+How does VC’s finances work?
+Starter Reading for House Church Networks
+What is a house church?
+Does VC have weekly services?
+What about kids?
+Who’s in charge?
+Do we have office staff, payroll, etc?
+How is outreach cared for?
+What’s the best way to connect with a house church?
+Can I visit?

…

+How does VC’s finances work?
You can view our latest budget info here: VC Budget 2009.

One of the frequently asked questions we get is, “how do your finances work”? Well, it depends when you asked the question. Recently, Vineyard Central has changed how we handle our financial life together as our journey of faith together has grown and changed.

In the recent past, we pushed almost every financial decision down to the lowest possible level with almost all tithing, giving, and spending occurring at the house church level. Our network operating needs were met by a monthly pledge from the house churches back to the larger Vineyard Central network. While this served us well for a time, some problems began to be highlighted as our network grew and changed. House churches are by their very nature fluid, flexible and living organisms. They birth, they die, they expand and they contract — and they must be allowed to do so in order to remain healthy. As Vineyard Central grew and changed and tried to do things like add a weekly worship gathering, steward and restore a beautiful building, or share weekly community meals, we found ourselves with a system of finances that was no longer serving us well. We were asking an organism that is fluid by nature (house churches) to make long term financial commitments to cover fixed operating costs that they were ill equipped to make. It did not seem like a very natural fit; so we’ve decided to change that.

As of January 2008, the Board of Trustees has decided to set one budget for our financial life together. Rather than having separate Building Funds, Weekly Worship Gathering Funds, Leadership Funds, House Church Operating Funds, etc., we are moving towards one unified operating budget to guide our finances. Now, when money comes in; whether that is from renting space in our building, or from Sunday morning giving, or from house church members, it goes into our general funds and is distributed according to our budget.

We still want our house churches to have a financial life together and to be empowered to make decisions together about how best to use their resources in a way that advances the Kingdom of God and blesses the world. Therefore, each VC house church still has its own bank account, but rather than asking each house church to commit to a specific monthly pledge back to VC to support the network’s operating expenses, a percentage of all tithes given by a member of that house church will be used by the wider network and a percentage will be returned to that specific house churches for their use.

Since this system is a change for our community, we plan to review and revise our policies, our percentages, and this budget each quarter to make sure we are being good stewards of our funds. This budget covers all of the expenses that cover our life together as a network, including such things as: Sunday community lunches, utility costs, partial salaries, insurance, facility repairs, etc. We believe it is fairly self explanatory, but below are a few notes that may help to clarify a few items:

We expect the majority of our giving to outreach and missions to occur at the house church level as these groups are in closest contact with various needs. Therefore, there is not a specific category that covers this type of giving in our network budget.

VC gives 3 percent of all donations to the Vineyard USA Church. This comes off the top of all donations given to Vineyard Central.

VC acts as a missions support organization for specific missionaries and organizations that we believe in and want to support administratively and financially. Money given to these organizations does not appear in this budget as those funds are outside of our normal operating budget. VC keeps a small percentage of all funds to help cover administrative costs.

While there are minimal funds that are budgeted for the restoration of Saint Elizabeth, our hope is that funds can be raised specifically for this purpose that will supplement the budgeted funds.

While the Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for financial decisions, a small Finance Team has been appointed to deal with the day to day issues that arise.

+Starter Reading for House Church Networks
• Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens … Neil Cole
• Houses that Change the World … Wolfgang Simpson
• The Shaping of Things to Come … Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch
• The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church … Roland Allen
• St. Paul’s Missionary Methods … Roland Allen
• Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture … Michael Frost
• Missional Church … edited by Darrel Gruder
• The Forgotten Ways … Alan Hirsch

…

+What is a house church?
First and foremost it is a church. We add the adjective ‘house’ because for most people the word ‘church’ conjures up images of large buildings and large gatherings. (We have those too but that’s not what we’re talking about right now.) Some other common ways of referring to these smaller gatherings are simple church, organic church, and home church. The main thing as you can see is the noun ‘church.’ It’s not merely a bible study (though we do study scripture together) and it’s not merely a support group (though they are supportive groups). They are intended to be holistic, spiritual communities, offering a range of shared practices and relationships. So a Vineyard Central house church is a Christ centered community that meets weekly to be the church. There are several common elements that work their way into these times though not necessarily every week. Some of the things you will find in most of our churches most of the time include shared meals, worship with songs and prayers, sharing stories of God’s activity in our lives, supporting each other via listening and prayer, learning together by engaging with Scripture, communion, and being on mission together.

