Many people have asked me to explain my role in Vineyard Anaheim’s decision to withdraw from Vineyard USA, and particularly my subsequent resignation from its Board. This statement is personal. I am not speaking on behalf of Vineyard Anaheim’s Board, nor of its Pastors, Alan and Kathryn Scott who have already issued a statement here.
I am choosing to speak now for three reasons: Firstly, the depth of pain and confusion that this decision has caused has broken my heart. I love Alan and Kathryn. I also love the Vineyard movement which has shaped my life profoundly. I have many friends within the worldwide Vineyard family to whom I owe an explanation.
Secondly, there is a great deal of misinformation and unhelpful presumption circulating, and I believe that this is contributing to the current confusion and pain. I hope that by speaking up I can bring a little more clarity.
Thirdly, the 24-7 Prayer movement is committed to Christian unity. I recognise that my words and actions have a bearing on thousands of people who are actively and wonderfully engaged in 24-7 Prayer globally, some of them members of Vineyard churches.
A painful process
I attended my first meeting of the Vineyard Anaheim Board on January 19th, having accepted an invitation to visit twice a year for two years in order to bring an external perspective. I had made this commitment because Alan and Kathryn are friends, and because Vineyard Anaheim is a church I have deeply admired for many years.
There was no mention on that visit of any plan to leave Vineyard USA (VUSA), and neither had this possibility been raised with me previously. I have subsequently learned that it had been discussed in other contexts prior to my arrival, and was the subject of active discernment at that time. Had I known this, I would not have felt able to join the Board.
When Alan and Kathryn sensed that the time was right to leave VUSA at the end of February, they requested the Board’s support (although technically, under the terms of the bylaws established by John Wimber, they did not need our permission to do so). I did not give my consent because this came as a complete shock and there did not appear to have been any due process. Instead I urged Alan to slow down. As a result, on Sunday February 27th, he publicly acknowledged ‘mis-steps in… communication’, and announced his desire ‘to host a further conversation.’
I then met with Jay Pathak the National Director of VUSA in Denver, and strongly encouraged him in his desire to engage the Scotts in a meaningful process of dialogue and mutual discernment.
On Sunday March 6th I attended a Vineyard Anaheim Board meeting at which a plan was made to meet with members of the VUSA Board for off-the-record discussions. At this point I resigned from the Board because I felt that I had played my part in brokering better communication between the two parties and because I could see that the reputation of 24-7 Prayer was being damaged by the public perception of my continued involvement.
In the eleven days between the Scott’s initial announcement and my resignation I spent many hours, much prayer and a few tears, trying to leverage my position on the Board for the sake of peace and grace between people I love and ministries I continue to admire. I held my peace publicly during this time - and until now - out of a desire to help facilitate dialogue. I did not want to say anything that could be construed as taking sides which seemed to me, both then and now, to be unhelpful. I am truly sorry for any confusion and hurt my choices have made, both amongst those who wish I had not resigned, and those who wanted me to offer an explanation like this sooner.
I am deeply aware of the shockwaves this decision has sent through the Vineyard family worldwide. God knows I have tried to help.
Posture
I do not wish my resignation, or this statement, to be weaponised in any way against the Scotts. They, along with the whole Vineyard Anaheim Board, have been consistently gracious and godly towards me. I have never once heard them speak a bad word in private or public towards VUSA. They have served faithfully and fruitfully within Vineyard for decades and are truly people who listen diligently to the Lord and simply seek to obey. It grieves me to see the animosity unleashed against them online. I understand the pain behind such comments but the language used is not appropriate within Christ’s family.
Likewise, Jay Pathak is a remarkable and brilliant leader. I believe that he has been raised up by God to lead VUSA for such a time as this. Long before this dispute arose I invited him to speak at our Wildfires Festival in the UK next month, and I am pleased that he is still fully intending to come. I have made myself available to Jay as well as to the Scotts to help in any way I can in an informal capacity.
I acknowledge the sense of bereavement within Vineyard and of bewilderment within the wider church triggered by this sudden separation, and deeply regret my inability to get both sides talking. The process has not been good. I’m sure that some people will continue to be angry with me, not least because this statement fails to address certain questions which can only be answered by the two respective Boards. However I do continue to pray for both VUSA and Vineyard Anaheim, that all concerned will flourish to the greater glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we are one, confident that we shall one day:
‘all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’ (Eph. 4:13)
Pete Greig