Bible
We believe that it is imperative in order to make, train and equip disciples that we remain committed to the teaching of the Scriptures as the foundation upon which we stand and our plumb line for evaluating all we do. Throughout the year we have maintained our focus on teaching from the Bible at all our Sunday services, as well as continuing to resource and encourage those leading small groups throughout the week to do the same.
Prayer
Prayer has remained the underpinning of all that we do as a church and over the year we have both taught regularly on the subject, as well continuing to offer more formal opportunities for people to gather together and to pray. In May 2017, we were delighted to once again join with churches across the nation in the Archbishops of Canterbury and York call to a week of prayer ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. This wonderful initiative, supported by Churches Together, is an invitation to churches of all denominations to join with the whole family of God in prayer, to pray for the empowering of the Holy Spirit, that we might be more effective witnesses to God the Son, Jesus Christ. All members of SW London Vineyard were invited to make prayer a priority as we continued to support and encourage a whole host of prayer groups across the SW London region. As always, we know that everything we do as a church must be constantly supported by prayer and we remain tremendously grateful for those who faithfully and consistently meet to pray for the church and those who don’t yet know Jesus.
Worship
As part of the outworking to make, train and equip disciples who love and serve Jesus, we believe that worship is our highest priority in the Vineyard and we have continued to go deeper in our worship this year. We have invested in new team members in all aspects of our worship and have seen new leaders emerge this year.
We have continued to provide additional space for the church to worship over and above the time we have on a Sunday morning through our Evenings of Worship at the Ritz, which have also given an opportunity for further leadership development and training along with additional practice time for the worship teams. In addition to Evenings of Worship at the Ritz we began an Evening of Worship at the Ark, which proved to be a popular and refreshing evening of uninterrupted, intimate worship giving us the ability to dig into our Vineyard roots of worship.
Under James Wake’s leadership and oversight the worship teams have grown and expanded this year with four new worship leaders, a number of new team members as well as the addition of new instruments, which has helped to broaden the style and range of our worship.
Specific worship leaders have been identified, recruited and released to lead Women’s Ministry events and worship bands have developed and emerged to take this forward over the coming months.
Following our move to the Ark we have invested in and improved the PA equipment we had been using due to its unsuitability for the new Sunday venue. PA teams have also developed significantly, rising to the challenge of mastering sound in a new location, with new members joining the team and Mark O’Mahony taking on a coordinating role.
Worship has continued in House Groups and across a number of other small groups with many of the Sunday band members and specifically the new Sunday leaders, being deployed in those areas as well. Weekends away at the Oast Houses have also provided additional spaces for developing worship leaders and people who might not get a chance to lead in other than small groups.
Small Groups
Once again, we have run a broad range of Small Groups across SW London including those designed primarily to allow people to connect with others, courses tackling specific issues such as the Bereavement Journey and Parenting Children Course, Prayer Groups and more traditional House Groups. Our approach continues to facilitate us connecting with as wide a range of people as possible and we look forward to seeing those who may have more recently considered themselves new to the church now being released into appropriate leadership roles as we head into 2018.
These Small Groups are one of the primary environments whereby we can make, train and equip disciples who love and serve Jesus, who love and serve one another and who love and serve their neighbours. 39 Small Groups ran in the Spring, 40 in the Summer and 39 in the Autumn.
We have seen renewed enthusiasm from existing church members and welcomed a wide range of guests from beyond the church to specific courses such as the Parenting Teenagers Course, the What Pram? antenatal course, The Bereavement Journey Course and Alpha. At the end of 2017, 275 individuals had signed up to a small group.
We are delighted by the success of this relatively new framework for running Small Groups as they have proved to be an excellent way to release a number of people into leading in areas they are passionate about. The diversity of groups on offer led to an increase in engagement in terms of those singing up and we look forward to continuing to offer a broad range of small groups whereby we can continue to make, train and equip disciples who love and serve Jesus, who love and serve one another and who love and serve their neighbours.
Over the course of the year we have run a number of small groups giving people a chance to come together and get to know one another and deepen their relationships including: Newcomers’ Lunches; Book Club; Sunday Lunches; Breakfast Clubs; Social Clubs; Weekend Walks; Bring & Share Bar-B-Q and Picnics on the Heath.
