Vineyard Churches

About Leadership Group

Vineyard Churches in the UK & Ireland is led by John and Eleanor Mumford and has been since the first Vineyard church was planted in the UK, back in 1987.

Vineyard Churches in the UK & Ireland is led by John and Eleanor Mumford and has been since the first Vineyard church was planted in the UK, back in 1987.

John and Eleanor are assisted by the Leadership Group, which is made up of experienced leaders from within our movement. The leadership group regularly meet together for discussion, vision-casting, the exchange of information and to make key decisions.

You can read more about the Leadership Group below.

John & Eleanor Mumford

John and Eleanor Mumford are the National Directors of the Vineyard movement in the UK & Ireland.

John studied theology at St Andrews and at Cambridge; Eleanor studied history and art history at St Andrew's and Edinburgh Universities before training at Cambridge as a teacher. After Eleanor had taught for five years, they married in 1978 and had two sons, James and Marcus.

Together they worked for nearly two years with John Wimber on the staff of the Anaheim Vineyard in California before planting the SW London Vineyard in 1987, which was the first Vineyard church in Europe at that time.

In 2008 they handed over the leadership of that church, in order to concentrate more upon the oversight and development of the movement, both nationally and internationally.

 

Rick & Lulu Williams

Rick and Lulu Williams are the Associate National Directors of the Vineyard movement in the UK & Ireland.

Rick grew up in Australia and studied theology in the UK. Following 8 years of pastoral experience on staff of other churches (including John Wimber's church in California), Rick and Lulu planted Riverside Vineyard in 1988. They have shaped the church's basic foundations, direction and vision.

In the autumn of 2011 they handed over the leadership of Riverside Vineyard, in order to take up their new role of Associate National Directors, focusing on Church Development of Vineyard churches.

Together they give oversight to a number of Vineyard churches, as well as overseeing the Missions taskforce. They have two children, Chloe and Michael.

Steve & Juliet Barber

Steve joined SW London Vineyard from the Methodist Church.  At SW London Vineyard Steve trained with John & Eleanor Mumford, he was then was released to plant Southend Vineyard where he met Juliet, who was converted at their first evening service.

Steve and Juliet Barber are the Senior Pastors at Leicester City Vineyard, having planted the Church in 2007 and previously pastored Southend Vineyard.

Steve and Juliet now head up Church Planting for Vineyard Churches, this includes pioneering the Hub initiative which focuses on training and equipping emerging leaders for life in ministry. Whilst Juliet also coordinates the Vineyard Bible Training Taskforce for VCUKI.

They have two children.

James & Jen Rankine

James and Jen met at Nottingham University in 1998, James studying theology and Jen studying medicine.

James got involved with Trent Vineyard in his first year as a student and he invited Jen to come on an Alpha course where she came to know Jesus. After university James started a discipleship year with the church, and at the end of this year they got married.

For the six years before coming to Cardiff, James had been on Pastoral Staff at Trent Vineyard as an Assistant Pastor and Jen working as a doctor in Nottingham, taking a year out of medicine in 2005 to serve on the ‘Discipleship Year’ at Trent.

In February 2007 God spoke to them about moving to Cardiff to plant a Vineyard Church, which they did in August 2008!

Jen is now working as a GP and James is working for the church. Together they also head up The Cause to Live For taskforce, which includes two conferences each year, training Emerging Leaders and bringing together students, 20s and 30s for times of envisioning and encouragement.

They have a little daughter called Eva.

John & Debby Wright

Debby lived in Chile until she was 14, with earthquakes and military coups most days before breakfast. She trained as a dancer and artist in Nottingham while John trained and worked for a number of years as a jeweller.

They were married in 1983 and have been serving together in pastoral ministry for the past 22 years.

John & Debby first connected with the Vineyard movement in 1982, and in 1987 spent 8 months as interns at Anaheim Vineyard (John Wimber's church in the USA) before returning to England to help John & Eleanor Mumford plant the first UK Vineyard in London. They worked at SW London Vineyard for 9 years before moving back to Nottingham to plant Trent Vineyard in 1996

They have been leading the church together for the last 13 years. They have two sons, Zack & Jordan, a dog and John's Ducati motorcycle.

Chris and Maggie Parsons

Chris and Maggie met at The University of Wales in 1972 whilst studying English and Drama together. After graduation Maggie went on to do a PGCE and became a teacher, whilst Chris studied theology and pastoral ministry at The Queens College in Birmingham and Birmingham University and was ordained into the Church of England where they served for fifteen years in a number of parishes. They first encountered the Vineyard when they attended John Wimber’s conference in Westminster Central Hall in 1984.

Their experience with the Vineyard in Westminster and in subsequent years dramatically changed them and the way their ministry was undertaken. Although for some years they continued to work in a parish based ministry they both eventually joined the staff at Riverside Vineyard in London in 1994 with Chris serving as Associate Pastor for a number of years.

In 2000 they felt called to church plant and planted West Suffolk Vineyard Church based in Bury St Edmunds. Whilst in Bury St Edmunds they have grown a passion for seeing many new churches started in diverse communities; for encouraging the development of effective church infrastructure that serves both the church and the wider community; and for developing and equipping a new generation of pastors to serve in our rapidly changing culture. They served as Area Leaders in East Anglia for six years before preparing to take on a new role as Regional Leaders for London and the South East in January 2012. They also serve as part of the VCUKI Leadership Group and Church Development Team in the UK.

Chris loves history of all sorts, music, and literature. Maggie likes to read and solve maths puzzles. She also loves gardening and spends much of her time knitting clothes for their six grandchildren.

Jeremy Cook

Jeremy oversees the trustees and is instruemental in the advise and implementation of financial administration at a national and local level.

Jeremy and his wife Elaine are the Senior Pastors of Hull Viineyard.  They planted this church in 1993 when they felt called by God to return to their hometown to start a Vineyard church.

 

 

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