Our church was sovereignly led to build at
our present location on Cooper Road. In 1990,
we desired to be located within the 270-outerbelt
in order to be a bridge linking the suburbs
with the urban areas in Central Ohio. Interestingly,
our building is located in Columbus, but our
mailing address is Westerville. Columbus provides
our public services, but the children living
in the neighborhoods around Vineyard Columbus
attend Westerville Schools. Now, many things
are changing here in our neighborhood.
The face of our church is changing: In the
last five years, the population of Vineyard
Columbus has become more racially diverse.
We are now 15% non-Caucasian and about one-tenth
of our staff is non-Caucasian.
The neighborhood around our church is changing:
39% of households in our neighborhood are headed
by single parents. The percentage of people
living below poverty level in our community
is around 4%, and more than 20% of the children
in nearby elementary schools take advantage
of free lunch programs. Our neighborhood is
steadily changing to reflect an urban life
more than a suburban life.
Our world is changing: In the late 1980’s,
the biggest challenge facing the global spread
of the gospel was “closed countries” behind
the so-called Iron Curtain. With the fall of
the Berlin Wall, many formerly closed countries
have now opened up. The challenge of the 21st
century is clearly Islam, which represents
nearly one-quarter of the earth’s population.
Vineyard Columbus currently participates
in church planting efforts in two Central
Asian Muslim countries.
Years ago, we desired to be a bridge church
which linked the city and the surrounding suburbs.
We also desired to be a community that destroyed
the racial divide plaguing our city and our
nation. And we desired to participate in the
Great Commission by bringing the Good News
of Christ to our unreached world. Clearly there
is still a great deal of work for Vineyard
Columbus to accomplish.
The challenges of our changing church, neighborhood,
and world require creative, thoughtful, and
Spirit-led responses. We believe that the truth
of our slogan, “blessed to be a blessing” has
been key in discovering God’s will for
our future as a church.