+Does VC have weekly services?
As a network of housechurches, one of the ways we network is to have all the housechurches come together for large celebrations. We have had seasons where this took the shape of a weekly gathering, and most recently we stopped doing these due to a boiler shutdown in the winter. We saw this as an opportunity to re-imagine the when and where and why of our larger gatherings.

We feel God calling us to restore the liturgical calendar and observe the Christian Holidays; the feasts and festivals. These are a way for us to gather as a people set apart to remember our story and identity. Click here to see the schedule for our larger gatherings.

There are other alternative gatherings on Sundays as well, including Orientation Groups which meet at the Brownhouse seasonally, and some housechurches have begun meeting on Sundays.

…

+What about kids?
Kids matter to us. We have many kids at our larger gatherings and at several of our smaller gatherings throughout the week as well. Each house church decides how they will nurture the children within their own context so it’s kind of case by case as those go. As for the larger gatherings we include the children in part of the adult worship and then they go off for a time tailored for them. Every week we open our time together with a song the kids can readily connect with. The kids seemed to enjoy watching the adults doing hand motions that the kids mastered years ago.

+Who’s in charge?
That’s a tough one because the honest to goodness answer sounds so flippant and like we’re evading the question. So, the short and long answer to this question is: Jesus is in charge. We mean that. We spend a considerable amount of time especially at critical junctures in our life together determining what his will is via listening prayer and searching the scriptures. We also recognize that God calls people to work with him in leading his church: pastors, teachers, prophets, and elders to name a few. We have human leaders as well. We have a board of trustees who cares for the legal matters of being an organization, handling money, and owning property. We also have a pastoral council made up of trusted, proven leaders who are skilled at discerning what the community as a whole needs and seeking God’s will for our collective calling. There are leaders in our house churches as well who guide these smaller communities, the core of our life together. So, who’s in charge? Well, the short answer is Jesus and whoever he gifts with influence at any given time. We do have a pastoral council and there’s also the board of trustees. And of course there’s our beloved Leadership Council made up of our house church leaders. For more info on these click here. But we hope you know that the real answer is… you guessed it: Jesus. He’s the One we love and follow.

…

+Do we have office staff, payroll, etc?
For a long time we didn’t have any pastors on payroll. Recently we’ve developed the Leadership Sustainability Fund for folks who choose to do so to donate toward some very modest stipends for a few folks devoting more time to leading Vineyard Central. We also pay a small fee for bookkeeping and for web site maintenance and some general administrative duties. We sometimes raise support for leaders or projects, asking specific donors to contribute above and beyond their regular giving to this specific cause.

+How is outreach cared for?
Mostly through our house churches. Some through living in the neighborhood. A house church might decide to do a service project together, choose a date and time, buy whatever supplies they need, and go for it. For example, recently St. Elizabeth House Church decided to clean up some graffiti in the ‘hood, so they bought paint and other supplies and did so in lieu of their regular meeting one week. Occasionally all the house churches might work together to plan a larger event, like a neighborhood grill out, and all pitch in to buy supplies and take time to serve together. Also, because many of us live in the immediate neighborhood, we get to know our neighbors and therefore know of specific needs they might have. We can bring these needs to our house churches to help care for them, or someone might just provide a meal or babysit or give some other type of service to a neighbor. There are also some mission efforts that we’re participating in.

…

+What’s the best way to connect with a house church?
Check out our page with the current list of house churches, choose one, get in touch with the contact person, and go visit. It’s okay to visit more than one, then choose one that best works out for you. Also, you can come to our Sunday morning gathering where you can meet people who are in house churches, ask questions, and make connections to one you might like to visit.

+Can I visit?
Yes. We have visitors all the time. There are several ways to do this, depending on your purpose.

1) Sometimes folks want to come and hang out for a day or two, or a weekend, chatting with whoever’s around and experiencing the life of VC. To do this, contact newcomers@vineyardcentral.com, and someone will work with you to see what times are good. We ask for a minimum contribution of $50 per night for anyone age 16 or over to help cover expenses. We’ll provide you with your meals and a place to stay, most likely in the convent (retreat house).

2) We offer retreats and have a full website describing this. Sustainable Faith.