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Starting Out
Vineyard Christian Fellowship
of Greater Portland began in May 1993. Phil Strout,
associate pastor at the Lewiston Vineyard, and his
wife Jan, who had previously been missionaries and
church planters in Chile, were called by God to move
to Portland and plant a church. Together with a
group of twenty-five adults and fifteen children,
they
started the new congregation.
The Lord gave them a clear
vision articulated in a simple five fold phrase:
Be Loved, Believe, Be
Healed, Be Equipped, Be Going. There was a
conviction and a commitment in the hearts of those
God had called together that the new church should
foster sincere love, proactive faith, progressive
healing, spiritual equipping and mission based focus.
Starting out was an exciting
time and the fellowship moved forward with expectant
faith. Ministry efforts in the early days
concentrated on three areas: children, small groups
and worship. These were foundational days in the
Greater Portland Vineyard. Nothing fancy, but a
thorough commitment to building a solid base for
kingdom life and ministry.
The church met for worship on
Sunday mornings at Riverton Elementary school. After
the service was over everyone would jump into their
cars and head for an afternoon together at one of
the nearby beaches. The faith, fun and fellowship of
that first summer helped to forge real kingdom
friendships. The church began to grow in numbers
even as God brought spiritual growth through the
work of His Spirit and the power of His Word.
In the spring and summer of
1995 the church took two major steps of faith in the
realm of financial commitment. The first involved
the decision to hire an associate pastor, and the
second involved the decision to secure a new
facility. Mario Maston joined the pastoral staff as
an associate in May. In August the church signed a
three year lease on a 6000 square foot facility
located in the Riverside Mall on Warren Avenue.
There were now 125 people in the fellowship, but the
combined cost of these two commitments outstripped
the budget. Without God the numbers didn’t add up.
With Him there was more than enough. He blessed both
faith decisions and the church continued to grow.
Quarried Stones
During these first years the
Lord spoke some significant prophetic words about
his intention for the church. First he made clear he
was going to bring others from around the country
and outside of the country to be a part of the
fellowship. Then he spoke from
1 Kings 6:7 about
“quarried stones.” This scripture confirmed the
earlier word regarding people who would come from
other places to be part of the habitation God was
building through the Spirit. Clearly the stones used
in the construction of Solomon’s temple were
prepared to specification at a designated place.
Once ready, they were brought to the construction
site and built together, a perfect fit. The Lord
made it apparent that many of the living stones for
the temple he was constructing at VCF Greater
Portland, would also come from other places where
they had spent years being ‘hammered’ and ‘chiseled’
in preparation for building.
God has been faithful to this
prophetic promise and today the church comprises
people from across the United States, and other
countries including Canada, Jamaica, Congo, Rwanda,
South Africa, South Korea, Russia, the United
Kingdom, and the territory of Puerto Rico.
Beachcombers, Lighthouse,
and Relics
Another important word came in
late May 1995 at a conference entitled “In His
Image” hosted by the Abundant Life Vineyard in St.
John Canada. One of the featured speakers spoke a
word publicly in which he said that God would visit
the Greater Portland Vineyard with quality and then
quantity. He prayed a prophetic prayer that the
church would be great “beachcombers” for God’s
glory, those who “pick up the pieces that are broken
and ugly and strewn about on the shore of life, and
put them together again.” He also said, “It might
soon be said that there is a lighthouse, and there
are beachcombers in the Vineyard at Portland,
Maine.” He thanked God for what he was going to do
“in making something from relics, something from
unlikely pieces of material.”
“Relics” seemed a strange and
unique choice of term to describe those the Lord
would incorporate into the fellowship, and have us
minister to as a local church. The dictionary
definition of a relic is “something that has
survived a previous time (age or era).” Many in our
fellowship were “relics” in the sense that they had
survived a previous time in the outworking of God’s
purposes for their lives. They had come through
different, and in some cases difficult, experiences
in the body of Christ, but God had used this “era”
to “hammer” and “chisel” their lives into something
fit for His purposes. They appeared “unlikely
material” to the natural eye, but to the revelatory
eye of the Spirit, who looks not at the outward
appearance, but rather,“…at the heart” (1 Samuel
16:7), they were fully prepared and ready.
Hoist the
Sails, Catch the
Wind
Later that same year the Lord
ministered a vision of a large sailing ship with a
huge mast and sails that were fully extended. The
ship actually had a double set of sails. The Lord
encouraged people to set their sails (hearts and
spirits) high in order to receive the present wind
of the Spirit.
This was not the time to have
the ‘sails’ down, they needed to be hoisted high
aloft, open and extended to catch all that the Lord
was doing. Through this vision the Lord conveyed the
importance of the present visitation of the Spirit
and of the need for the church to be receptive to
Him and His leading. A lack of receptivity to the
wind of the Spirit would mean the ship (the church)
would not have that which it needed for the voyage
of faith.
These prophetic words helped
shape the course of our journey as a local church
and kept us as a fellowship of believers open to
welcome and embrace the visitation of the Holy
Spirit.
Growth and Diversity
As the church grew so did the
diversity and scope of ministries for accomplishing
the vision. While Children’s Ministry, Small Groups
and Worship continued to develop and expand, new
ministries were birthed. These ranged from Vineyard
Marriage Encounter, Performing Arts Entourage,
Servant Evangelism, and Alpha, to ministries for
Men, Women, Young Adults, and Teens. In 1999
e3
Portland, a leadership institute began
with a mission to
equip,
empower
and
engage men and women
for kingdom leadership and service.
