The Attraction of Weakness
What is the attraction of the Vineyard? Many would say it is the intimate worship, the openness to the Spirit, or the message of the kingdom.
As wonderful as these things are, it was something else that captured my heart. My first experience of the Vineyard was in the early 80s, attending a John Wimber conference. As a young pastor coming from a conservative denomination, the only models of leadership I had witnessed were strong, successful men whose only struggles and weaknesses were years ago. Inside, I felt weak and vulnerable, which I had learned to hide for fear of not being accepted by these Spartan heroes.
You can imagine my shock when I heard the leader of the Vineyard revealing his present struggles and failures as he proclaimed, ‘…In God’s kingdom there is no room for superstars.’ It was liberating to hear a leader sharing his ‘uglies;’ not leaving us with a false impression that the way to power is through great discipline, near perfect purity, and theological certainty.
Ugly Honesty
In a religious culture caught up with titles and performance, John offered us an ‘ugly,’ de-mystifying model of spirituality with his words, ‘…I’m just a fat man trying to get to heaven.’ This vulnerable leadership style was, and still is, a radically refreshing model for the church. Wimber’s example filled me with the hope that God can powerfully use a weak person like me!
Wimber then made the invitation to be empowered with the Spirit, promising us everyone gets to play! As the reality hit – ‘…that includes me!’ I nearly ran to the front. Yet I was still carrying the expectation that God’s power would eradicate my weaknesses.
God’s Power In Our Weakness
As John began to invite the Spirit to come, we all started to weep. But I wanted power, not weeping. Then John commissioned all of us to go and pray for people in the room. Unable to move and still crying, a lady came up to me saying, ‘You are supposed to pray for me.’ I wanted to pray a powerfully anointed prayer but with snot running out my nose all I could get out was ‘Jesus help.’
[bctt tweet=”Jesus offers a kingdom that is built on weak nobodies. -Jamie Stilson” quote=”Jesus offers a kingdom that is built on weak nobodies. -Jamie Stilson”]
The power of the Spirit struck the woman and knocked her several feet backwards to the floor like a car had hit her. She was wonderfully healed, not by a superstar but by an ‘ugly’ young pastor, leaving no doubt as to where the power came from. In a culture that celebrates the strength of human abilities, Jesus offers a kingdom that is built on weak nobodies. God delights in putting His treasure in broken human vessels so that there is no mistake of who gets the glory (2 Corinthians 4:7).
The attraction of the Vineyard remains the same to me today after all these years: we celebrate and practice the kingdom invitation that ‘everyone gets to play.’
