BEH X

Naturally Supernatural
The Vineyard emphasizes a balanced rhythm of proclamation and demonstration; teaching people about the Kingdom, and introducing people to the effective power of the King. This however, is done without hype; the power of the Spirit of God is not relegated to special people, special buildings, or special methods or words. The Kingdom of God is breaking through in the lives of ordinary people as they do ordinary things: 1) Ministry in under-resourced communities cannot be contained in weekly gatherings; deep needs and urgent requests bubble over into routine daily activities. The Vineyard teaches people to expect God to move in precisely those places, and equips ‘ordinary saints’ to address those needs as and when they arise. 2) The depth and breadth of devastation that exists in impoverished communities cannot be met solely by ‘social justice’ oriented work (although this too is indispensable); the Spirit must intervene to deliver, heal, convict, empower, and save. 3) Those who engage in ministry among the poor will themselves suffer from ‘secondary trauma’ that requires the ongoing operation of the Spirit’s activity to address. 4) Impoverished communities are the frequent victims of empty promises from the business community, politicians, and churches. “Power-for-a-purpose” praxis creates space for God to be real without any need to ‘hype it up;’ God does indeed move, but does so to accomplish actual transformation. The Vineyard intends to offer ‘power without hype’ instead of ‘hype without power.’