The world is full of traditional pairings. You know, stuff that just always seems to go together.

• PB & J
• Parties & regrets
• Jordan & Pippen
• Dating & drama
• etc…

You can’t seem to have one without the other. Sometimes that magnetism makes for great things (i.e., PB & J) and sometimes not (i.e., dating & drama).

One of my heroes is a guy named John Wimber. He was the catalytic leader whose ministry led to the birth of the Vineyard movement. I am proudly a part of that movement.

“Foul!”

Part of what made Wimber so unique is that he had the courage to challenge traditional pairings that,

1. weren’t necessary, and
2. weren’t helpful.

For example: Healing ministries tend to be hype machines. It’s just true. Sometimes it’s hard to watch. But Wimber came along and pointed out that just because that was a traditional pairing, they didn’t actually have to go together. It was a myth. You actually could have one without the other. And from that insistence one of the more powerful healing ministries in history emerged. It featured rather stale and uninspiring calls to ministry-time, sermons preached in normal speaking voices, hype-free prayers, and incredible manifestations of the power of God.

That “healing & hype” pairing turned out to be more of a “Sonny & Cher” than a “Franklin and Eleanor.”

Wimber pushed back against lots of other non-mandatory traditional pairings:

• Church & dress codes
• Prophecy & freak shows
• Worshiping w/guitars & well, rotting in Hell
• I could go on…

It Ain’t Over!

Now the Vineyard is continuing Wimber’s legacy. Under Bert Waggoner’s courageous leadership the Vineyard solidified it’s position as an egalitarian movement (i.e., we support women in every level of Christian leadership). The traditional expectation is that supporting women in leadership is a slippery slope, a gateway drug to liberalism. The Vineyard is once again proving that traditional pairings aren’t always necessary and aren’t always helpful. The Vineyard is an egalitarian movement because of a heartfelt conviction that supporting women in ministry is the most conservative biblical position, and that it maintains the highest possible view of scripture.

And the Vineyard is pushing back against lots of other non-mandatory traditional pairings:

• white people & white people (i.e. diversity can actually happen in churches)
• loving the environment & not loving the Bible (where did that one come from?)
• helping the poor & being mainline (again, where from?)
• I could go on…

It’s awesome and inspiring. It takes courage to stand against a stereotype. Wimber took a lot of flack for it. So did Bert Waggoner. But the Vineyard and the Church at large are better off because of people who have the guts to speak up and insist that just because they “go together” doesn’t mean they have to “go together.” I love being a part of it.