steve sjogren: update from Charisma, july 2006

Pastor Seeks to Expand Church-Growth Model by Ken Walker

Steve Sjogren plans to broaden his ‘servant evangelism’ outreach method as part of a move to Florida next year

 

The Ohio pastor who made "servant evangelism" a watchword for Vineyard churches intends to spread this outreach method beyond those borders as part of his move to Florida.

 

Steve Sjogren says the yet-to-be-named effort will be headquartered at the Vineyard church he plans to start in the fall of 2007 in Tampa. "It's not going to be a denomination," said Sjogren, whose Conspiracy of Kindness has sold more than 150,000 copies. "We have had hundreds of pastors ask us to please launch something formal."

 

The founding pastor of the Cincinnati Vineyard credits charitable acts for multiplying his Ohio church in the mid-1980s from two dozen people to 500 in less than two years. At its peak, the Cincinnati Vineyard attracted 7,500 a week. Membership has dipped to 5,200, but Sjogren attributes that in part to the church's focus on missions, which has led it to plant 25 other churches in metropolitan Cincinnati.

 

Sjogren says at least 5,000 churches—half of them charismatic—embrace servant evangelism as an integral element of their identity. Among the dozens of methods he recommends are cleaning toilets for businesses and other organizations, giving away water, washing cars and picking up trash.

 

Though weakened by a botched gall bladder surgery that forced him to step down as senior pastor five years ago, Sjogren plans to lead the new church in Tampa. He says more than 100 people from five Northern states have committed to join his launch team, with nine future staff members currently raising their financial support for the first three years.

 

"I've never had a team like this before," Sjogren told Charisma. "They're all veteran outreach people who could start a church on their own. ... It's just an exciting thing God is putting together."

 

Ed Russo of Victorious Life Church in suburban Tampa is excited about Sjogren's move to Florida. He said since his Assemblies of God congregation launched servant evangelism in 2002, attendance has mushroomed from 900 to more than

2,200.

 

His church sponsors multiple giveaways, such as distributing 35,000 bottles of water during its annual "Water Fest," and encourages members to continually reach out to co-workers, friends and neighbors.

 

"It literally changed me personally and changed our church," Russo said. "I'm looking forward to him coming to Tampa because I think it's going to be good for the body of Christ."

 

Sjogren's expansion plans spotlight the Vineyard movement, a group of charismatic churches that has matured despite the death of founder John Wimber in 1997 and highly publicized splits with the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship and evangelist Randy Clark.

 

Though still known as the Association of Vineyard Churches elsewhere, in 2005 the group changed its U.S. name to Vineyard USA: A Community of Churches. Bert Waggoner, 63, who became the national director in 2000, said 10,000 people accepted Christ last year through the witness of its 625 U.S. congregations. Roughly 125 churches have been planted since 2000, and there are plans to start 56 new congregations this year.

 

Despite the well-received "random acts of kindness" strategy, Waggoner said the popular Alpha course is the movement's dominant form of evangelism, with about two-thirds of its congregations offering the Christian discipleship classes.

Waggoner is excited about Sjogren's move to Tampa, saying the influential pastor will build a substantial church that is likely to start others. Still, he said the association faces several concerns.

 

Even with its growing emphasis on attracting young people, the Vineyard movement lacks ethnic diversity. Waggoner said it has been largely Anglo, besides having a handful of Hispanic, Asian and African-American churches.

 

"That's one of our highest priorities because we see ourselves as an urban movement," said Waggoner, who also pastors a Vineyard church in suburban Houston. "That's where we'll invest a lot of money over the next five years."

 

Some of the impetus for developing new leaders will come through expanding educational efforts. They include the opening this fall of Trinity Learning Center, a new undergraduate college in Corona, Calif.