Our priorities as a church spring forth from our values. If we truly value something, we will invest our time, money, and energy into it. These are areas in which we are committed to investing ourselves as a church.

• Worship - we believe that to worship God is our highest calling as believers. All other areas of service and activity are secondary to worship. We are committed to seeking the face of God, not for what He can do for us, but because He is worthy of our worship and praise.
  
  
  We desire to worship God in totality with all our heart, soul, spirit, and body. We want Jesus at the center as our Lord. We hunger for the fullness of the Spirit... His glory resting upon us! We desire Spirit-enabled worship in a style that is intimate, dynamic, culture-current, and life-changing.
  
  
• The Word of God - we are deeply committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. The Bible is esteemed to be our guide book for all our beliefs and ways. Where we discover that our personal or corporate lives deviate from God's written truth, we seek to change our lives rather than judging the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit authored the Bible through chosen human instruments, and He is also present to inspire, interpret, and illumine God's Word to hungry and humble seekers today. God's truth can be known.
  
  
  We want to hear the Bible taught in a practical, inspiring way. The end of all our preaching and teaching is not just an intellectual understanding of God's Word, but a heart understanding that changes our lives.
  
  
  We also desire to hear God's current prophetic Word in conjunction with His written Word. Although we deem the Bible as God's final authoritative Word to us and subject all other revelation to it, we believe that God still communicates to His people today as He has throughout church history.
  
  
  We aim to hear and obey God's Word to us... to be "doers of the Word" who are transformed and becoming more like Jesus.
  
  
• Prayer - we are convinced that prayer is God's means of getting things done. Everything we do must be built on a foundation of intercessory prayer. We purpose to seek God continually for His direction and wisdom for both our individual lives and our church life here at the Vineyard. We pray privately in our prayer closets as well as corporately in midweek groups. Our heart's cry is for God to pour out His Spirit on Southern Connecticut, renewing His Church and bringing forth a great move of revival.
  
  
• Fellowship - we are the family of God, one in Jesus Christ, joined together as brothers and sisters forever. We seek to develop real, intimate, and enabling friendships together, built on covenant love and faithfulness. For this reason we put a high value on our home kinship groups, where these friendships can be nurtured and developed.
  
  
  We also seek to establish unity with the entire Body of Christ here in the Greater New Haven area. Our desire is to see every Christian church in this area working together in cooperation to see God's kingdom established in our midst.
  
  
• Body Ministry - we believe that all Christians are called to serve Christ in the power of His Spirit in ways that build up the local church. Therefore we believe that each believer is called to take a significant part in the ministry of the church.
  
  We are called to:
  * preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, both locally and worldwide
  * persuade men and women to repent and believe in Jesus
  * heal the sick
  * care for the poor and those in need
  * counsel those in need of God's wisdom
  * teach believers to follow Christ
  * give to the work of Christ
  * train Christians to serve the Lord
  
  
• The Family - we believe that God has placed a very high value on the family. The family is an essential part of God's kingdom. However, the family has come under tremendous attack in the last part of the 20th century.
  
  
  We believe that the love and power of God wants to restore and maintain family relationships damaged by sin or weakened by society. We actively desire to see the family unit reflect the spiritual and emotional wholeness that God intends for it to have. We are committed to equipping the family to fulfill its purpose in our society.
  
  
• Healing - we believe that wholeness is a characteristic of the Kingdom of God. Jesus proclaimed the good news of His Kingdom, taught people how to enter and experience His Kingdom, and demonstrated healing as an evidence of His Kingdom.
  Physically, emotionally, and spiritually, separation from God has taken its toll. We all come to God broken and hurt, needing His compassion, mercy, and forgiveness. As a result, we are committed to the process of being healed and of learning to cooperate with God in healing others at every level.
  
  
• Training - we believe that all Christians should be trained in ministry to "do the works of Christ." We are committed to the "show and tell" model of on-the-job training, as used by Jesus with His disciples.
  
  
  We also aim to provide training for all aspects of responsible Christian life and practice, including the area of marriage and family relationships.
  
  
• Sending - we aim to send trained personnel out on short-term ministry teams to both renew the church and enable church planting. We also aim to help in the planting of Vineyards in Connecticut.
  
  
  We also are committed to sending and supporting cross-cultural missionaries to those who have no access to the gospel to make disciples and plant churches.
  
  

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