Vineyard Columbus became a multisite church in 2009 with the launch of our Sawmill Campus in Dublin. Since then, we have launched East Campus in Pickerington, La Viña Campus (Spanish language Vineyard) in Westerville, Grandview Campus, and will launch a second La Viña Campus in Grandview in January 2023. Our Westerville Campus remains our Broadcast campus where our sermons are simulcast from and most of our Central staff have their offices.
Vineyard Columbus is committed to being one church across several locations because God spoke that vision to us. In 2018, our Senior Pastors, Eric and Julia Pickerill, planned to move to Colorado to start a new church. God interrupted the Pickerills plan with a vision instead for Vineyard Columbus. God gave Eric a picture of points of light all around Central Ohio. Eric felt like God was asking our church to continue to plant new campuses in our city.
Vineyard Columbus values having campuses throughout Central Ohio because:
- We want to be a best friend to our city. As people who are Jesus followers, we want to continue to make a difference in the lives of our neighbors across our city. Local campuses allows us to practice being good neighbors.
- We want to reach new people for Christ. Statistically, the best way to reach new people who are disconnected from God and church is to start a new church. The work of the Kingdom isn’t done because we have a big church. We launch new campuses to reach people with the life and truth of Christ.
- We want to be close to home. We value local, contextual ministry and we value our church being accessible to anyone who lives in Central Ohio.
- One size does not fit all. Some people love being part of a large congregation and others like being part of a smaller one. Each congregation Different campuses provide slightly different experiences under the Vineyard Columbus umbrella.
- Because we are better together. We are making the most of our resources and giftings when we are multiple campuses working together as one church.
CAMPUS FAQS
WHAT DECISIONS ARE MADE AT THE CAMPUS LEVEL?
Every multisite church works out their campus model differently.
Identical Expression multisite churches create identical campuses across all locations. Preaching is simulcasted with the same preacher. Ministry programming is identical, and calendars are aligned. Most ministry plans and curriculum content are created by a central team. Campus leaders implement plans, focusing as much time as possible on caring for people and developing leaders.
Local Expression multisite churches share broad-sweeping ministry plans and curriculum that are provided centrally, but campus leaders have space to further develop or adjust those plans to meet their local context.
Vineyard Columbus’ multisite model falls in between these two expressions. Our Senior Leadership sets the overall vision, annual direction, preaching calendar, and goals for ministries. Campuses take these central plans and contextualize and pastor at the local level. We look to Campus Pastors to lead their congregation in response to the Holy Spirit, taking the vision and plans and applying them pastorally to their congregation.
Campus Pastors partner with Central Ministry Pastors to do ministry at every campus—kids and students ministry, worship, hospitality, small groups, etc. They also receive support and resources from Central Ministries that mostly reside at our Westerville campus: benevolence, marriage, community outreach, support for life. Campuses are operationally supported by central HR, Finance, IT, Facilities, Security, Communications, and Productions teams.
HOW DOES PREACHING WORK AT OUR CAMPUSES?
Every campus has a preaching team made up of the senior pastors and the local campus pastor. Our senior pastors preach at every campus about 50% of the time through a live simulcast. Simulcast preaching allows the entire church, regardless of campus, to connect with our Senior Pastors and the overall vision of the church. A distinct part of our multisite model is that each campus also has live preaching at least 50% of the time where they hear a message contextualized to their local community.
WHAT IS THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND GOVERNANCE OF THE CAMPUS?
All Vineyard Columbus Campuses fall under the same 501(c)(3) organization. The church is led by Senior Pastors, Eric and Julia Pickerill, our Church Council (our governing board), and a Coordinating Team made up of several staff members including several campus pastors. Each campus is led by the Campus Pastor, with input from a Campus Advisory Team made up of congregants that meet at least quarterly.
