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Our pastors
Lead Pastors
Arlan & Barbro Askew
Arlan Askew's calling from the Lord is to minister to the nations and plant local churches. He was a Bible student at Seattle Bible School in Seattle, Washington when he met his wife, Barbro, who was a recent immigrant from Sweden.
Arlan and Barbro were married in 1967, and Arlan continued his schooling at Portland Bible College in Portland, Oregon. After graduating, Arlan was a teacher at Portland Bible College for seven years, after which time he and his family moved to Bend, Oregon with a church planting team to plant a non-denominational church.
Arlan and Barbro lived with their children in Bend for 10 years. During that time, they became affiliated with the Vineyard movement and John Wimber. Arlan began accompanying John Wimber and others in the Vineyard on ministry teams to numerous countries around the world. The focus of the ministry was on training leaders and lay Christians to do the works of Jesus with a strong emphasis on bringing God's people into an experience of the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Arlan and his wife Barbro have been pastoring the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Westside in Portland, Oregon since 1990. Since the renewal (the visitation of the Holy Spirit manifesting the power, glory, and love of God, pouring out of Toronto, Canada) broke out in early 1994, God has used them to spread the fire in their own city and in other countries around the world including Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, Estonia, and Mozambique. They have a passion to see the church filled with God's love and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Arlan and Barbro have raised six children, 4 boys and 2 girls, and now have 21 grandchildren.
Associate Pastors
Micah & Danielle Askew
Administrative pastor
Andy Gobble
Children
Andrea Heikkila
Our history
Humble Beginnings
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).
The Early Years
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 Linda.
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.
The Vineyard Is Born
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.
A Season of Expansion
Twenty-five years later, there are more than 1,500 Vineyard churches worldwide, 550+ in the US, with 8 regions actively planting churches across the country. Vineyard worship songs, documented by Vineyard Music, have helped thousands of churches experience intimacy with God. Many churches have been equipped to continue Jesus' ministry of proclaiming the kingdom, demonstrating the kingdom and training disciples.
The Vineyard's journey has not been a straight path. It winds through many trials and triumphs. If you are interested in more, there are a number of books and DVDs available from Vineyard Resources that explore the history, events, issues and people who shaped the Vineyard in its first two decades.
vision
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To Know God and Worship Him
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(This involves the whole person: body, mind, heart, spirit)
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We know God through the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the family of God
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We worship God not only with music and song, but by offering our life in service to him
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To partner with God in making Him known to others
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By expressing the love of God in real ways
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By bringing the salvation provided by Jesus to our city and all around the world, most importantly reconciliation to God and healing to the whole person
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This is our vision for the whole church, from those in the womb to those who have lived many years.
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Our vision is a group of people that live out of knowing God in every way, not just head knowledge. Our vision is a group of people that live a lifestyle of worship toward God. Our Vision is a group of people making God known to others in sincere love. Our vision is a group of people going out to represent Jesus who came not to condemn the world but to save it in every possible way.
we believe
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Vineyard is Orthodox and Charismatic in Faith and Practice
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The Westside Vineyard adheres to the historical Christian Faith as defined in all the historically prominent and ecumenically received councils, creeds, and catechisms. We are not only orthodox in our beliefs, but we seek to live out our beliefs as we yield to the Holy Spirit’s empowering and directives.
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Jesus gives us life as He brings us into relationship with the Father and imparts to us the Holy Spirit. Man is lost in his wrongdoing and powerless to live a life that is right before God. Because of this, God has taken the initiative by sending Jesus to show us Himself, revealing His love. Jesus revealed what the Father is like and how he thinks about us (John 14:8-9).
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God has spoken to us through the Word and continues to speak with us by the Spirit. The Bible, God’s written revelation for mankind, is wholly authoritative and our infallible rule for faith and practice. Having embraced Jesus who died for our sins, we are also brought into the fellowship of the Church, His body, comprised of all who believe in His name.
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The Church, loved by the Father, redeemed by the Son and empowered by the Holy Spirit, is God’s chosen instrument commissioned to reveal His love and redemptive power to the whole world.
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God’s people must respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit both as a congregation and individually. We welcome sovereign moves of the Spirit over the whole congregation as well as through organized teams for individual ministry.
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We believe the teaching on these truthes embodied in the scriptures on marriage and sexuality should be publicly taught in our fellowship and to all those who solicit our opinion or are in a discussion with us about it. This should not be construed as hate or hate language but only the setting forth of what we believe to be clearly taught in the Holy Bible.
values
All our values are derived from this core vision, KNOWING GOD. We are committed to growth in intimacy with and accountability before God. We believe God reveals Himself to each person through the Holy Spirit as Jesus taught (John 14:16). We also believe God reveals Himself through His Church, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Part of coming to know God is coming to know each other. Because of this, God and His children are not to be used to satisfy our own selfish ambitions. Rather, we learn how to relate to Him and His Church, which brings wholeness to our lives. From this basic value come all other values we regard.