For people facing similar opportunities, issues or challenges associated with the season of life they find themselves in we have run a number of Life Stage Groups over the year which provide a place to meet new people, share ideas and where appropriate, receive practical help and training. Groups on offer over the course of 2017 have included: CAP Money Course, a free three-week money management course that teaches people budgeting skills and a simple, cash-based system that has proved to be extremely helpful in combatting the effects of poverty; Little Fish groups for the under 5s have met in multiple locations over the year; Youth groups, for both older and younger youth have been offered to provide young people an opportunity to meet and socialise together; The Small Business Network supports and prays for those running their own small and medium-sized business; The Bereavement Journey, a six-week course for anyone who is bereaved, whether recently or dating back several years; the Parenting Children Course a five-week course for parents or carers with children looking at the art of parenting well; What Pram? A four-week course for pregnant women and their partners at any stage of their pregnancy to discuss pregnancy, birth and caring for a new baby; Time of our Lives a small group for women facing the ‘empty-nest’ stage of life; Love After Marriage, an eight-week course giving insight into the way in which we can lean to draw nearer to our spouse to help create the marriage we all desire.
For those who would like to explore specific aspects of the Christian Faith in more detail, with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and debate issues a number of groups have been offered throughout 2017 including: Alpha, a course exploring questions about life and the Christian faith; Healing on the Streets, which is a gentle, non-confrontational way of connecting with people on the streets of our city and introducing them to Jesus; Women’s groups including Soul Time, Coffee, Cake & Scripture, the Emmaus Journey; Men’s Groups; The Caleb Group; Living on Purpose, a group to help people grow their sense of purpose, looking at how God sees us, what our unique talents and strengths are and how these get expresses day to day.
Our House Groups provide a place for people to gather together to eat, talk, learn from the Bible, worship the Lord by and pray for one another. These groups create an inclusive family feel, to do life together and to what we can to bless and serve our local communities. Over the year we have offered House Groups across a wide geographical area including: Roehampton, Southfields, Wandsworth, Wimbledon, Worcester Park, New Malden, Morden, Kingston and East Sheen.
Running on most days of the week we have provided groups giving people to the opportunity to pray for the church, our local communities and the world.
Alpha
In early 2017 we partnered with St Stephen’s, East Putney in running the Alpha course. Alpha, which combines food, a talk and good conversation is run all around the globe in cafés, churches, universities and homes. We were delighted to support the local church in this way by sending teams to help out wherever they could be useful. As we look ahead to 2018 we are praying about ways in which we can effectively run a range of Alpha courses across a number of different areas and at various times during the day and week to enable as many people as possible to explore the Christian faith.
Men
Many of the men from the church continued to meet in small groups to pray for one another and to deepen friendships and encourage each other in their faith. A number of ‘Men Behaving Badly’ Small Groups, open to all men in the church, continued to run.
Women
Women’s Ministry in the church continued to grow with a number of small groups specifically run by women, for women happening across a wide geographical area over all three terms. These groups included amongst others: Soul Time; Coffee, Cake & Scripture; the Emmaus Road and Time of our Lives.
In July, we ran two Women in Leadership training and envisioning events and it was so encouraging to see the calibre of women leaders, in particular in worship, across the church. We hosted a well-attended Women’s Gathering in November 2017 and were joined by representatives of Eden Ministry, Myanmar and the LunchBowl Network, Kenya who spoke about ways in which we could all get involved in these projects rescuing women from sex-trafficking and supporting children in the Kibera Slum in Nairobi. A number of toys and toiletries were donated to go to children and local families affected by domestic violence. The event was open to women from other Vineyard churches across the London area and we were encouraged to see many different churches represented and a number of guests from outside the church.
Students & Young Adults
Having moved back to the Ark we are keen to re-establish our links with students, especially those at Roehampton University. Over the summer we met with the Chaplaincy, the Student Union and Christian Union at the university to explore ways in which we could support the excellent work being done. In early autumn, we were invited to represent local churches at the Freshers’ Fair. We gave away hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and welcome packs along with a brochure giving details of all the churches in the locality. Following such a successful event we hosted a number of Student Lunches at the Ark after the morning service. We have remained in contact with students to see if and how we can support them throughout their time at university. Towards the end of the year we were invited back on campus to attend the Refreshers’ Fair which was held in early January 2018. We are looking forward to developing close links with the university over the course of 2018 through the excellent work being done by the Chaplaincy, the Student Union and the Christian Union.
God continues to send us an increasing number of those in their 20s and 30s, who are connecting into the life of the church and stepping into leadership. Some of our Small Groups, such as The Breakfast Club and Friday Night Socials, have deliberately been aimed to reach those in this demographic and we continue to receive comments about how friendly and welcoming our church members are.
