Rich Nathan (born December 1955) is an American pastor and author who has been the senior Pastor of
Vineyard
A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...
Columbus since 1987. In January 2021, Pastor Nathan handed the Senior Pastor role to Eric and Julia Pickerill. He is still on staff as Founding Pastor and in charge of the Pastors Residency Program.
Early life and education
Nathan came to believe in Jesus at the age of 18. Prior to pastoring, he was an assistant professor of business law at The
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
for five years.
He has bachelor's degrees in history and religious studies from
Case Western Reserve University in
Cleveland, Ohio graduating magna cum laude, and a
J.D. with honors from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
's
Moritz College of Law
The Michael E. Moritz College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the Ohio State University, a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1891, the school is located in Drinko Hall on the main campus of the ...
in
Columbus, Ohio.
Career
Nathan has served on the National Board of Vineyard: A Community of Churches for more than 20 years and is the Large Church Task Force Coordinator for the Vineyard.
He is a national and international conference speaker
and author of three books. Nathan has been noted as one of the strongest voices in favor of bringing together various streams of the church including the evangelical stream, the social justice stream, the charismatic stream and the liturgical stream.
Nathan has been outspoken on the subject of faith and politics. In an interview with the
Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...
, he was quoted as saying:
Nathan has also been a major force for immigration reform, highlighting the issue in both sermons and op-eds. He advocates for a different plan than those traditionally offered for America's illegal immigrants, "a pathway to citizenship governed by a system of checks and balances." He has led Vineyard Columbus to embrace racial and ethnic diversity. Vineyard Columbus is one of America's most diverse churches, having attendees from over 125 nations. Nathan has been a leader in the Vineyard movement in advocating for women's full participation in all aspects of church ministry including becoming senior pastors, church planters, missionaries and Vineyard Association overseers. As Nathan put it in a message on egalitarianism: "God's gifts and call are not gender-based."
Vineyard Columbus
Vineyard Columbus (formerly Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus and Vineyard Church of Columbus) is a church in
Westerville, Ohio
Westerville is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, Franklin and Delaware County, Ohio, Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. A northeastern suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, the population was 39,190 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...
. It is part of the
Association of Vineyard Churches
The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is a neocharismatic evangelical Christian denomination.Despite the fact that some might see denominational labels as divisive, the founder of the movement John Wimber sai ...
with headquarters in
Sugar Land,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
.
Vineyard Columbus dates back as a church to the late-1970s. Three different churches joined to form the first church. The church remained independent of any larger group for a number of years. After investigating a number of groups to join with, the leadership of the church decided on the Association of Vineyard Churches, led by
John Wimber
John Richard Wimber (February 25, 1934 – November 17, 1997) was an American pastor, Christian author and musician. Initially ordained as a Quaker minister, he became an early, pioneering pastor of charismatic congregations, and a popular thou ...
. They became the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Columbus in 1987. Vineyard Columbus has experienced significant growth over the years, drawing about 7,500 people from over 125 nations at its weekend worship services and becoming the largest church in the Vineyard movement today. It is a church that is self described as an "empowered evangelical" church, according to the definition in Rich Nathan and
Ken Wilson's book ''Empowered Evangelicals'' that was published in the mid-1990s.
The original church in Westerville has planted more than 30 churches since 1987, including over a dozen in the Columbus area - all included in the Vineyard Movement. Vineyard Columbus also supports many Christian
missionaries throughout the world.
In January 2019, Rich announced he will be handing the senior pastor duties over to associate pastors Eric and Julia Pickerill, effective January 2021. Eric and Julia planted the Vineyard of Amsterdam in 2008 before returning to Vineyard Columbus in 2015. Rich Nathan will remain of the staff at Vineyard Columbus as pastor at-large.
Satellite Campuses
In 2009, Vineyard Columbus opened its first satellite campus, Vineyard Columbus Sawmill Campus, in Dublin, OH. This campus grew rapidly and started holding 2 services (9am and 11am) as of September 2013. In 2011, VC opened its second campus, Lane Avenue Campus of Vineyard Columbus. In the fall of 2012, VC launched its third campus, East Campus, at Berwick Alternative Elementary School.
East Campus at Berwick
/ref> In early 2015, East Campus joined forces with the Eastside Vineyard church plant in Pickerington and moved operations out there. Vineyard Columbus also has a Spanish language campus called La Vina that meets in the Chapel of the Cooper Road location on Sundays at 11:30am.
Books
* ''Who Is My Enemy''
* (Co-authored) ''Empowered Evangelicals'' with Ken Wilson
* (Co-authored) ''Both-And: Living the Christ-Centered Life in an Either-Or World'' with Insoo Kim
Notes
References
*
* Michael Gerson, "A New Social Gospel," Newsweek, November 13, 2006
*
*
External links
Columbus Dispatch article of May 11, 2007 regarding Vineyard Church of Columbus
Vineyard Church of Columbus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathan, Rich
Living people
1955 births
Converts to Christianity
Ohio State University faculty
American Christian clergy
American sermon writers
American Pentecostal pastors
Association of Vineyard Churches
American evangelicals
Ohio State University Moritz College of Law alumni