Vineyard Movement Research Paper
After understanding the heart of John Wimber, to get to the root of discovering the movement was from God; we must dive into the fruit of the movement. One of the first fruits that have been birthed out of the Vineyard Movement was their worship songs. In the 1990s the Vineyard church forever shaped modern contemporary Christian music. As reported in Christian Today: “The songs on the 'Come Now is the Time to Worship' (1998) and 'Hungry' (1999) albums, particularly their title songs, are some of the most well-known of the following decade (3)” It’s through this time of birthing songs the Vineyard became known as a church with great emotional response to their singing full of exuberant praise, dancing, crying, and wailing to the Lord. While
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However, one of the greatest known Revivals that was birthed out of the Vineyard Movement became one of the most controversial revivals that really caused people to question the spiritual soundness of the Vineyard movement. That revival was the “Toronto Blessing”, a movement that grew to fame for services being full of “spiritual drunkedness” people constantly being “slain in the spirit”, and others rolling around the floor barking like wild animals. To quote one person who had contact with blessing: “Bruce Trevor, a City solicitor, was still breathing in sharp intakes a few minutes after the service. "It comes to me in all sorts of ways. Currently it affects my lower jaw. It shakes and trembles. In the past I have roared, shaken with laughter, cried and whirled my arms. The more you co-operate the more the spirit regards you as an open vessel and will move you. Sometimes it's in a church context, sometimes it's outside. (7)”. The Toronto Blessing as it became known was full of so many spiritual manifestations that Wimber himself had to go up to help provide direction for the church. However, due to a difference between Wimber and the Toronto Airport Vineyard the church decided to part ways with the Vineyard Church becoming independent. When discussing this decision with churches that were part of the Vineyard Wimber explained: “the Canadian congregation had lost the association's
However, one of the greatest known Revivals that was birthed out of the Vineyard Movement became one of the most controversial revivals that really caused people to question the spiritual soundness of the Vineyard movement. That revival was the “Toronto Blessing”, a movement that grew to fame for services being full of “spiritual drunkedness” people constantly being “slain in the spirit”, and others rolling around the floor barking like wild animals. To quote one person who had contact with blessing: “Bruce Trevor, a City solicitor, was still breathing in sharp intakes a few minutes after the service. "It comes to me in all sorts of ways. Currently it affects my lower jaw. It shakes and trembles. In the past I have roared, shaken with laughter, cried and whirled my arms. The more you co-operate the more the spirit regards you as an open vessel and will move you. Sometimes it's in a church context, sometimes it's outside. (7)”. The Toronto Blessing as it became known was full of so many spiritual manifestations that Wimber himself had to go up to help provide direction for the church. However, due to a difference between Wimber and the Toronto Airport Vineyard the church decided to part ways with the Vineyard Church becoming independent. When discussing this decision with churches that were part of the Vineyard Wimber explained: “the Canadian congregation had lost the association's