about our missions ministry
The mission of CCV’s Missions Ministry is partnering with other Vineyard churches to facilitate Vineyard church planting and church growth around the globe.
What is a missions partnership? It’s a group of local churches dedicated to working together in a given area of the world to accomplish something greater than any one church by itself could ever do. So through these partnerships, our Missions Ministry at CCV aims to work with other Vineyard USA Churches that share our heart and vision for church planting and development in a few specific nations. At this time, our Missions Ministry is committed to two such partnership, one focused on Russia, and the other on Costa Rica.
The philosophy behind this type of missions involvement in the Vineyard is defined by five specific principles, known as the five “pillars” of Vineyard missions. They are:
- Local church based missions (LCBM) involvement.
- The use of partnerships as a key strategy.
- The establishment of church planting movements.
- The development and release of indigenous national leaders.
- The contextualization of Vineyard values in each culture.
What makes missions partnerships like these truly unique is the “hands on” approach to local church involvement. This means we don’t just send money, we send people to see what’s happening and to have a hand in it. To that end, our commitment is to send out at least one short- term mission team every year, and we hope to see that number increase as people’s hearts are moved by the needs. These teams are typically involved in leading a training conference of some kind to equip our sister churches in ministry. They have also been involved in a variety of other mission activities, including prayer walking through the city, visiting a local orphanage or children’s hospital, and hosting special outreach events. These are “eye opening” experiences that expose the cultural differences between America and other nations, and put people in the position to see God work through them in powerful and memorable ways.
Through the Russia Missions Partnership, our efforts are particularly focused on supporting a sister church in the Russian city of Nizhny-Novgorod. The Nizhny Vineyard is led by an American missionary couple named David and Kathy Wolf, who began their ministry in Russia and planted the Nizhny Vineyard in 1997. Since that time they have labored faithfully to grow the church and develop indigenous Russian leaders. Our support for the Wolf’s ministry is both financial and relational. In addition to helping with their living expenses on the mission field, we aim to encourage them and resource them so they can lead the Nizhny Vineyard more effectively. If you want to know more about their ministry, be sure to pick up their latest newsletter, available at our Welcome Station/Information display in the CCV Café.
Beyond our work in Nizhny, we’re also involved in the planting and development of other Vineyard churches throughout Russia. There are presently only eight Vineyard Churches in this vast nation of 150 million people, so a primary need is the recruitment and training of more church planters. Please pray that God would raise them up!
Similarly, our involvement in the Costa Rica Missions Partnership is focused on supporting a sister church in Nogales, where American missionaries Skip and Belinda Preston are serving as Church Planting Coordinators. The Prestons moved to Costa Rica from Lansing to begin serving in this role in 2012, and our supported by several Michigan churches participating in the Costa Rica Partnership. Their commitment is to raising up indigenous leaders and coordinating short term teams that come to Costa Rica.
If you think you might like to travel with one of upcoming short term missions teams, please contact us. We also need help with logistical and prayer support, so if you can’t go but want to get involved with our Missions Ministry team, please communicate with our Missions Ministry Team leader Chris Ahlin about how you can do that.
The latest update from our missionaries to Russia -- Dave & Kathy Wolf