The Method Part 1: The Vine

Our mission at The Vine and the Branches will play out in two arenas.  Our "hub" of ministry will be called the Vine.  Our outreach into the communities of Spokane will be called The Branches.  Both locations are intentional in their focus of introducing people to Jesus and teaching them the nature of discipleship.


The Vine will function as the place where we will gather together for corporate worship.  Here is our Mission Statement for the Vine:

With Jesus’ love as our source, the Vine exists to be a place where people gather together for Worship, Teaching, and Training

In breaking this down, here is what we intend:

First and foremost, Jesus is the reason for all that we do.  The life and vitality of our entire ministry is due to the fact that we are rooted and attached to Him.  If we were to separate ourselves from total dependence on Jesus, we would wither and die just like a branch that is removed from a tree.  Moreover, it is because of Jesus' great love for us that we are compelled to love others and introduce them to Him.

So The Vine will be a place that is drawing its strength, mission, vitality, and passion from Jesus.  He is the whole reason we exist.

Now, when we gather at the Vine as a community of people, it will be for 3 primary reasons.  These will be broken down in more detail in the posts to come, but here are some initial thoughts:

Gather to Worship together 

We all worship something.  It is how our Maker created us.  Even those of us who are still rebels worship, it is just not God.  We want the Vine to be a place where all people can be introduced to the majesty of our King.  A place where all people can experience their Creator and have their minds and hearts touched by the "eternal" that has been placed there by God Himself.  He has truly set eternity on our hearts, and when we worship together, the seeker and the disciple both can and will have their minds and hearts touched by God.

Gather for Teaching

Our primary goal in our teaching/preaching at the Vine is to proclaim the Gospel.  The Gospel is not simply the "Romans Road to Salvation" or the 4 Spiritual Laws. Nor is it purely knowledge.  It is the glorious Good News of God's story enfolding from Creation to Restoration.  It should challenge our thinking, touch our emotions, capture our imaginations, convict us of our sins, and encourage us in our hearts.  We need to see how the Gospel intersects with our daily lives and those around us.

Gather for Training

We also need to be trained in how to follow Jesus.  Our nature as fallen rebels makes the way of Discipleship foreign to our thinking.  Now, in our opinion, Sunday morning sermons are not effective for training people to follow Jesus.  A central ministry of The Vine will be training people to walk with Jesus outside of Sunday.  This will happen in The Branches.  It will also happen in The Vine.  This process will be very dependent on the needs of the people God has given us.  It could be training sessions at The Vine during the week.  It could be one of The Branches hosting something at The Vine.  Very flexible.

In reality, much of our ministry will take place in The Branches....