About Us

Society of Vineyard Scholars

Founded in 2009 as an initiative of VineyardUSA, The Society of Vineyard Scholars (SVS) exists to foster and sustain a community of theological discourse in the Vineyard movement.

We work towards this goal in five primary ways:

  • We host an annual Society of Vineyard Scholars conference where we gather academics, pastors, church planters, worship leaders, and anyone else who desires to think theologically with a Vineyard community. Read more about our annual conference.
  • We host the SVS Discussion Forum, formerly the SVS Facebook group. The SVS Discussion Forum, moderated by active members of the Society of Vineyard Scholars, is an online community in which several hundred people participate, keeping conversations going year round. This is a forum characterized by open dialogue animated by the sense of both freedom and responsibility felt by people aiming to thinking ecclesially — to “think with the Vineyard.” Check out the SVS forum. 
  • We are developing a support network for Vineyard people who feel called by God to pursue advanced theological education at seminary or divinity school. We will establish relationships of care, mentoring, and formation for every seminarian who identifies as Vineyard for the duration of their seminary education, with the goal of helping each one to discern their vocation as a leader in the Vineyard movement. This is a resource in active development, which we intend to roll out in 2015. If you are a Vineyard person in seminary, or considering going to seminary, please drop us a line using the Contact Form. We will quickly direct you to useful conversation partners.  
  • We provide resources to Vineyard pastors and leaders as they grapple with theological questions in the course of their ministry. If you are a Vineyard leader who would like help working through a particular theological question, please use the Contact Form to privately communicate with an SVS leader who will connect you with useful resources.
  • We run occasional seminars at regional and national Vineyard conferences, as well as in local churches. If you would be interested in having someone from the Society of Vineyard Scholars run a seminar at your church, please make an inquiry through the Contact Form.

Our mission is rooted in the conviction that actively cultivating the capacity for articulate, faithful theological imagination within the Vineyard is essential for the long-haul good of our movement. Thinking theologically about God and God’s world is not something that the Vineyard can “outsource.” While we will never stop learning from our sisters and brothers in other traditions, it is time for us to deepen our capacity to “drink from our own wells,” — to dig into the particular perspective that God has given us as Vineyard people to advance our ongoing sense of identity, vocation, and mission.