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We have over 100 Churches across England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales,with new churches being planted on a regular basis. For more details on new church plants please visit our church planting pages.

Review of 2011 part 4: October to December

Dec 20, 2011

2011 was a year of firsts. Our first National Women’s Conference, our first Vineyard National Celebration, the first time that the National Leaders’ Conference was held at Trent Vineyard and our first Emerging Leaders’ Conference.

It was such an exciting year that we’ve put together a rundown of 2011 in four parts, in case you missed any of it. Here's the fourth and final part, covering October, November and December; you can also read parts one, two and three on this website.

October

In October Jay Pathak landed in the UK to speak at The Cause to Live For conference.

Hundreds of young people flocked to Nottingham for this exciting conference. Led by James and Jen Rankine, leaders of Cardiff Vineyard, people went away encouraged, envisioned and impassioned for their futures; as Jay spoke on Valuing What God Values, Fear or Faith? and Calling: Responding to the present.

These talks were mixed in with times of worship that lifted the roof of the Trent warehouse, ministry, socialising and smaller workshops on specific areas.

That same month Vineyard Churches and Vineyard Records UK, together with Vineyard Music USA were thrilled to launched a new website: Inside Worship.

Inside Worship is a Vineyard resource for worship, produced to resource worship leaders, worship teams, pastors and anyone with a heart for worship in their local churches.

Discover new articles and resources for your local church and go deeper in heart and mind as we explore why and how we worship. Also find some old favourites as we re-publish some great articles and resources from the past few years.

Nigel Briggs said: Our aim with this site is to share some of that deep heritage we’ve been given over the years with the wider worshipping community. We’ve pulled together some amazing contributors who have a wealth of experience to offer the modern worship leader. Some names you might know others will be new to you, as one thing we’ve tried to do is look for people who are serving in their local church week in and week out.

So, we hope that the videos, articles and numerous resources of this site will prove encouraging and an invaluable support for all those involved in worship.

Then, if we hadn’t squeezed enough into October, Leicester played host to our Church Planting School.

Steve Barber, Church Planting Co-ordinator, writes:

The year saw our busiest Church Planting School yet, with nearly 40 people in attendance who are all entering the final stages of their training before they plant a Vineyard church, either later this year or during 2012.

We are thrilled to be in the process of planting Churches in the following locations:

London City, Hemel Hempstead, Tiverton, Bishop Stortford, Liffey Valley, Ireland, Walsall, Portsmouth, Medway Towns, Enniskillen in Northen Ireland, Ipswich, Sheffield, Harrogate, Swansea and Bath.

There is momentum within the movement and God is growing us, so we'd encourage you to keep supporting those called to church plant and those who plant in or around your Area.

November

As we headed towards the tail-end of the year, we released ‘Intentional Leadership’ as our first Kindle Book.

'Intentional Leadership' was first written for church planters and church leaders, this book is both practical and straightforward. Written by a church planter and pastor, this book is full of stories, tips and helpful strategies for growth learnt 'on the job'.

Click here to download from the Amazon store.* Click here to download a free PDF from our website. *If you do not have a Kindle device; Kindle apps are available for iPhone, Windows PC, Mac, Blackberry, iPad, Android and Windows Phone 7.

We made the decision to begin publishing kindle books, due to the widespread ease of obtaining and reading them on a variety of devices, but because we always want to give resources away, there is also a free PDF version of any kindle books available from our website.

In Vineyard Records news, they announced that Jimmy Cooke would be joining them as the new General Manager.

Jeremy Cooke, CEO of Vineyard Records UK, said:

“Jimmy comes to us with twenty years association with the UK Vineyard having spent several years at St Albans Vineyard and latterly at Mercy Vineyard in Southampton. He also brings us great experience as both a professional musician (as The Vera Cruz drummer) and independent producer/engineer. Recently he has also completed a short-term stint with Vineyard Music USA working closely with Casey Corum in a production capacity. We are confident that he will help stimulate the writing and recording of new worship songs throughout the UK Vineyard movement as well as applying his experience of the music business to his role. Jimmy, Kate, Eva and Bea will be joining us in Hull from 1st February 2012.”

Still on Vineyard Records UK news, their annual Worship Leaders’ Retreat was a resounding success, as Matt Redman, Bishop Graham Cray and Rick Williams came and spoke to the assembled leaders. New friends were made, partnerships forged and wisdom imparted.

Then to cap off a busy month, our first PRAYFAST event hit the UK & Ireland. Hundreds of people in their own locations, joined together in a landmark day of prayer and fasting for our current and future Church Plants.

This event was a response by the movement to the vision shared at the Vineyard National Celebration, and organised by Owen and Claire Lynch at Severn Vineyard, Bristol.

Keep your eyes peeled for more PRAYFAST events, which are planned for 2012.

December

Moving into the Christmas season, 10 Classic Christmas Carols were given a stunning makeover for the 21st century and released by Vineyard Records UK, under the title 'Christmas from the Vineyard'.

This album is the work of a group of friends from Network Vineyard Church in Reading. A group of friends and musicians in their 20s who play together in church every Sunday, they took on the challenge of reworking Christmas classics in a way that makes them sound fresh and exciting, whilst respecting the beauty of the originals.

Buy this CD today from Vineyard Records UK or from iTunes.

Local church teams went into overdrive for Carol Services. Trent Vineyard reached just over 2,500 people through their two carol services (and live streaming); Vineyard Network Church Birmingham led the annual open air Carols in the City event in Birmingham, where over 1,500 people attend. The churches involved in this served at least 600 people (through present wrapping, face painting, the tree of hope, healing on the streets teams, free bouncy castles and a live nativity with storytelling).

Other churches including SW London Vineyard, St Albans Vineyard, Leicester City Vineyard and Causeway Coast Vineyard are bursting at the seams with hundreds of people joining with them for Carol Services - some of these happening on Christmas Eve.  Dozens of other Carol Services have already happened or are due to happen, with invites going out throughout their local communities.

Around the movement thousands upon thousands of people are reached through these celebratory services; and the work level put in by the teams pays off.

2011 has been an incredible year for us in the Vineyard movement in the UK & Ireland and these reviews have been a great opportunity to reflect on all that God has done for us and through us.


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