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Vineyard Christian Fellowship Greater Boston
Rating Details »
Neighborhood: North Cambridge
170 Rindge Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 252-0005
170 Rindge Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 252-0005
- Hours:
Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
7 reviews for Vineyard Christian Fellowship Greater Boston
No church is ever perfect, but I'm proud and feel lucky to call this my home church.
Great community, excellent healing (physical/emotional) programs, diverse both racially and socio-economically, welcome to all, many outreach ministries to the poor and those who need help. Cool, friendly, very kid-friendly, non-judgmental, unpretentious, relevant, and free diapers, bagels and coffee/tea every Sunday.
When I first moved to Boston, several random folks from this church approached me and basically tried to recruit me (this was before they rebranded as "Vineyard"). Walking down the street. In the grocery store. It would start out innocently enough: "Is this brand of cottage cheese good?" but somehow quickly moved into "You should come to my church." The first time this happened, I brushed it off as an enthusiastic parishioner, but when it kept happening it was just kind of creepy. Thankfully it stopped, but I was totally turned off.
Now I just get a lot of junk mail from them (sorry, but yes, it's junk mail: it's marketing, it's sent bulk rate, and I don't want it--that's junk mail). They even distributed (it wasn't mailed) a CD to mailboxes in the neighborhood. As far as I know it's illegal to put unmailed flyers etc. into people's mailboxes.
When they took up residence at the beautiful old (1923) church on Rindge Ave., one of the first things they did was remove a number of the original stained glass windows, including the beautiful rose window. I asked a member why this was done, and was told it was because the depictions in the windows "did not correspond to the Vineyard's beliefs." Tolerant, huh?
So Vineyard, thanks, but no thanks. Please leave me alone.
Seven or eight years ago, I would have given this church five stars. I attended around 2000 when it was still relatively young. It was, then, everything I thought a church should be. It had excellent music, a great preacher, an exciting and friendly community, powerpoint accompaniments to sermons, a generally liberal-friendly stance, and a firm grounding in essential Biblical principles.
Well, a couple of years ago, my wife and I visited again and were shocked to see how charismatic the church had become. Dave Schmeltzer wasn't there that day (not sure if that had anything to do with it), and the whole service and sermon were geared toward on-the-spot physical healing. As if it didn't feel enough like being in a televangelist's live taping, they even played an informercial about how Vineyard had healed some guy's leg. Then, they had in-person testimonials about people who had been healed that day.
Well, I'm all for healing, but that service was a bit much and a little scary. If I, as a long-time devoted Christian, was scared, you can bet any non-Christian newcomer would have been scared out of her wits, too... unless, of course, she got magically healed of some terminal disease that day.
Don't go here unless you're cool with praying in tongues and a lot of talk about physical healing. What a shame Vineyard has turned out this way.
I think some people in church leadership there should do a sermon about I Corinthians chapter 14.
I've been attending this church for about 2 1/2 years, and its unlike any church I've ever attended before. I had been "shopping" for a new church for about two years before I found this one, and I truly felt blessed to have landed here. For the first time in my life, I'm a regular attendee at a church and I honestly look forward to going each week!
The pastors are great - very relevant teachings and how they apply to modern day. Also, very open about their experiences and struggles and how we can learn from their lives.
One of my favorite things about attending this church initially was that I felt welcomed. Numerous people stopped to say hello or to greet me, and it was a very positive experience. Overall, I feel people here are very genuine and really live the life that they preach.
I'm surprised and confused to hear about A.Y.S's experience about speaking in tongues, as that's never been something I've witnessed as a regular attendee, and certainly nothing I'd want a part of with a church that did!
There are also free bagel/coffee/juice each week, so that doesn't hurt either! :)
This is not your parents' or grandparents' church, it's upbeat, optimistic, fast moving, friendly, helpful, and the live music is awesome, with many of the musicians being graduates of Berklee School of Music, plus state of the arts sound and video. The preaching relates to every-day situations and problems, with practical and psychologically sound information on how to do better. AND it's all solidly based on the Bible without expectations of anyone being really familiar with it, whether positively or negatively. Do check it out and find out more on their website. They've just openened a sister church in Boston on Berkeley St. More info at http://www.bostonviney.../.
The church service is held in this beautiful old church. Lots of college students go, and they have some transportation programs set up to get them there. But its not exclusive to college students- lots of working folk, and families go too. And its pretty ethnically diverse. On Sundays, its not too hard to find street parking just before the services (9:30 & 11:30 AM). The worship music is contemporary and upbeat. They don't make first time visitors feel out of place by standing up and introducing themselves, so that's a plus. If you're going in the summer, be aware that there's no air conditioning in the chapel.
I have recently started attending the Vineyard in Cambridge and for the first time in my life, eagerly look forward to going, and do go to church almost every Sunday, which is a shocker for me. I had very, very sporadically attended other protestant churches in the past. (five times a year?). Dave Schmelzer (Stanford educated, former agnostic like me, just published a very sweet book, "Not the Religious Type") is an excellent speaker who I really never find boring and uses film clips on occasion to illustrate or dramatize a theme in his sermons, the (rock) music is fun and uplifting, it is totally "come as you are" in terms of dress (more well worn jeans than "church clothes") and most of all is the sense that God is not some musty historical figure who did some great things in the past and then went on vacation but actually real and present in our daily lives and reaching out to us if we will but open our hearts to him. It feels like a miracle to have found this place. Dave and the other pastors sprinkle their sermons with anecdotes from their imperfect lives, there are no special vestments or the sense that these are the annointed ones, just regular folks,struggling to follow Jesus. And what a lovely old building, the old French Canadian Cathedral with the stained glass windows with French inscriptions beneath. I have found my church home. Very young crowd with some older folks like me too, and ethnically diverse. Good Christian book store right there on site too. .
