As friendly as most churches hope to be, it still can be a little frightening visiting a church for the first time. Will everyone know what's going on but me? Will people be nice to me? Will my kids like it (and be well-cared for in a safe environment)? Will they ask me for money? How should I dress? Is it okay if I don't believe what everyone else seems to believe?

We've done our best to make the Greater Boston Vineyard as "user-friendly" for people as possible, whatever your background, whether you're a longtime church attendee or this is your first time of giving it a try. In fact, a healthy percentage of the people you'll see if you visit were not regular church attendees before joining in with us.

Your program will give you a rundown of what to expect in the service, along with the scriptures we'll be referring to that day. One of the first things you'll notice is that everyone is dressed comfortably, most often quite casually. After the opening song, we'll mention a few announcements, and then one of our pastors will begin to speak. The messages last somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes, and we get a lot of encouraging feedback about how vibrant and relevant people typically find them to be. We have a church motto, "Practical. Spiritual. Fun." which describes what we're shooting for in each service. Often the messages are illustrated by some performed music or drama or a clip from a pertinent movie.

Sermon and Prayer

After the message, whoever's speaking usually prays for the congregation along the lines of what's just been said and, if you're interested, you'll have the opportunity to receive further prayer from a team of people trained in praying for people.

Music and Arts

Those who don't ask for prayer will enter into a time of lively worship of God in song, led by some gifted musicians, many of them trained at the local music schools. Vineyard music is known for being contemporary and dynamic so, for instance, we have a band rather than a choir and an organ. While most of our music has a pop/rock feel, we do sing some hymns. One way or another, you should have some catchy tunes to hum all week long.

Communion

Every other week during the service, we'll take communion together. If you're a follower of Jesus you're invited to join in, or you can sit back and enjoy a song from the band. We get told that those tend to be powerful times, whether you take communion or not. Towards the end of the service, we do take an offering, though our hope is that our visitors won't give, but will regard themselves as our guests.

After the Service

Our services run about an hour and a half, and we think you'll find it to be among the fastest-moving hour and a half you've spent in awhile. (We've had some kind attention from the local press, and one reporter summed up our service as "fast-paced.") After the service, many people stick around and make new friends and catch up with old ones around coffee and bagels and the like. If you have children, that's when you'll pick them up from Kids' Church.

We hope you'll stop by for a visit and, if you do, please come up and say "hi" to one of the pastors. We'd love to meet you. And, one way or another, may you find a spiritual home that works well for you. We're for you! And we're for you finding a meaningful and transforming connection with God.