Helsinki Vineyard

Early years of the Vineyard Movement - Hippie Revival and the Discovery of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The very first Vineyard congregation was born in the middle of the Hippie Revival in California U.S.A. in 1974. Ken and Joan Gulliksen, who noticed that the Hippies who had come to know Jesus didn’t fit in in the traditional congregations, formed a congregation which didn’t emphasise a certain dresscode and used rock music in their meetings. The name of the congregation, ’Vineyard’, refers to Jesus’ story of the Kingdom of Heavens, which employees he compares to the workers of a vineyard.

John Wimber is thought of as the father of the Vineyard movement as the movement grew world-wide during his time. The movement also became known for its blessing attitude towards other denominations, its worship songs and the healing of sicknesses through prayer.

John Wimber and his wife Carol came to the faith in a Quaker church in California in 1962. During the following couple of years they led hundreds of people to Jesus. John’s work in the congregation received so much attention that the Fuller Theological Seminary invited him to lead the Institute for Evangelising and Church Growth.

The Quaker church did not believe in the working of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (speaking in tongues, prophesy, healing of the sick etc.) in the modern times although a powerful Hippie Revival near by witnessed visibly and clearly of all these gifts.

One night Carol Wimber had a dream in which she, as usual, explained that gifts of the Holy Spirit are not present in our time. Carol was suddenly awakened by herself speaking in tongues. She was then filled with contrition for repressing the works of God.

Deeper hunger for meeting God led into the forming of a house group in which Carol along with the others spent time seeking God’s closeness. They came to notice that short worship songs directed to God best demonstrated the longing in their hearts.

From the Quaker Church into a New Congregation

The group witnessed fast growth and John Winber was asked to lead it. The house group wanted to be open to the works of the Holy Spirit, which was difficult for the Quaker church to accept. The Quaker church blessed the house group as its own congregation in 1977.

While studying the growth of congregations, John Wimber had come to notice that the fastest growing congregations were charismatic Pentecostal congregations. The growth was attained through the preaching of Gospel, which included the healing of sick and miracles. John started to preach of the healing of sick based on the Gospel of Luke. The first miracle of healing happened after ten months of prayer.

”Come Holy Spirit”

A true turning point in the congregation’s history was Mother’s Day in 1980, when a guest speaker, a converted hippie, said ”Come Holy Spirit” after the speech he had given. The words were followed by the people falling on the ground by the power of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and shaking. Many people came to faith during the following years and many were healed from their sicknesses as a result of the prayers of the members of the congregation.

The Birth of the Vineyard Movement

In 1981 John Wimber’s congregation joined the tiny Vineyard movement formed by Ken and Joan Gulliksen. John was elected the leader of that movement and started to teach his university students to pray for sicknesses. The action led into many healing miracles which received wide publicity in the Christian press in the United States.

Some of England’s Anglican chrurches invited John Wimber and the Vineyard team over for a visit in 1984. During the visit the Holy Spirit touched hundreds of churches in a new way encouraging people to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

A Simple Style

Coming to the faith and believing in trusting in the Bible is called ’herätyskristillisyys’ in Finland. In the English speaking world it is often mentioned as ’evangelicals’. Christianity which emphasizes the gifts of the Holy Spirit is called ’charismatic’. The Vineyard has tried to position itself between these two.

Many christians who believied in the trustworthiness of the Bible and emphasized being born again were drawn to John Wimber’s way of praying for the sick and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He did not yell loudly when preaching or praying like many Pentecostal preachers and he also did not try to create an athmosphere of religious ecstacy with premeditatedly emotional speeches, but his style was calm and simple instead.

This has formed into one of Vineyard’s trademarks. The movement has also become known for using the gifts of the Holy Spirit in evangelising, practical teaching for praying for the sick and the needy, it’s worship music and co-operation with other Christian denominations.

