Leeds Vineyard

STEPS #1 

Over the years the Vineyard in Leeds has walked many steps along a journey following Jesus. But we sense Him calling us on to take further steps, steps of faith into the exciting unknown but into places we would love to go. Our imaginations are fired by projects: from his heart to our hearts; from our hearts to the hearts of those around us.

And when the time comes to make a big financial step of faith we call it STEPS. And we are now looking at a big step forward.

On journeys people and communities reach pivotal points: the 1st day at school; the 1st day driving a car; the day we leave home. People often start out in life by renting a flat and then maybe they buy their first house and as life gets busy and perhaps if they get married and have children they may buy a larger home. In life, once we begin to put down roots and begin to think of a particular area as home we tend to think in terms of investing in our own house. We talk about “stepping onto the property ladder”. We don’t want to pay “dead money” to a landlord; we see the potential for an investment return; we want to knock a place about a bit, redecorate, make it our own. We are saying, “this is my neighbourhood, this is where I live, this is my home now.”

A year ago we reached a pivotal point as the Holy Spirit spoke to us and said, “buy a building”. So our next major step is to obey and invest in a building which will help us establish a Kingdom presence in Headingley (which is we have been called to do). A building for resource, to provide a base from which to build, a transforming presence in the area. I’ll write with more background and more stories later this month. In the meantime we have, as instructed, taken the STEP of setting out to buy a building in Headingley – even if it is well outside our zone of comfort! Look out for the Vineyard House Blog which will be written by Phil and Hannah as things progress. It’s exciting reading!

Please put June 4 in your diaries. We will be launching STEPS formally in the morning at weekly worship and then again, to a lesser degree in the evening as we pray and worship together in the Engine Room. Clear your schedule, book your baby-sitter, do everything you can to join in with everyone as we launch into what is going to be an exhilarating STEP forward for the Leeds Vineyard.

Baptisms on 11 June
A week later we will have another thrilling day as we baptise several of our brothers and sisters. If you would like to be baptised or know someone who would like to be baptised please can you ensure that they speak to Liz Harden before Sunday – if at all possible - as we plan the day.

Sparkly New Webby Things - ChurchApp
As you should know we have added the really helpful ChurchApp to our suite of website functions. We hope that you are getting to grips with it now - you can login to 'mychurchapp' (www.login.churchapp.co.uk) either by using it on a website or by downloading the app itself. This is where you can now find the church address book, the calendar, details about small groups (including more information about who is in the group you've signed up to), rotas for the teams which you are on and see and update the information we hold about you and your children. When we have events which you need to sign up for (like small groups, training events, or shared lunches) this is where you'll be able to do this in the future. You will still be able to ring or email the office of course but we are trying to enable you to do this directly where possible.

Exciting times

Peace

David