Welcome to Exeter Vineyard Church
We are a church based in and around the lovely city of Exeter, in the South West of England.
We think of church as a family. So, like a family, church isn't something you ‘do’ or ‘attend’, it's something we’re part of at all times.
This means our highest priority at Exeter Vineyard is to create a loving, supportive and fun community with God at the centre and us all learning to involve him in all areas of our everyday lives.
We also know that God has given the Church a mission, so we’re always looking to be people who bring God’s kingdom to the world around us.
We think we will achieve this by doing what Jesus asked us to do: make disciples.
Our Purpose
Our purpose is best captured by the Biblical idea of ‘discipleship’.
Discipleship is the transforming process that God wants to do in every person, no matter their age, stage or experience. It’s becoming an apprentice of Jesus to learning how to really live.
It is the journey to become more fully alive; to be shaped into the person God created us to be, someone who reflects the character of God and lives a Jesus-sized life.
It's more like learning a skill - the skill of living - than it is learning information. Discipleship happens gradually and takes time. It is unique and individual, but there is always something new to learn.
We define being a disciple as someone who is increasingly growing in these three areas:
- A life centred around a transforming, loving relationship with God,
- Where this reality saturates every area of our whole life,
- And this transforming power overflows into the world around us.
What We Do
We want the activities and practices of our church to help encourage and facilitate discipleship.
We think two elements essential to discipleship are community and formation.
Community is doing life with others; having real and healthy relationships with people who accept and support us.
Formation is learning the practices and ways of thinking that help us see and respond to God in our everyday life that 'form' us to be more like Jesus
Gathering Together
As a church we gather in two ways - Whole Church and Hubs.
Whole Church
This happens on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. It’s a bit like a traditional Sunday service; we start by eating breakfast together and then we come together for sung worship, Bible teaching, a spiritual practice and prayer.
Hubs
Hubs are church around the dinner table. They are small to medium sized groups that meet in people’s homes and usually have food together. They meet 3 or 4 times a month and are very informal.
Hubs are multi-generation and children are fully part of Hubs. You could think of Hub meetings as being similar to an extended family get together, where all ages eat together and catch up, but at certain times different age groups might do different things.
Our hope is these relationships extend beyond the meeting times into doing life together - and discovering God’s involvement in our everyday lives.
All of our Hubs engage with the same video resources and learning happens not just by listening to the video, but also by discussion, prayer and application. The role of Hub leaders is to facilitate community and to create a culture of discipleship.
You can find our current Hubs here.
Under 18s
Young people are fully part of our church and are involved in Hubs and our Whole Church activities.
We also do a number of monthly activities for young people, split into different age groups. These are fun times to help build a community of friendships and to encourage our young people to discover their own relationship with God. Get in touch for more information.
Compassion Ministries
We have a number of teams that work to help others.
The Crosslines team provide a weekly hot meal for the homeless and vulnerably housed community.
Roundabout collects and distributes good quality clothes and equipments to families in need.
The Refugee House team work with two other local churches in the Government's refugee resettlement scheme, so far helping two Syrian families move from refugee camps to start a new life in Exeter.
We also champion the work of Home For Good, helping to support and encourage people considering or engaged in fostering and adoption.
Getting Involved
If you would like to find out more about Exeter Vineyard then drop us a line on this form or on the email at the bottom of the page.
If you want to get a feel for what we’re like then a good place to start is to join us for one of our whole church activities. Check our calendar for what’s going on. If you are interested in finding out more about Hubs, get in touch.
Finally, if you want to join our church family, you can complete a form here that puts you into our secure database and allows us to connect with you. You can choose options to say you would like more details about different areas of our church.
Our Team
Dave & Sarah
Dave & Sarah lead the team at Exeter Vineyard. They met while studying art in Exeter and have been involved in Exeter Vineyard since it started. They took on the role of senior leaders in 1995 in some sort of divine hijacking of their own plans! They have two children. Dave is a Spurs fan and loves kebabs. Sarah is very artistic and enjoys peace and quiet.
Alan
Alan is our Assistant Pastor with a focus on our gathered activities and online service. Alan also works as a head teacher of a local secondary school. He is married to Jane and they have two grown up boys. Alan is a fan of F1 and definitely drinks too much tea.
Adam
Adam is our Assistant Pastor with a focus on Hubs. He also oversees our under-18 activities. He works for us one day a week and spends the rest of his week as a Marine Biology researcher. His speciality is micro-plastics and their effect on the environment (spoiler: it’s bad). He has a Phd, so technically he’s a doctor, but don’t show him any suspicious rashes or expect help if you’re choking. He is married to Hannah and they have two cats.
Rachel
Rachel is our Operations Manager. She works 2 days a week, making sure everything works smoothly behind the scenes. She is married to Alex and they have two teenage boys and one overexcited dog. Rachel is the master at getting the coolest clothes in charity shops.