The ’Third Charismatic Wave’

Vineyard has been called the ’third charismatic wave’. The pentecostal movement was born in the begining of the 20th century (the first charismatic wave), the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit sread into the traditional churches in the 1960’s (Lutheran, Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches) and was called the second charismatic wave. Vineyard was born in the 1980’s, serving all denomination by encouraging them to pray fot the sick. Vineyard’s message was that each Christian can pray for the sick and reach out to non-Christians in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Vineyard Comes Known in Finland

The Lutheran organisation ’Hengen Uudistus Kirkoissamme ry’ organised many seminaries visited by several Vineyard pastors during the years 1988-1991. Päivä Oy, a publishing house owned by the Free Church, published John Wimbers book ”Ihmeet ja merkit” (1987) and Kevin Spriger’s and John Wimber’s book ”Kolmas aalto” (1990). The seminaries and books made the Vineyard more known especially to the Lutheran Church and the Free Church. Cai and Katja Talvio, the founders of Helsinki Vineyard, went to Canada to learn more about Vineyard.

Blessings and Storms of the Prophet Movement

The Vineyard experienced a period of prophetalic movement during the years 1988-1992 especially through some prophets based in Kansas City, U.S.A. The prophetic movement was seen through the Holy Spirit informing the preacher of specific details in a person’s life and the people having clear and detailed visions of things that came to happen later on.

During that time Vineyard was subject to harsh criticism and it was blamed for excessive emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit and miracles. As a result, the Vineyard Theologians published a book titled ”The Kindom and the Power” (Edited by Gary S. Graig and Kevin S. Springer. 1993. Regal Books: Ventura, California) and many shorter replies (Position Papers) to the misconceptions about the movement.

Prophetic phase was re-evaluated in a Vineyard’s pastor’s meeting in 1991. Although considered important, prophetic emphasis was considered to take away too much attention from the basic functions of the congregations. The basic values of the Vineyard movement were confirmed as:

1. Teaching the Bible as God’s word
2. Serving the poor, orphans and widows.
3. Evangelising combined with to social responsibility when ever possible
4. Healing the sick and cating out demons
5. Commitment to small group activies
6. Equipping the members of the church in the areas of service, giving, family and finances
7. Co-operation with other pastors and denominations
8. Worship
9. Using the gifts of the Holy Spirit
10. Commitment to missionary work

The Toronto Blessing Spreads Over the World

Vineyard was in the spot light again in 1994 when the movement received much attention for a religious awakening which started in the Toronto Airport Vineyard. Many new and perhaps even fierce looking manifestations of the Holy Spirit took place: some fell down by the power of the Holy Spirit, some shook or laughed uncontrollably. All this had happened throughout Vineyard’s history but the widespread effect of the phenomena was new to the congregation.

Many people felt that they were healed from pain in their emotional life when touched by the Holy Spirit, causing their whole body to react. The phenomena attracted the attention of the secular press and the British press started to call it the ’Toronto Blessing’. Christians from all denominations started to flow into Toronto, spreading with them the phenomena all over the world. The ’Toronto Blessing’ reached Finland in 1995 causing many congregations to hold “renewal meetings”. The Pentecostal AIKA Oy published a book by Guy Chevreau titled ”Sateet tulevat”, which analysed the renewal wave with an emphasis on theology and church history.

Vineyard leaders asked the Toronto congregation to separate itself from the Vineyard in December 1995. The Vineyard leadership knew that the reform was genuine work of the Holy Spirit but it could not overlook the fact that the Toronto congregation had not corrected the mistakes made in the teaching and prayer service regardless of their notices. The Toronto leadership did not agree on everything, but did admit that their activities had grown beyond the style of Vineyard.

Helsinki Vineyard were born

Cai and Katja Talvio founded Helsinki Vineyard in 1997 with a little group of people. The church has grown since then and it has been led by other senior pastors - Mike & Virpi Hopkins (2000-2002) and Pekka Matikainen & Hanna Ranssi-Matikainen (2002-2006). Ari Puonti was appointed as the senior pastor in 2006. There were about 70 adults and 30 kids involved in the Spring 2010.

Vineyard Movement Today

Vineyard’s former leader, John Wimber, died in 1997. Vineyard has not had a single leader since but the movement has been dealt into nine geographical areas (such as the Nordic countries, German speaking Europe etc.) which operate independently. Helsinki Vineyard is a part of Vineyard Norden.

Today Vineyard is focused on reaching people alienated from Christianity. Vineyard is one of the fastest growing denominations – there are over 1600 congregations in 83 countries and 21 congregations in the area of the Nordic countries.