrigued by the Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI). Apparently the Vineyard has their own two year training program that funds their staff positions, church plants, and provides basic theological education:
“We train students practically, spiritually and academically for ministry in the context of the local church. Students enjoy the benefits of hands-on ministry training. Students develop a mentoring relationship with members of the pastoral staff. At the same time, students receive excellent Biblical-theological instruction.”
I sat back and was awestruck by the sheer size of the programs in this church. When I clicked the drop down menu it actually took me a full minute to read all of the different ministry programs. But the more I dug into the VLI page I was a little disappointed. Now hear me out. I think that Vineyard Columbus is a great church but if the point of leadership (my definition) is to be transformed more and more into the image of Christ and to empower others to Christlikness where is this vision on the webpage? The only time that the name of Jesus was mentioned was when they stated that we have a “mandate” to disciple the nation. I know that this is a great church I just wish that the website gave more detail to underlying power of Jesus Christ to equip and prepare for ministry. Am I being too sensitive? http://vineyardcolumbus.org/ministries/vineyard-leadership-institute/
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ReplyDeleteFirst of all, we can't all be born great charismatic leaders like President Obama (most powerful charismatic leader in the world), which is why there is a place like the Vineyard Leadership Institute in the first place. It is there to train up young leaders and set them loose upon the world to create powerful change for the Kingdom of God. You asked in your post if you are being too sensitive. I would say yes. But at the same time, your point has some validity, because if we are to train the next generation (which I am a proud member of) to be leaders in the Kingdom of God, then shouldn’t we be following very attentively the example of the King’s son, Jesus. I don’t know much about politics, but I am guessing that you can’t go wrong if you are following after the will of the King of Kings. This leads to the very good question of, Where does Jesus fit in to leadership? Is his example just one way of leading, or is it the ultimate example of leading? I think we need to struggle with these questions as we seek to train up this generation of leaders in the Kingdom.
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