Vinyard Church Hopkinton - Acceptance

The Vineyard Church of Hopkinton is part of the Association of Vineyard Churches, a growing denomination that now includes over 1200 churches in 47 countries, including over 500 churches in the U.S.

The first Vineyard Christian Fellowship began inauspiciously in 1974 as a young man named Kenn Gulliksen led a small fellowship of discouraged Christians in the Los Angeles area. Those first meetings included a lot of singing and worshiping God in an attempt to experience Him as a living, life-changing friend and not just as a theory, which had been the experience of all too many in the group. Their little fellowship, many of whom were artists, musicians and actors, grew quickly as people got wind of the fresh things God seemed to be doing in their meetings.

When praying about what name to call themselves, some felt drawn to read Isaiah, chapter 5, in the Bible, which quotes God saying "I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard..." and the name Vineyard Christian Fellowship was born.

By 1982, when they began looking for someone who could give shape to this rapidly-expanding movement of now seven churches, they heard about a pastor named John Wimber, who had been experiencing some remarkable things in his own right.

A former professional musician, Wimber had moved into the ministry after what he called "some dramatic encounters with God." After spending several years training ministers at Fuller Theological Seminary, he and his wife, Carol, began meeting with a small group of Christians who – much like those under Gulliksen's leadership – were looking for a fresh experience with God that was more like the dynamic, supernatural experience of following Jesus that they read about in the New Testament.

Also by 1982, more than a thousand people were bursting the seams of the high school gym where they were meeting in Anaheim, CA. That year, Wimber took over the leadership of Vineyard churches. After starting several churches on the west coast, Kenn and Joannie Gulliksen came to the Metrowest area in August of 1984 with a vision to gather and heal, train and send out people to minister God's love and healing to New England and the Northeast. They started a Vineyard Church in Framingham. Although John Wimber died in 1997 from a brain hemorrhage, he left behind a congregation of almost seven thousand people in Anaheim, CA and an association of churches reaching more than a hundred thousand people.

Vineyard churches have become known for helping people find a fresh experience of God in an informal, contemporary setting. Many Vineyard songs are sung worldwide, across many denominations, in keeping with a vision not only to build up Vineyard churches, but to encourage as many churches and denominations as possible. For further reading, check out "Quest for the Radical Middle" by Bill Jackson, an insider's look inside the formative influences and history of the Vineyard.

In 1997, Rob Davis and John Reichart sensed a call from God to co-plant a church. John's heart was to plant in Hopkinton, which was located strategically on Rte 495 and was one of the fastest growing communities in Massachusetts. So in 1998 they gathered a team of about 30 from the Vineyard Metrowest, and the Vineyard Church of Hopkinton was planted. They began with public gatherings on the Hopkinton Common throughout the summer and the first "official" service was October 11, 1998 in the Golden Pond Assisted Living Center. As the church grew, services moved to the old high school to the the Hopkins School. In June 2002, John Reichart moved to pastor a Vineyard in Guilford, CT, and Rob Davis became the senior pastor. In September 2004, we moved to our current church building located at 84 South Street in Hopkinton.