Our History

Vineyard Churches - The Association of Vineyard Churches is a diverse group of churches that partner together to advance the kingdom of God by communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed. Through many localized expressions, Vineyard churches aim to:

• Worship God and stand on the ancient truth of the Scripture, the guide for faith, life, and service.
• Grow as a people of both the Word and Spirit, imbued with power for the purpose of making and nurturing mature disciples of Jesus Christ.
• Create reproducing missional communities of worship, discipleship, evangelism and service.
• Serve the Father in the power of the Spirit, following Jesus’ holistic and incarnational ministry of proclaiming and manifesting the kingdom of God.

The Urban Vineyard - In 1981, Steve and Cindy Nicholson and a team of 15 people from Christ Church moved to Humboldt Park to plant an inner city church. Dave Frederick joined the team in the summer of 1983. The Humboldt Park church maintained close ties with the Evanston church, and also benefited from contact with the Vineyard movement.

In August 1985, we became the Chicago Vineyard. In the summer of 1986, the Nicholsons left the inner city in order to devote more time to the Evanston Vineyard. Dave Frederick was named pastor. Most of the original team members also left in the next 6-8 months, leaving 12 people in the church. Largely due to a series of retreats open to the community, we tripled in size over the subsequent two years and began growing steadily. In the summer of 1989 we took over a Christian elementary school (Logos Primary School) previously operated by another church and purchased the building (2145 N. Maplewood Ave.) In the process, the Fire Department of the city of Chicago, through a court order, forced Logos to relocate to a nearby location. In the spring of 1992, the church Board was forced to close the school due to a lack of resources. During this time Dave Frederick decided to resign and recommended Rafael [Ray] and Teresa Maldonado to become the new pastors of the church.

In June 1992, the membership unanimously voted to call them. On July 20, 1992, their ministry started in our church. During the fall of 1992 the membership agreed to change the official name of the church so that other Vineyards could be started in the city and not be confused with our church. The official name was changed from Chicago Vineyard to Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Humboldt Park/Chicago and finally to it's current name of Urban Vineyard.

The worship pastor, George Claudio, Liz his wife, and family were sent in 1998 to plant a church in Milwaukee, WI. Two former members are missionaries in Brazil and several others have gone on to serve in other churches and ministries after their stay and participation in this church.

Since 1992 the church has consistently sought to know God and make Him known. To this end we have put on conferences, block parties, coffee house gatherings, food pantry ministry and the annual Christmas toy sale. This list is just an example of the ongoing efforts to proclaim the wondrous Name of Jesus and to be His hands of love and kind service in the community.

History of the Vineyard Movement - The Association of Vineyard Churches is one of the fastest growing church-planting movements in the world. The Vineyard story is about ordinary people who worship and serve an extraordinary God. The Vineyard is simply one thread in the rich tapestry of the historic and global Church of Jesus Christ. But it is a thread of God’s weaving.

From the beginning, Vineyard pastors and leaders have sought to hold in tension the biblical doctrines of the Christian faith with an ardent pursuit of the present day work of the Spirit of God. Maintaining that balance is never easy in the midst of rapid growth and renewal.

John Wimber was a founding leader of the Vineyard. His influence profoundly shaped the theology and practice of Vineyard churches from their earliest days until his death in November 1997. When John was conscripted by God he was, in the words of Christianity Today, a "beer-guzzling, drug-abusing pop musician, who was converted at the age of 29 while chain-smoking his way through a Quaker-led Bible study" (Christianity Today, editorial, Feb. 9 1998).

In John's first decade as a Christian he led hundreds of people to Christ. By 1970 he was leading 11 Bible studies that involved more than 500 people. Under God’s grace, John became so fruitful as an evangelical pastor he was asked to lead the Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evangelism and Church Growth. He also later became an adjunct instructor at Fuller Theological Seminary where his classes set attendance records. In 1977, John reentered pastoral ministry to plant Calvary Chapel of Yorba.

Throughout this time, John’s conservative evangelical paradigm for understanding the ministry of the church began to grow. George Eldon Ladd’s theological writings on the kingdom of God convinced John intellectually that the all the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit should be active in the church. Encounters with Fuller missiologists Donald McGavaran and C. Peter Wagner and seasoned missionaries and international students gave him credible evidence for combining evangelism with healing and prophecy. As he became more convinced of God's desire to be active in the world through all the biblical gifts of the Spirit, John began to teach and train his church to imitate Jesus’ full-orbed kingdom ministry. He began to ‘do the stuff’ of the Bible that he had formerly only read about.

As John and his congregation sought God in intimate worship they experienced empowerment by the Holy Spirit, significant renewal in the gifts and conversion growth. It became clear that the church’s emphasis on the experience of the Holy Spirit was not shared by some leaders in the Calvary Chapel movement. In 1982, John's church left Calvary Chapel and joined a small group of Vineyard churches. Vineyard was a name chosen by Kenn Gulliksen, a prolific church planter affiliated with Calvary Chapel, for a church he planted in Los Angeles in 1974. Pastors and leaders from the handful of Vineyard churches began looking to John for direction. And the Vineyard movement was born.

Twenty years later, there are more than 850 Vineyard churches worldwide, an international church planting movement, a publishing house and a music production company. Vineyard worship songs have helped thousands of churches experience intimacy with God. Many churches have been equipped to continue Jesus' ministry of proclaiming the kingdom, healing the sick, casting out demons and training disciples.

The Vineyard's journey has not been a straight path. It winds through many trials and triumphs. If interested in more, we recommend Bill Jackson's book, "The Quest for the Radical Middle." This readable history explores the events, issues and people who shaped the Vineyard in its first two decades.