“This is the explanation: God has made us what we are. God has created us in King Jesus for the good works that he prepared, ahead of time, as the road we must travel.”
-Ephesians 2:10, Kingdom New Testament
The spiritual life is a journey, not a one-time decision. It’s a long, winding, surprising, mysterious, and challenging adventure. You might have a certain direction in which you are headed, but there are always unexpected twists and turns. You might have a destination in mind, but the joy is more in the traveling than in the arriving. The spiritual journey is this kind of life-long adventure–one that we believe is best enjoyed with others.
A pathway, however, is different. A pathway is shorter, with clearer steps and goals. We like to think of your time here at Vineyard Augusta–however long or short–as a sort of pathway within your larger spiritual journey. As you welcome us in becoming a part of your journey, it is our joy to invite you onto this pathway that we believe will nurture your personal spiritual growth. We’re excited to walk alongside you as you become more and more the person God has made you to be, to do the good works he has prepared for you to do, to travel the road you must travel. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you are welcome here!
The Five Steps
Invitation
The first step is to visit Vineyard Church. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely already taken this step! We also encourage you to become someone who invites others
Connection
The second step is to open yourself up to new relationships with others in the church. The easiest way to begin is by filling out a Connect Card or an Everybody Gets to Play Card. Physical copies are also available.
Formation & Service
In this fourth step we invite you to commit to contexts for your own spiritual formation and service. Your Trail Guide will help you find your own answers to two questions: Who am I being formed with? Who am I serving with?
Multiplication
The fifth step is the next natural aspect of growth. Here we invite you to invest in future disciples within your particular area of ministry involvement.
Loop Back to Reassessment
It is common in spiritual formation that each of us comes to a place where we feel like our faith, beliefs, or practices have become stale. Such seasons can be disorienting. An important feature of this pathway is the open invitation to loop back to Step 3. Here a Trail Guide will help you reassess your stage of faith and your engagement in formation and service.
Who Is This For?
First, our Growth Pathway is for people who are new to Vineyard Augusta. Sometimes coming into a new church can be confusing. It can be hard to know where to begin. If you haven’t had much church experience, you might feel overwhelmed and confused by the plethora of opportunities that a church offers. If you have had previous church experience, you might simply get involved in ways you have done before. But what if God has something new and different for you in this new local church family.
The Growth Pathway begins by helping you answer questions like:
- What are all the opportunities that exist here?
- How do I know which opportunity to try out first?
- What would be the best fit for me in this season of life?
Second, our Growth Pathway is for people who have been a part of VCA for a length of time, but who might be feeling a little stuck or wondering if there is “more”. It’s common to feel like your faith is somehow lacking, or you may feel stuck in your area of service, but God may be inviting you into something different in a new season of life.
The Growth Pathway exists to help you process questions like:
- Why do I feel stuck or stale in my faith?
- Is there something more than what I’m currently experiencing?
- How do I deal with all the questions I’m facing?