House to House
Basileia Vineyard is a Church Plant based in Saxonburg, Pa. Basileia is one of a Community of Churches within Vineyard USA. You might be asking why the name Basileia? The simple answer is basileia is the greek word for Kingdom. We believe before church can exist there must be be a community of the kingdom. We believe the Kingdom is when God rules and reigns in our daily lives. We look for his presence when go to work, school, the grocery store or the laundramat.
At Basileia we strive to participate in the Kingdom breakthrough in people's lives. Equipping those who hunger to "DO THE STUFF" with compassion and love as Jesus did.
We believe in living Kingdom oriented lives, bringing the life of Jesus to the people in our community. We seek to enable people to have access to the GOOD NEWS of the gospel in a real way. We want to announce the good news of the kingdom. To live in such a way that people see the Kingdom in us. like Jesus we want to be the friend of sinners. As we journey together we want to understand what it means to live in the kingdom. We want to be captured by the beauty of the kingdom and to demonstrate the glory of the Kingdom to others. Our desire is that you see Jesus in us
Posted by Terrence 2:49 PM
Labels: House 2 House, Who Are We
Five Things We Value
Over the past 30 yrs I have had opportunity to pray for many people. Recently during a phone conversation a friend mentioned she was waiting on a Dr. to call in a prescription for a sinus infection that had begun in her. I simply asked if I could pray for her right then. She said yes and I did. We finished our conversation and 5 minutes later she called back all excited saying she was healed. That she felt this swoosh go right through her as I prayed.
Can I pray for you right now? These seven words—seven simply supernatural words—capture the essence of our five core values.
· The Theology and Practice of the Kingdom of God
· Experiencing God
· Reconciling Community
· Compassionate Ministry
· Culturally Relevant Mission
At the Basileia Vineyard, where I pastor, we encourage everyone to be attentive and ready to speak these seven words wherever the opportunity arises—whether in a church building, on the street, in our homes or workplaces. And in this practice of praying for others, we express the Vineyard’s five core values.
We offer to pray because we believe the kingdom of God has come, and we trust that at any moment the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit may break in and bring healing to our broken world.
We experience God when we respond to the Holy Spirit’s pinch and ask, “Can I pray for you right now?” As we pray, we sense God’s heart, we share his love, and we receive his guidance. We are actually partnering with God! His empowering presence fills us and flows through us.
We make a regular practice of meeting together in small groups where, as a reconciling community, we not only practice praying for each other, but also share stories, failures, and successes. We humbly bear one another’s burdens. We are reconciled to one another and to God as we confess our sins and receive forgiveness. We part, freshly empowered to continue the work of the kingdom, bringing reconciliation wherever we go.
Because we are equipped and ready to pray, we often find ourselves engaged in compassionate ministry outside a traditional church service. On one occasion while having dinner with guests in my home a woman began coughing uncontrollably and I asked “can I pray for you right now?” Once while having dinner at a restaurant a woman commented how she was struggling finding work. I asked “can I pray for you right now?” On another occasion while talking with friends sharing their struggles we asked”can we pray for you right now?” Sometimes, miracles happened as the future invaded the present. Other times, we don’t see any change but we have still shared the love and mercy of Jesus with another person.
When we pray for someone, we are careful to use language that is familiar and meaningful to the person receiving prayer. We meet people in places and situations in which they are comfortable, not waiting for them to come to prayer meetings or Bible studies or a church services. Most often, we take part in culturally relevant mission as we go about our everyday lives, living among our neighbors and engaging in the same culture they engage in, instead of giving into the urge to hide away in the Christian subculture.
Being ready to speak these seven simply supernatural words—Can I pray for you right now?— will help all of us live out the foundational values of the Vineyard. Five core values, seven simple words.
Posted by Terrence 2:55 PM
Labels: Values
"What time do you meet on Sunday mornings?
If you came wondering
"Where is your church building located?"
I'm sorry to disappoint you by telling you we do not have a church building. If you are looking for that type of a Vineyard experience, there is a fantastic Vineyard church in Carnegie,Pa. , and you can visit them online here.
We love the churches that meet on Sunday mornings in a rented space or in their own building and explore together what it means to love God and love each other. For us and for now this is how the Lord seems to be leading us. We have been commissioned by the Lord and the Vineyard to begin a new community. Beginning a new work we are a little different, however very much in his kingdom.
So what does church look like to us? Well, it is somewhat hard to put into words on a blog like this. Probably the best way to begin to explain it is to say this: how about you eMail us, and we can talk about it, or get together over a refreshing drink and a good meal?
One day we'll have had enough meals and hung out with enough people that it will make sense to start having larger gatherings of folks where we all eat a meal together and spend time exploring his kingdom further. Or maybe we'll go do something to impact our local community in a positive way, and then hang out at a coffee shop together and share with one another what we saw God doing in our midst. Along the way we'll be following Jesus and loving Him, each other, and anyone else we encounter along the way.
Sound good to you?
Posted by Terrence 4:23 PM
Labels: Sunday, Where n When
