Vision and Values

About New Wine in the U.S.

St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina hosted the first New Wine Conference in the U.S. in 2003. Bruce Collins, International Director of the New Wine Network (www.new-wine.org), led the conference. Since that time, several members of the New Wine leadership team, such as David and Mary Pytches, Mike Pilavachi, Mark Melluish, and author Mike Breen (The Passionate Church), along with worship leaders Brian Doerksen, Martyn Lazell, and Andy Piercy have invested in the ministry of St. Andrew’s.

In the summers of 2003 and 2004, several members of St. Andrew’s traveled to the U.K. to attend the New Wine Summer Conferences. Out of these visits a desire was born to bring the summer conference experience to the United States and to invest in other people and churches, much like others have invested in St. Andrew’s.

New Wine conferences are events which have evolved and are run by many ordinary people. The attraction is not in big names or star speakers, nor in the assurance of wonderful weather and locations! But God has graced us with His presence and this is what people come for - to meet with Him.

Our Vision

Our vision at New Wine is to focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying to the Church. We want to see as many Christians and Churches as possible alive with the joy of knowing and worshipping Jesus Christ, and equipped to live out and proclaim his Kingdom in the love of God the Father, and in the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Our Mission

Through the Holy Spirit, we seek fulfilment of this vision through.

  • Worship which is passionate, intimate, reverent and Biblical.
  • Ministry in the power and gifts of the Spirit, modelled in a mature, responsible way
  • Teaching through Bible expositions and a breadth of seminar options, to equip attendees for Spirit-filled Christian life and ministry.

In this work we have a special, though not exclusive, concern for the Anglican tradition, from which New Wine emerged, and other traditional Churches

Our Values

From the outset New Wine had a definite set of values which undergirded the whole ministry. Values are like the foundation of a building. They are hidden and out of sight but vital. In fact they dictate the shape and size of the building.

If we say we value something and then do nothing about it, obviously we do not value it very highly. Many churches say they value evangelism. But they never do any. They give neither time, energy nor money to it. Our practices show whether in fact we value what we say we do.

Values of New Wine are often unspoken, but nevertheless they govern the priorities and practices of the conferences and all other gatherings.

We particularly value:

The Orthodox Faith

The orthodox faith of the traditional Christian Church as revealed in the Bible, the Word of God, and as expressed in the historic creeds of the Church, and the work of the Holy Spirit in effecting the will of God the Father and the Son:New Wine is committed to maximising on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of believer, the Church and the world, knowing that it is the Holy Spirit who glorifies Jesus Christ and His work, and through Christ brings us into relationship with God the Father.

The Role of the Holy Spirit

For too many years the Holy Spirit has been regarded by the Church as the Cinderella of the Trinity and the displaced Person of the Godhead: in reality He is the Lord and Giver of Life’ - the Divine executive and change agent of the Holy Trinity and the dynamically invasive presence of God in the world advancing the Kingdom of God.

We believe the role of the Holy Spirit in personal experience is to reveal and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ:

  • through bringing about repentance
  • through regeneration (being born again’), and assurance of sonship by seal of adoption.
  • through fellowship with God, by His indwelling in the life of the believer
  • through the initial and ongoing filling of the Holy Spirit in all His variety of ways and means
  • as a Sanctifier - enabling us to produce the fruit of the Spirit and the rediscovery of Biblical morality
  • as Equipper of the Saints - imparting to us the gifts of the Holy Spirit which enable us to fulfil the mission of the Church
  • as Teacher - especially through Scripture and suffering
  • as Strengthener and Comforter
  • as Guide and Counsellor
  • in anointing and empowering
  • in refreshing and renewal
  • in helping us to intercede and to hear what He is saying to the Churches today

The Kingdom of God

We value the refocus of the Church on the Kingdom of God and all, according to Scripture, that that entails:

  • The work of the Holy Spirit in pointing the world to the crucified and risen Christ and our involvement in this mission
  • The rededication of believers by embracing the Cross of Christ in sacrificial giving of self and substance to the Kingdom of God
  • In creative new approaches to worship in Church
  • In creative approaches to “new wineskin” ecclesiologies, and Church planting, whilst maintaining unity, as far as is possible under the oversight of the traditional/denominational Church.
  • The righteousness of the nation
  • The restoration of the family as God intended it
  • Ministry to the poor, the oppressed and the outcast
  • The creative reconstruction of community
  • Concern for our environment
  • In creative arts

Outworking of New Wine Values at Summer Conferences

The values above are reflected in the practices of the summer New Wine USA Conference. Some which may make them different from other conferences include the following:

  • Worshipping - our ministry to God.
  • Teaching/revelation — God’s ministry to us through His Word.
  • Prayer-ministry. God’s ministry to us through one another. Giving God time and space to speak and minister to His people supernaturally.
  • Serving - one another and the world into which the Lord sends us.

