Our Philosophy
From the inception of the first Vineyard church in 1974, music and worship has been central. And wonderfully, God has chosen to use Vineyard worship leaders and song writers to contribute to the worldwide church in a way that’s disproportionate to our numbers. Go to any contemporay church service across multiple Christian denominations in the U.S., for example, and you’ll likely hear some Vineyard-produced songs.
We don’t have a choir; the congregation is the “choir.” Our philosophy has been to promote
On any given Sunday, we mix together songs about God and his graduer with songs written to him, and some songs about our response to him - the latter two types being quite personal, but are examples of what could be called “prayerful singing.”
Our own congregation’s bent would be acoustic rock/gospel, but each Vineyard church strives to contextualize their worship to their own culture. Thus, the Vineyards in Katmandu and Johannesburg use instruments and vocalizations that are foreign to us, but which are gorgeous sounds in the ears of our Creator.
Getting Involved
Currently, we have four worship leaders who rotate on Sundays with various configurations of other musicians and vocalists. We now have quarterly worship team rehearsels to (A) learn new songs together, (B) encourage one another in song writing or skill building, and (C) provide a place for beginners or newcomers to plug in and develop their musicianship and spiritual discernment.
Our home groups and outreach events (e.g., the Alpha Course at Guilford Court, a local low-income housing complex for eldery and disabled) are also great venues for beginners/learners to get some playing time as they work towards joining one of the teams that play at our service Sunday mornings.
There is no age minimum (or maximum!); the only requirements are desire, teachability and a measure of God-given talent.
Buying Music
Vineyard CDs can be purchased at Wal-Mart, most Christian book/music stores, or by going directly to www.vineyardusa.org and clicking on the music link.
On the web site, music produced by Vineyard churches from around the world
is available (the U.K. and Canadian churches have contributed some excellent
stuff), plus there are specialty CDs just for kids, for women, or with themes
such as the cross.
Listen to a Sample
Click below to hear a 40 second sample of a song that's a good example of the kind of music we tend to play.
QuickTime
MP3
Windows Media