Youth
We continued to run a range of socials and small groups tailored for the age groups currently attending the church and, as in previous years, we took a group of young people to the annual Vineyard youth conference ‘Dreaming the Impossible’ in Peterborough. This year was the largest DTI with over 1,000 youth in attendance. In the summer, again in partnership with the Stewards’ Trust, we took a number of our youth to the Soul Survivor conference – always a highlight of the year. In November, we took the youth to DTI Nano in Bournemouth.
Youth worship continued to develop throughout 2017 with James Wake doing an excellent job working with a range of young people helping develop and grow their musical and worship gifting.
In the summer Matt & Lydia Cotton took on oversight for the youth having served on the teams for a number of years. Matt & Lydia have developed a great team of leaders and have both wonderful vision and passion for youth. In December Charlie Nohre joined the staff team with specific responsibility for focusing on the development of youth ministry across the church. We’re looking forward to seeing how this area grows and expands over 2018.
Leadership Development
A key element of making, training and equipping disciples is through the process of identifying, recruiting, training, deploying, monitoring and nurturing leaders. Over the course of 2017 we continued with to run gatherings for all leaders in the church. With the demands of both London and family life, along with the incredibly busy schedules and levels of commitment both inside the church and out of so many of our leaders, finding ways to meet together remains a challenge. Over the course of 2018 we plan to explore different ways in which we can support and encourage our leaders in and through the wonderful and important work that they do.
A number of training events were made available to leaders in the church including the Vineyard Churches National Leadership Conference in January, Trustees’ Training, Safeguarding Training. Parenting Courses etc. and a range of conferences (e.g. Being Jesus’ Hands & Feet and the HTB Leadership Conference) throughout the year run by local churches and organisations.
The Staff Team joined leadership staff from the other Vineyard churches in the London Area for a series of networking and training days.
Pastoral care
Fundamental to our understanding of making, training and equipping disciples who love and serve one another we have continued to provide pastoral care support to a wide range of church members and other contacts through difficult times, both on an individual basis and through a range of church ministries. Much of our pastoral care work is unseen but we are grateful for the many hours spent by staff team members and lay leaders in providing practical support, prayer and encouragement to those in need.
SW London Vineyard has continued to join the hundreds of churches around the world offering Sozo ministry as part of their pastoral care. Our aim with the Sozo prayer ministry is to become a church full of people who know their true identity: sons and daughters loved by the Father, radically forgiven through what Jesus did on the Cross, empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring Heaven to earth.
Throughout 2017 we have continued to provide a free accredited counselling service at the Yard, where clients, often referred by Job Club and Foodbank can begin to work through some of the more challenging personal situations they may be facing.
Small Groups like the Bereavement Course, What Pram?, Parenting Children and Love After Marriage have again provided significant pastoral support for a number of individuals facing a sometimes challenging and difficult life stage.
A significant proportion of pastoral care takes place in and through our small groups, in particular our House Groups. The very many hours of on-going pastoral care provided by so many of our leaders is almost impossible to quantify but is a wonderful demonstration of the church loving and serving one another and those around them. We remain incredibly grateful to our gifted and generous leaders who tirelessly devote themselves to ministering to, supporting and encouraging individuals in their care.
Families & Relationships
As part of our commitment to make, train and equip disciples who love and serve Jesus, who love and serve one another and who love and serve their neighbours throughout 2017 we continued to support family and relationship ministries through a range of courses including marriage, parenting and expectancy along with a number of small groups more specifically tailored towards those who are single.
In early 2017 with married couples from the Staff Team, we piloted Love After Marriage, a very practical workshop over a series of weeks for married couples to grow in spiritual, emotional and sexual intimacy. Following the success of this initial course we subsequently ran the course in the autumn term for 27 couples.
The What Pram? Course ran over the spring and autumn, and in Spring we ran a Parenting Children Course.
Over the course of 2018 we are keen to develop these family and relationship ministries and hope to build a strong component to cover all life stages and circumstances.
Naturally Supernatural
Alongside these very practical demonstrations of the kingdom, we remain fully committed to the Biblical mandate of signs and wonders and have continued to encourage church members to be ‘naturally supernatural’ in all aspects of their lives, stepping out of their comfort zones to invite the Spirit of God to speak, bless and heal friends and neighbours.
We have continued to run Healing on the Streets in New Malden on a regular basis and in the spring term ran an additional Healing on the Streets in Putney, again in partnership with St Stephen’s Church, East Putney. These practical demonstrations and out-workings of our theology, faith and practice have proved to be encouraging ways to both equip and mobilise the church as well as engaging with those from our local communities.
In the autumn Patrick & Kim ten Have led a training weekend at the Oast Houses to equip and encourage a number of leaders in ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our hope is that this will encourage a greater emphasis on prophecy and the use of spiritual gifts both at church on Sundays and across our local communities through the rest of the week.