We value the PURSUIT OF GOD. We thirst to know God’s presence, to hear His voice, and to follow hard after Him. (Psalm 63:1-3)
We value CHRIST-LIKENESS. We desire, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ love, mercy, grace, truth, purity, power and integrity, as we walk with Him through this life (Ephesians 5:2). Christ likeness cannot be equated to imitating Jesus in our own strength. We believe that Christ likeness is only achieved by letting Him live in us and through us. We desire to yield to a living person whose power is in us (Galatians 2:20).
We value being SPIRIT-LED. We honor Jesus as our Head and the Holy Spirit as our counselor. We seek to attune our spiritual senses to the Holy Spirit. We believe He desires to direct us in everyday life as well as in spiritual ministry (Romans 8:14).
We value PRAYER. We believe prayer is essential since it is basic to communing with God. Prayer is our primary way of knowing how to accomplish His purposes on earth.
We value DISCIPLESHIP. We aim first to grow in Jesus ourselves, and then help others through teaching and example to be disciples of His (Matt. 28:18-20).
We value the KINGDOM OF GOD. We seek to advance the presence of God’s Kingdom in the world. The Holy Spirit desires to work through the Church, as He has individually gifted each believer, revealing the presence of God through various signs and wonders (1 Cor. 12:4-11; Acts 4:30).
We value the MERCY OF GOD. We believe God’s mercy is fundamental to all that He does in salvation. We, therefore, aim to extend mercy to one another and to all to whom we minister (Colossians 3:12-13).
We value INTEGRITY. It is important for us to deal with each other honestly, live uprightly, and to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
We value SERVANT LEADERSHIP. We believe Christ has put significant leadership authority in the hands of the pastor and his associates. We aim to exercise that authority with humility, selflessness, grace, and care for the sheep, with sincere desire to build up the Body of Christ (Mark 10:42-45 and Ephesians 4:11-16).
We value the INDIVIDUAL, single or married. We want to enable and support mature relationships and family growth.
We value UNITY. We are convinced that all who belong to Christ are one in His Body, the Church. We aim to maintain unity by honoring all who call upon Jesus’ name (John 17:21-23).
We value COLLEGIAL RELATIONSHIPS. Every person whom God adds to the Vineyard is an honor to us. We aim to work together to build the Church through maintaining mutual respect, open communication, determined cooperation, and believing and speaking the best about each other (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
We value REALITY. We aim to walk in the Spirit and see God’s supernatural intervention in our lives. We aim also to function in the "natural realm", dependent upon God’s leading and wisdom in pursuit of excellent, rational thinking (James 1:5).
We value SIMPLICITY. We wish to do nothing for religious effect but prefer to operate naturally, in a low key, no hype way. We desire to do the ministry of Christ with joy (Philippians 4:4).
We value being CULTURALLY RELEVANT. We aim to develop an atmosphere of ease in which to speak, act, dress, and worship in ways our culture best responds to (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
Priorities
The following are seven priorities God has given us based on our Values.
Worship
We give priority to intimate and expressive worship focused on experiencing the Father's heart. He shares how he feels about us. We, in turn, let Him know how we feel about Him. We give God our praise and adoration, expecting his presence to rest on us. (Acts 4:31 & 16:25-26).
Fellowship
In His kingdom our desire is to develop an open, genuine, and caring relationship with eight to ten people for whom we care even more than ourselves (Philippians 2:4). Toward this end we provide a variety of small group experiences that must be consistently taught and responded to. Therefore we give priority to practical biblical teaching. The goal of bible teaching is to empower and encourage us toward an intimate relationship with God. We also affirm the living element of God’s word that specifies what He is saying to the church today, a current prophetic word (Revelations 3:22).
Ministry
All believers are called by God to do His ministry. Therefore, we release His ministry to those equipped in order that we may win people to Jesus and care for those who have been hurt.
Training
Because believers are called to do the ministry of god, we provide a format in which information can be received and applied to "hands-on" ministry, a show and tell model.
Sending
God has called us to send trained personnel on both short-term and permanent missions. As partners with God, those sent seek to revitalize the existing Body of Christ as well as to plant new Churches.
Prayer
Bible-based and Spirit-led praying releases God’s kingdom on earth and blessing in our lives. Loving our Heavenly Father by talking to Him and listening to Him describes our highest privilege with Him. We believe every day and every endeavor must be based on prayer.