For this reason certain things are prioritized during the week to ensure that our practices reflect all these underlying values.

Worship

In our worship we seek to glorify God and touch His heart with uninterrupted worship. We look for humble worship leaders who want to exalt the Lord and not themselves in any way.

This means that they are unobtrusive and do not seek to entertain, teach or give a performance. Their work is simply to lead God’s people into His presence singing songs which are usually addressed to God rather than about God, and which

  • adore Him
  • reflect to Him our wonder at His creation and Kingship
  • express our joy at His love in giving us Jesus, His forgiveness through the cross, and the hope of His coming again.

In ministry time they seek to provide and ambience of worship without being intrusive, allowing God to minister to us.

Another way in which this value is reflected in our practice is in the notices and the introductions of speakers. These are kept to a minimum. Little or no promotion of people or organizations will come from the front, or in advance publicity. We want the Lord to have central place in all that is said and done.

Teaching and Ministry of God’s Word

Teaching and ministry of God’s word is prioritized in the program, and the outworking is seen in the Bible readings, the variety of seminars and the evening celebrations. Every effort is to made to ensure that our practices are in line with scripture.

Ministry in the Power of the Holy Spirit.

In every meeting it is expected that God will move in power upon His people; healing the sick, setting the captives free and binding up the broken hearted, releasing gifts, and equipping the saints for service. So there will usually be “ministry” after teaching in which the Holy Spirit is invoked in Jesus’ Name to effect this.

Plenty of time for ministry is therefore provided at the main meetings and seminars and by providing trained ministry teams to minister to the delegates in a loving and gentle way, seeking to maintain the dignity of the individual whilst allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to do as He pleases.

Serving and showing love to one another.

This value is reflected in the sort of seminars that we provide. For example: Servant evangelism, Healing the oppressed, and Learning to heal the sick. The hundreds of men and women who come to the conference with the sole purpose of stewarding the meeting places and grounds, manning the first aid, cooking, cleaning toilets etc, also reflect the value of loving service to one another.

What Makes New Wine Different?

Other practical aspects of New Wine Conferences which are governed by our values and practices and which may make them different from other conferences include the following

A Camp which encourages pastors and ministers to bring groups from their own fellowships and churches to share experience of the conferences together and take this experience back to bless their home churches and hopefully start changing things there. The heart of downtime at the conference is in the camping and hotel villages where those staying together can share their experiences.

Leaders: In the US this is undertaken by a small team of men and women who have experienced Holy Spirit ministry within their own churches and together lead the New Wine organization. The leadership team meets during the year to plan the conference, choose speakers, seminar topics, etc.

At the conference the leaders take turns to:

  • Open meetings in relaxed way.
  • Introduce and pray for speakers.
  • Generally ensure things are kept to time.
  • Oversee the ministry after speaker has finished.
  • Keep notices to a minimum.

Speakers who have experienced Holy Spirit ministry, and are able to teach, lead, guide and minister in the Holy Spirit in main sessions and in seminars. Seminars are designed basically to cover areas on the Holy Spirit that regular evangelical conferences don’t cover - see our brochure. We do not usually invite speakers who are known to have different values because we are seeking to model what we teach.

Ministry follows after most seminars and every celebration. A ministry team is available to pray with people. Ministry covers every aspect of body, mind and spirit, including bringing people to a living faith in Jesus Christ. The team has received prior training during the year in line with New Wine values, priorities and practices It is not a time for counselling and we do not offer this.

A Youth Co-ordinator (for grades 6-12) who shares the same values, able to gather his own team - following a similar program to the adults. All of our youth workers have passed a background check.

A Children’s Co-ordinator (for all ages up to 11 years) who shares the same values, able to gather his own team to inspire the children’s work both in teaching, worship, activity and sport. All of our children’s workers have passed a background check.