Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland (or VCUKI) is the national body for 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 ...

in the United Kingdom and Ireland. There are more than 100 churches under its direction. The organisation is both a registered charity (number 1099748) and a registered company (number 04839046).

History

The Vineyard church was established in the UK by John and Eleanor Mumford. After visiting

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 ...

in the US, the Mumfords returned to the UK to establish the first British Vineyard church, South West London Vineyard in 1987. VCUKI became its own national organisation in 1996, when it was released by the international body.

Leadership and structure

The Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland is headed by its national directors, John and Debby Wright, who officially took over from John and Eleanor Mumford in September 2015. There is then a Leadership Council, with members responsible for different specialisms within the church (church planting, church development, and financial and legal issues). In addition to the central leadership, the UK and Ireland are divided into 13 areas. Each area is run by Area Leaders, who are responsible for that area of the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

. Areas tend to hold their own training and events for the local people, leaders and churches. John and Eleanor Mumford are the parents of

Marcus Mumford Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford (born 31 January 1987) is a British singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of the band folk band Mumford & Sons. He also plays a number of instruments with the group ...

of the band

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, k ...

Evaluation

One of the first academic studies of a Vineyard church in the United Kingdom was Cory E. Labanow's ''Evangelicalism and the Emerging Church: A Congregational Study of a Vineyard Church''.Cory E. Labanow,
Evangelicalism and the Emerging Church: A Congregational Study of a Vineyard Church
', Ashgate Publishing, 2009. Within the congregation studied ("Jacobsfield Vineyard"), there was a common identity as an "

emerging church The emerging church is a Christian Protestant movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries that crosses a number of theological boundaries: participants are variously described as Protestant, post-Protestant, evangelical, post-evangelical, ...

". However, Labanow reports that the meaning of this common identity was contested within the congregation. Even more significantly, the decentralised, non- creedal nature of the Vineyard churches in the UK and the Republic of Ireland makes it such that one church cannot be seen to be representative of the whole of the Vineyard movement in the UK and Ireland.

References

{{Reflist Charismatic denominations Association of Vineyard Churches Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom