History

by Dave Nixon
After some behind-the-scenes planning, we officially began as a local church in January, 1993. Our core team was made up of a dozen people who came as a “planting team” from Vineyard Community Church in Tri-County. From January of 1993 until August of 1994 things went as we expected. We were young, excited, and attracting new people. But I knew something wasn’t right. We were, in my opinion, just copying our parent church, and I sensed that God wanted to do something very different among us.

In August of 1994, things changed quickly. While away in Cleveland on a business trip, I got an urgent call from my wife. She told me she had just been informed by a city official that we had to vacate the building in which our church had been meeting for over a year (the Norwood Community Center). The city’s building inspector and fire chief had given orders to chain and lock the doors to it, citing fire hazards and structural instability as their concerns. In fact, we were told over the phone that we had just 48 hours to remove all our belongings.

Losing the building, while difficult, also opened some new and exciting opportunities. Around this time the vision for a grassroots-driven church emerged in my head and heart, grabbing me in a serious way. Also, the word “community” lodged itself in my brain and wouldn’t leave. The only problem was how to process this information and move forward.

Losing the Norwood Community Center was the key. When I returned from Cleveland, our leadership team got together to pray about what to do next. During the course of the meeting, Dave Barr (one of our pastors) felt a strong impression that the entire church was to break up into smaller-sized groups and begin meeting in homes on a weekly basis and cancel the weekly service. The comment raised more than a few eyebrows! But as we prayed more about it the impression was confirmed and a sense of excitement began to grow.The following Sunday morning, huddled together in an overcrowded basement cafeteria, we enthusiastically announced the plan to over 130 people, giving people a chance to bail out. Only one family got up and left. The rest of us, right there in the cafeteria, broke into 6 smaller-sized groups (based loosely on geography) and chose leaders, assistants, hosts, and worship leaders. We purposed to meet in homes for the next three Sundays and then come back together in a rented facility on the fourth Sunday. After praying together we left full of faith and expectancy.

During that first month we received all kinds of enthusiastic comments, and when all six groups (plus curious newcomers) came back together at the end of four weeks we had a record attendance and an exciting meeting! It was then that I also announced we would continue to meet in homes and get together once a month for what had come to be known as our “AllGroup” time. Needless to say, we thought momentum, excitement, and numbers would just continue to grow.

Over the next 6 months our church of approximately 140 people “grew” down to 70! As the romance and initial excitement of this new direction began to wear off, we found ourselves to be rather barren and unpracticed in the art of being together. We found we had much to learn about practically loving each other as family and discovered we were reluctant to share the responsibility of reaching our neighbors with “The Really Good News.” We also discovered that old habits of “doing church” die miserably hard. But God, whose desire is for us to have deep community both with him and one another, patiently coached us through profound frustration, stinging disappointments, and hundreds of stupid, shortsighted mistakes. He put us through the most effective schooling possible: The School of Doing It. And the only thing that kept us from dropping out was a dogged conviction that we were being obedient to the vision God had placed in our hearts.

We firmly believe that learning to be together as the church can only be accomplished by actually being together and trying to act as the church-with God’s help, of course-because no true community of hearts and action happens apart from the work of his Holy Spirit. No book can teach you about it, at least not in a penetrating, pervasive way. Learning of this sort is only gained in the doing. And in the doing you become wise. Over the past few years God has washed away much of our naivete, giving our thoughts and actions some weight, though we would be the very first to tell you that our learning has just begun. Soul work is truly the work of a lifetime. We invite you to join us on this pilgrimage of faith.

Story of how Vineyard Central obtained the St. Elizabeth property here.

Listen to Dave Nixon and Kevin Rains (with the help of their lovely wives) tell that same story here.

   

Copyright 2008 • Vineyard Central
1757 Mills Avenue, Norwood, OH 45212 • 513-396-7202