So, last week I had lunch with our pastor at church. He recommended a couple of books to me, and even lent me his copies. Both are specific to the Vineyard moevment. The first is a biography of John Wimber, subtitled The Way It Was, and written by his wife after his death. I have to admit that I was quite apprehensive of this book. I didn't know much of John Wimber before I started the book. I know that he was a prefessional musician before joining the ministry, and that he was associated with the Righteous Brothers. I have heard that he was a very charismatic man (by that I mean possessiong a personal charisma, not a reference to charismatics) and that he lead the Vineyard Movement (some would say "was" the Vineyard movement) for many years.

Now, normal, this would set off warning bells in my head. If the defining characteristic of a church or group of churches is the personality of a charismatic leader, that church has a very unstable basis. Man is inheirently fallible. However, Wimber died 10 years ago, and the Vineyard is still here. Still, a biography of the man can feel to me like raising an idol.

So that was in the back of my mind as I started reading this book. My initial reaction is that no wife should write a biography of her husband; it is impossible to expect her to be impartial. In some ways it felt like a protestant canonization of the man. However, as I continued on, my impression changed. Instead of seeing a book raising this man up onto a pedestal, it appears to me to be more of a "lessons learned" resource and a history of how the Vineyard became the Vineyard. I have seeing things that Wimber did early on that are good ideas and things that I want to incorperate in our own practices. The first to jump out at me were a set of ground rules that a leadership small group set up. These seem to be pretty good, and something I'd like to include, in one way or another, in our own small group this summer. Here is an excerpt for the book:

One: No prayer requests for anyone else but yourself; you are here for you, not for someone else. Two: we are going to sing to God, not about him, and we are going to learn to worship, whatever that means. Three: different ones will share and no one will monopolize. Four: No bringing up church problems and no church criticism. Five: Let's leave our places and positions and trophies and badges at the door, and all come together on equal ground while God teaches us about himself.

Carol Wimber follows this up by saying that God cannot not show up. Now I'm of the opinion that that God can do whatever he wants to. However, I think the environment that these rules create is one in which God wants to show up. And that's always a good thing.