International Mission
As part of our desire to make, train and equip disciples who love and serve their neighbours 2017 has been a key year in the development and expansion of our focus in the area of International Mission supporting, not only expressions of compassion & justice, but also church planting and church development across the world.
We have continued to build our excellent partnership with Tearfund, as part of their Connected Church initiative focussing on mission primarily in Nepal, India and more recently Myanmar. Much of this work, which has involved significant and generous contribution from the whole church, has been to support organisations on the ground in Nepal, India and Myanmar as they develop educational programmes in the prevention of trafficking across the region. The development of this important initiative further supports our vision to make, train and equip disciples who love and serve Jesus, who love and serve one another and who love and serve their neighbours – be they near, local or far.
Alongside some of our support of relief, development and educational programmes we have also begun to explore partnering with Vineyard churches in Myanmar, Denmark & Spain as together we seek to plant churches and extend the kingdom of God everywhere and in every way.
In November Neil Woodward was invited to visit international mission partners in Mumbai India, Kathmandu Nepal and Yangon Myanmar to seek to deepen and consolidate these relationships and partnerships. The trip was both fruitful and full and included: meeting with Tearfund’s country rep in India and working alongside and speaking at a number of partner organisations working in the slums and red-light districts of Mumbai; spending time with Tearfund’s country rep in Nepal liaising with board members and representatives from CARNET, a partner agency we work with who are developing educational programmes to prevent trafficking in the remote Himalayan regions; exploring a potential partnership with the Anandaban Leprosy Mission hospital outside Kathmandu; speaking engagements at the Kathmandu Vineyard and meetings with the Vineyard Churches Himalayan National Director, Noel Isaacs; leadership training events and speaking engagements at the Yangon Vineyard, Myanmar; visiting a number of ‘slum churches’ being planted by the Yangon Vineyard in some of the poorest areas of the city; running a series of leadership training events for leaders of both the outreach missions and Yangon Vineyard; meeting with and training representatives of Eden Ministries in their work with trafficked girls and women across Asia; speaking engagements at the Yangon Vineyard and coaching and training the church’s senior leaders and leadership teams.
To help us develop these initiatives and maximise our impact in 2017 we established an International Mission Task Force comprised of members of SW London Vineyard with both passion and experience in these areas to help advise us as to how we continue to make this element of the vision God has given us a reality.
In May 2017 Mike Lister was invited to attend the Nordic Vineyard Conference hosted by the Copenhagen Vineyard as we begin to develop missional church planting partnerships with Vineyards in the region.
Over the course of 2017 Manny & Sinead Garcia have been exploring potential church planting opportunities with the Iberian Partnership, which seeks to facilitate and encourage the planting new churches and the resourcing of existing churches across Spain.
Financial Gifts
Sunday Offerings
As with in 2016, financial gifts & offerings received in 2017 at church on a Sunday morning (as opposed to those given by monthly standing order), were restricted for specific purposes. These were fully spent during the year, in accordance with their restriction, as follows:
£5,025.35 was given through Tearfund to facilitate our church partnership with the Children At Risk Network Nepal (CarNet)
£2,845.77 was given to Yangon Vineyard, our international mission partner in Myanmar
£1,095.50 was given to Kennington Vineyard to support the church following its release as an independent charity in October 2017.
30th Anniversary Gift Day
On 17 September, SWLV celebrated its 30th anniversary and, as part of marking the occasion, we held a Gift Day.
£16,212.38 was received, which was split equally 3 ways, as follows:
£5,404.13 was given to Kennington Vineyard.
£5,404.13 was given to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland (VCUK&I) and restricted for their church planting activities
£5,404.13 was split equally between our 2 international mission partners: CarNet through the Tearfund partnership; and Yangon Vineyard.
In addition to the total amount above further restricted donations were received as follows:
£5,000.00 was given to Kennington Vineyard
£1,250.00 was given to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland (VCUK&I) and restricted for their church planting activities
Other Financial Gifts
In addition to the gifts given via the Sunday offering and 30th Anniversary Gift Day, SWLV gave further gifts to:
- Tearfund (for our church partnership with CarNet)
- Kennington Vineyard
- VCUK&I
Financial Gifts were also made to a number of organisations including:
- Mercy Outreach/ Eden Ministry
- Unseen
- The LunchBowl Network, Kenya
- Stewards’ Trust
- Evangelical Alliance
In addition to the above, financial gifts and gifts in-kind were made throughout the year to 179 individuals.