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February 23, 2012

Home > 2011 > DecemberChristianity Today, December, 2011
Church Growth
The Kingdom in Columbus
Why the world's largest Vineyard church is drawing people from 104 nations in central Ohio.




The day they arrived at the church's doorstep on a sweltering July morning in 2010, Venant and Nshimira were weary travelers losing faith in God's provison. Refugees from the volatile eastern Congo, the couple had been resettled the previous September in Columbus, Ohio. Among their few possessions was a box stuffed with legal documents, leftovers from their case recently abandoned by a resettlement agent. When they arrived in Columbus, they had joined a French-speaking group for African expats, whose leader, Emmanuel Sotondji, invited them to accompany him to his church of a decade, Vineyard Columbus (VC), in suburban Westerville.

"The first time I saw Venant, his face showed so much fear," remembers Chris Childers, a social worker at VC since 2009. "He wasn't sure where he was in his faith."

And for good reason. Venant had been tortured by soldiers of a Rwandan terrorist group and suffered severe back and neck pain. He and Nshimira spoke zero English. Their furniture was a mattress and chairs with no backs; their six children slept atop blankets strewn across the linoleum kitchen floor of a two-bedroom apartment.

Childers immediately brought her 25 years of social service work to bear. She discovered they were eligible for food stamps and health benefits and could reduce their electric bill, which was burning through 10 percent of their income. She recruited another VC minister to gather layette supplies and furnishings for the couple's seventh child, arriving any day, and e-mailed VC's staff members, who brought a truckload of furniture in two days. She located an esl class within walking distance of the apartment (learning English is required for continued federal benefits). And, in a gesture unseen at their resettlement agency, Childers, Sotondji, and associate pastor Bill Christensen prayed for complete healing of Venant's scars.

The couple represent 1 of the 104 nations now gathered at the largest church in the Vineyard movement, a loose association of 1,500 congregations that infuse evangelical distinctives with the "signs and wonders" of the charismatic movement. VC's multicultural push over the past decade marks the next wave of a denomination taking its strong "kingdom of God" theology to the ends of the earth—or, rather, welcoming the ends of the earth to its Western center.

'A Serious Tipping Point'

It's no happenstance that VC's international flavor has been driven by a culturally Jewish, formerly atheist lawyer. "My passion for immigrants and racial reconciliation comes from the sense that I'm not an insider to white evangelicalism," says Rich Nathan, 56. The New York City native came to Christ when a friend, Marlene, took him to a Messianic Seder meal his freshman year at Case Western Reserve University. "When the pastor broke the matzo and explained the connection between the Last Supper and the Passover, the Holy Spirit hit me in the chest," says Nathan, whose wiry dark hair and 5'8" frame betray his lineage. Nine months later, Nathan was president of the college's InterVarsity chapter. He eventually married Marlene, and while he was teaching law at Ohio State University in the mid-'80s, they attended a revival in Harrogate, England. John Wimber, a leading founder of the Vineyard and a charismatic church-growth enthusiast, had planned to teach on healing, but at the last minute, sensing a Spirit nudge, spoke on the pearl of great price. "Some of you tonight are wondering about whether God is calling you into full-time ministry. You will know it's the Lord when there is no more time." Nathan says he gripped his seat, knowing God had answered his prayer for a sign.





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Displaying 1–5 of 13 comments

Marie

December 22, 2011  1:00pm

Dear John, I realize that God loves Muslims. Of course the answer is "yes." My point was that it's a larger gift to dignify and teach people personal responsibility (Muslim men and mosques gradually providing for themselves, while we keep friendships in place) rather than Christians handing them food and clothing month after month, in some cases, year after year, welcoming more and more to America where they are apparently not free to receive the Gospel of Jesus and join churches. Some Muslims think we're simply "stupid" for feeding their many children (often by multiple women or more likely teenage girls) thus advancing the cause of Islam in America. I think you need to re-read my comment to which you responded. Jesus said to be wise as well as innocent. Advancing a geo-political movement that denies the divinity of Jesus, and the cross, is not my idea of love. Though I'm glad that surely some are attracted to Christ, Christians, and not just hand-outs.

Marie

December 22, 2011  11:48am

Dear C.T. (Katelyn or another staff person / writer) ~ Does the Columbus Vineyard receive local, state and/or federal funding for the work? Or does the church pay for outreach, itself? (I'm sure they're not alone among ministries dealing with this difficult question). I think that was a concern of members who left, that the Church was leaning towards politics with funding involved. It would be great if we could find a ministry model that looked at the the larger wisdom of Scripture on debt and justice to one's own nation. Both justice to neighbor and mercy to the foreigner. It's a hard balance, but worth finding. Thanks for any additional info.

Missionary James

December 19, 2011  8:35am

Anonymous has my vote! Enough talk about this False Christianity of Liberalism! Nothing but Doctrines of Demons, tickling the ears of those who seek to be tickled!

Anonymous

December 18, 2011  6:55pm

Whatever happened to the language of personal responsibility? We are each responsible for ourselves and our families, under God. We have WAY too much talk encouraging dependency and economic victimhood in this country. Before now, most immigrants who came here WORKED HARD, and could get ahead, because our economic "system" (the free market) allowed them to. We should help other people, but there's a point where you teach a man to fish and don't listen to complaints about why he can't. To demonize America, fellow Americans, or fellow Christians... is counter-productive. We need to be encouraging people to stand up, on their own, under God. We must be careful not to demonize 'the rich' or 'America', just to make ourselves look good with certain constituencies.

Allison

December 18, 2011  10:49am

While I obviously do not know the exact situation, reporting that their resettlement agency "abandoned" their case seems very unfair. The purpose of a resettlement agency is to get them here and support them for a finite period of time. After that, it is the responsibility of the community, especially local churches, to partner with the agency to support them. There is no way the resettlement agency can do it alone. While I applaud Vineyards outreach, this is what is supposed to happen. That kind of prejudicial language is very unfair to the many hardworking resettlement agencies struggling to keep afloat with continuing budget cuts.

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