The Vineyard, Kelly Edmiston, and the Churches of Christ (#2)

Kelly Edmiston is now the “Lead Pastor” of the Vineyard in Sugar Land, Texas. She has a longstanding background in the churches of Christ and claims to be influenced still by us. In the previous article, we challenged that by calling attention to the differences she herself brought up in the article on Scot McKnight's blog, referred to as Jesus Creed.

What are the most important things we look for when examining any religious group? First, we see what they teach concerning salvation. Second, we see how they conduct worship. Third, we consider what doctrines the group teaches. So, what can we find out about “the Vineyard”? The following information comes, first, from Sugar Land's website. These beliefs will then be compared with what the Vineyard movement, as a whole, believes.

Salvation

Remarkably, their website does not include any information concerning what a person needs to do in order to be saved. They discuss sin and the fact that Jesus was sent to redeem us. They also affirm: “Jesus is the only way to access the free gift of grace, renewed peace, and reconciliation with God.” After this statement, they refer to 23 verses—none of which mention baptism. Do they mention baptism at all? Yes—but not in connection with salvation. The only time it is mentioned is in a sentence where they say they celebrate “baptism and the Lord's Supper.”

What does that mean? What Scripture teaches that baptism is to be celebrated? Does anyone see any connection between this statement and what the New Testament teaches concerning salvation? Kelly's background in the churches of Christ is noticeably silent. The Vineyard nationally does not do much better; they say:

If you're a new follower of Jesus, getting baptized is an important next step. It's a public proclamation of your decision to follow Jesus, a celebration of your joining God's family, and a powerful act of obedience and submission.

They do not specifically deny that baptism has anything to do with salvation, but it is obvious they do not think it does. They think baptism is something that a new Christian ought to do rather than it being the means of salvation. A new follower should be baptized as a “next step.” The next step after what? The obvious implication is—after being saved. It is only to show obedience—not to have sins removed by the blood of Jesus. It is a public proclamation of the decision to follow Jesus, but it is clearly not part of God's plan for redeeming man.

If Kelly Edmiston is so influenced by the churches of Christ, why does she not insist that salvation follows baptism instead of teaching that it precedes it?

Worship

Interestingly, Sugar Land's website does not comment much on worship. About the only mention of anything besides giving (they're big on that), is that they celebrate the Lord's Supper. They do not say how often or what elements are used. The national website does refer to music, however: “Vineyard Worship is a branch of the Vineyard that creates new worship music that reflects the Vineyard's theology and values.” They use instrumental music!

Is anyone surprised? Yes, there are keyboards and guitars and drums. The Vineyard has a different plan of salvation than we do, instrumental music in worship, and different doctrines that they teach. The more one learns, the more difficult it is to believe that Kelly Edmiston is being influenced by her background in the churches of Christ. One is forced to ask, “Exactly how is the background influencing her?”

In the James Bond movie, Live and Let Die, this southern Sheriff is about to arrest James Bond for violating numerous laws. He is taken aside and informed that he cannot arrest the hero because he is a secret agent. He responds by saying, “On whose side?” It seems like an appropriate question to ask Kelly; she touts her background but rejects just about everything that we teach and practice. On whose side is she?

Doctrines

Exactly what doctrines does the Vineyard teach? These come from the Sugar Land website. On the positive side, they believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which is accurate. They also believe that

the Bible was written by people guided by God's Spirit and affirm what it says it is: authoritative, inspired, illumined by the Spirit and useful for teaching, correcting, and wisdom.

Although this sounds good at first reading, one wonders what they mean by guided by God's Spirit instead of inspired by God's Spirit. Do they believe that the very words of God were inspired (2 Sam. 23:2), or do they believe that He only provided some thoughts? There is a huge difference. Also, one wonders what they mean when they say the Holy Spirit illumines the Bible? Are they speaking of some sort of personal insight?

Also, on the positive side, they believe that mankind sinned and rebelled against God and that Jesus came to redeem us. They say (correctly) that Jesus was fully God and fully human, born of a virgin and without sin….”

They also affirm that “Jesus came proclaiming a new arrival of the Kingdom of God—a reality marked by love, grace, peace, and joy.” These are the things that we can agree upon.