Throughout these years the
Greater Portland Vineyard developed a strong cross
cultural missions focus through membership and
active participation in IAM (International
Association of Missions). IAM is a partnership of Vineyard
churches in New England dedicated to planting
churches in Spain, developing a church planting
movement, and raising up national leaders to see
that movement flourish. It also focuses on intercessory prayer, Spanish
language classes, regional ‘adoption’
(which is member
churches ‘adopting’ a region within Spain for prayer
focus and relational connection), and annual prayer
tours comprised of people from the partner churches.
All of this
makes local church based missions a reality at VCFGP.
A Fourfold Promise
In 1996 the Lord spoke two
further prophetic words of strategic spiritual
significance. At the beginning of the year, after
considerable teaching from the book of Haggai, the
Lord spoke with great clarity a fourfold prophetic
promise from the writings of this prophet. The
promise he made to us as a church during this time
contained four specific elements:
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We would have the nations
among us, and we would touch the nations.
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We would always have God’s
provision
-
We would know peace in
“this house,” and contention would not be found
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We would see and
experience the glory of God.
Again, we have seen the Lord’s
faithfulness to His word. He has placed families
from five continents among us, and through our work
with IAM we’re touching the nations in a real and
ongoing way. As a fellowship we have seen and felt
the Lord’s consistent provision. In every way he has
been faithful from the first day He called us
together. Though rich in diversity, by God’s grace
we are strong in unity. From the outset we have
sought to preserve the “Unity of the Spirit in the
bond of peace,” both within our fellowship, and
among the wider body of Christ in the Greater
Portland area. We have known “peace in this house”
and the Lord has kept contention from us. We have
also experienced seasons of deep blessing and
profound spiritual renewal as tokens of His glory.
We believe that as the Lord continues to pour out
His Spirit we shall experience a greater measure.
Strike the Ground
The summer of 1996 brought a
further prophetic word which the Lord delivered to
us as a congregation through Randy Chase, then
pastor of the Vineyard in Barcelona, Spain. While
visiting Portland during July, he spoke at one of
the Sunday morning worship services. His text for
the message was 2 Kings 13. He referred to the
portion of this chapter which recounts the story of
Elisha the prophet, and Josiah the king of Israel.
The prophet instructed the king to take a bow and
arrows, and to “shoot’ an initial arrow from the
east window as a symbol of the Lord’s deliverance
from Syria, and then to “strike the ground” with the
remaining arrows before launching them at the enemy.
The king struck the ground only three times. The
scripture says if he had struck the ground “five or
six” times, in other words, repeatedly, he would
have won a total victory over Syria. However,
because he stopped striking the ground after three
attempts, his victory would be only partial.
The Lord told us we were to
continue “striking the ground.” We were not to stop
as king Josiah had done. Clearly the Lord spoke a
word of persistence to us as a people.
He wanted us to continue to do
those things he had called us to do, namely the
stuff of the Kingdom, with relentless determination,
resolution, and tenacity, and continue we would.
A New Facility
The growth of the church, and
the maturing lease on Warren Avenue, meant the need
for another property to call home. The Board of
Trustees initiated a “property search” project to
find either land to develop or an existing building.
After pursuing a property in South Portland, and a
bond program to finance the purchase, neither of
which panned out, a decision was made to rent King
Middle School in Portland for weekend services and
mid- week ministry. The search for a more permanent
place continued.
God quickly opened up the perfect place. A building
of 12,000 square feet standing on
two acres of land,
located on Route 302 (reportedly the second busiest
road in the state)
just over the Portland-Westbrook
line. After committed
prayer and careful negotiation, an
offer was made and accepted.
God as always, did more than we
could ask or think. Ultimately the church
landed up with another building for
administrative and office space, bringing the total
closer to
12,000 square feet, and a mortgage payment less than the projected lease on
the old
facility.
Six months of hard work followed.
Most of the renovation was done by people in
the church.
This was a story of the body in
loving action and practical service. In late February 1999
the church moved into the new
facility. Initially returning to just one Sunday
morning
service due to the larger facility, continued growth led to a second service being added
in August that year.
Mission Maine
The prior year was a busy one for
the church. At the same time as acquiring and
renovating a new facility, the church also joined together with over 600 other churches
statewide for
Mission Maine with
Luis Palau. This was a great season of evangelism
and
outreach to the wider community. More than 6000 came
to Christ during the
two week
event. Mission Maine also birthed a new
level of kingdom collaboration among the
churches of
Maine.
Transition
November of 1999 brought a sudden
and unexpected season of temporary transition to
VCFGP.
Phil Strout, the founding pastor,
sustained two hearts attacks while attending a Vineyard conference in Pennsylvania.
After successful emergency quadruple by-pass surgery, and several
weeks of recovery, Phil returned to Maine and a period of extended
convalescence.
Though he assumed leadership
again in mid January 2000, and continued
to pastor for
the next year, for health related
reasons Phil stepped down from his pastoral role at
VCFGP in January 2001 to take an assignment with the Vineyard Missions Task
Force.
Mario Maston, the Associate
Pastor, immediately stepped into lead role on an interim
basis, and soon after, assumed
the position of Pastor.
The next couple years would be a
time of consolidation and change. Jesus continued to
be our sure and steadfast anchor, and the mission and vision that he had given to us
reach Greater
Portland
and the nations with His love, continue to determine
our direction
and our focus.
to be continued........ |
The
Vineyard Christian Fellowship
of Greater
Portland