Spiritual Gifts

But they also claim that Jesus empowers His followers with spiritual gifts. These do not refer to natural talents which might be improved over time. They mean miraculous gifts as brethren were given in the first century. Following is a statement from their website:

We believe in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all of the biblical gifts of the Spirit. [John 14.26; 20.21-23; Romans 5.5; 8.2; Ephesians 1.17-19; Acts 1.8; Acts 2.15-17]

The first Scripture cited above is John 14:26, in which Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit, Who “will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” The first question to ask about this text is, “Who is you? This is a conversation that Jesus had with the eleven (Judas having left in order to betray Him). Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to them, which He repeated in Acts 1:8 and fulfilled in Acts 2:1-4, 15-17. This is not a promise made to all His followers throughout this entire dispensation until He returns.

How do we know that? As shown above, it was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost, but notice further that the Holy Spirit would remind the apostles of Jesus' teachings—things He said to them. Christians today are not the you of the text. He did not personally teach us; therefore, He does not remind us of the things He said. We have them recorded in the Scriptures.

Of the remaining verses, only Romans 5:5 is pertinent, and it does say that “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” Love is never identified as a spiritual gift; in fact, it is contrasted with spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 13). Paul adds that “the Holy Spirit was given to us.” Does he mean that literally, figuratively, or miraculously? All we can say is that no spiritual gifts are mentioned in the Romans 5 text.

Premillenialism

Probably we should not be surprised (since Kelly has changed her beliefs regarding salvation, worship, the use of miraculous gifts, etc.) that the Vineyard Church at Sugar Land also supports the doctrine of premillennialism, which most churches of Christ repudiated years ago, thanks to the efforts of Foy E. Wallace, Jr. Below is what Sugar Land's website states.

We believe Jesus will return to judge the world, bringing an end to injustice and restoring all things to God's original intent. God will reclaim this world and rule forever. Our relationships with God, others, creation, and ourselves will be whole. All will flourish as God intends. This is what we long for. This is what we hope for. [Isaiah 11.1-9; Isaiah 65.19-25; Matthew 19.28; Acts 3.21; Colossians 1.19-20; 2 Peter 3.13; Revelation 21]

Jesus will indeed come to judge the world, but He is not going to rule forever upon it. First, it won't be here. Oddly enough, they cited 2 Peter 3:13 but neglected to list 2 Peter 3:10-12, which says that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. The earth shall be burned up. Verse 12 adds that the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire.

The Vineyard cites verse 13, but it does not make their case, since the first heaven and the first earth are gone. The new heavens and the new earth are a spiritual creation—not a reconstruction of the literal earth. Since the physical creation has been dissolved, how can God restore it to the way it was in the beginning? He would need to rebuild the original, which the Vineyard does not say He will do. They have Him keeping this present world and ruling over it.

The two passages from Isaiah are not talking about the end of the world (as Peter does in the New Testament); they are figurative and refer to the church in the Christian age. The remainder of the verses cited are subject to interpretation and do not support their thesis, but there are two verses which they ignore that are not highly figurative and therefore easy to understand.

First is John 6:15. The Jews wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him a king. He departed; so they couldn't follow through with their plans. Most of us would argue that Jesus rejected the idea of being a physical king on this physical earth. But some might say, “It could be that the timing was just not right.” That might be a good point. It appears that Moses, according to Stephen's sermon in Acts 7, had in mind delivering his people from Pharaoh, but he was rejected. It may well be that the timing was not right. God chose him to lead his people out of Israel 40 years later.

Second is John 18:36. While timing might have been Jesus' reason to reject kingship, it does not seem likely, since He ascended into Heaven and received His kingdom less than three years later. Consider, however what He told Pilate—and this should settle the issue: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Jesus never desired to rule over a physical kingdom, period. Not then; not now; not when He returns for His saints. Yet despite this declaration, religious groups like the Vineyard keep insisting that Jesus will rule on earth. Can they really believe the Bible while denying truths relating to salvation, worship, and the second coming?

Et Cetera

And we have only scratched the surface. They accept manmade religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter. One sermon of “Pastor” Kelly's is: “Lent: Repentance and Renewal.” Really? What passage of Scripture is that taken from? Another one deals with “Advent.” According to the Internet, Advent refers to the first season of the Christian church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays. God's Word is silent with respect to these manmade inventions.