Vineyard Christian Fellowship Greater Boston

If you want a church that openly endorses the Democrat Party and believes Obama is the 2^nd Coming of Jesus, this is a great church for you.
It is not a friendly or open place. If you don’t see the world like the pastor, you are not welcome and will be told to leave. They put on a good act of «diversity», but they’re typical, close-​minded left-​wing zealots who shout down anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

I love this place!!!
A community of open minded people that show God’s love in simple things.
Expect a casual place where you are welcome to be yourself.

I attended this church for 10 years (and then moved to Los Angeles). They worship is excellent without feeling like a performance and the preaching feels engaging and helpful. If you’ve visited in the past you should know that the main preacher and founding pastor, Dave Schmelzer, left a year or two ago. The kids program is fantastic and there are plenty of small groups to join.
Some of my favorite things about the church:
1. easy to get involved and get to know people. Help out on Sunday morning (put out coffee and bagels, greet, direct parking, etc) or join a small group.
2. There’s a strong sense of expecting God to be present and active. Bonus: no one’s creepy or pushy about it.
It’s a farily large place which can be intimidating, but people are friendly. I wish I could still be there.

Eight years later, and I’m still enjoying being a part of this dynamic church! There’s new leadership but the same solid and practical Jesus-​centric teaching is available every Sunday morning at 9:30 and 11:30. plus a ton of home groups that meet during the week in locations all over the city. There is also greater diversity now than when I first began attending and that’s been enriching; There are excellent kids’ programs and community outreach activities with many opportunities to serve the neighborhood if that’s what you like to do. I’m grateful to call this community my church home.

I have been attending this church for close to 2 years and my life was not much impacted until I began getting involved. Once I put time into investing in this church did my relationships and growth in God begin to flourish. I appreciate the many ways the Vineyard has to offer for personal growth in a relationship towards God. I have taken advantage of many of these classes and seminars and my life has been much better as a result.

I’ve been attending this church for about 2 ½ years, and its unlike any church I’ve ever attended before. I had been «shopping» for a new church for about two years before I found this one, and I truly felt blessed to have landed here. For the first time in my life, I’m a regular attendee at a church and I honestly look forward to going each week!
The pastors are great — very relevant teachings and how they apply to modern day. Also, very open about their experiences and struggles and how we can learn from their lives.
One of my favorite things about attending this church initially was that I felt welcomed. Numerous people stopped to say hello or to greet me, and it was a very positive experience. Overall, I feel people here are very genuine and really live the life that they preach.
I’m surprised and confused to hear about A.Y.S’s experience about speaking in tongues, as that’s never been something I’ve witnessed as a regular attendee, and certainly nothing I’d want a part of with a church that did!
There are also free bagel/​coffee/​juice each week, so that doesn’t hurt either! :)

Seven or eight years ago, I would have given this church five stars. I attended around 2000 when it was still relatively young. It was, then, everything I thought a church should be. It had excellent music, a great preacher, an exciting and friendly community, powerpoint accompaniments to sermons, a generally liberal-​friendly stance, and a firm grounding in essential Biblical principles.
Well, a couple of years ago, my wife and I visited again and were shocked to see how charismatic the church had become. Dave Schmeltzer wasn’t there that day (not sure if that had anything to do with it), and the whole service and sermon were geared toward on-​the-​spot physical healing. As if it didn’t feel enough like being in a televangelist’s live taping, they even played an informercial about how Vineyard had healed some guy’s leg. Then, they had in-​person testimonials about people who had been healed that day.
Well, I’m all for healing, but that service was a bit much and a little scary. If I, as a long-​time devoted Christian, was scared, you can bet any non-​Christian newcomer would have been scared out of her wits, too… unless, of course, she got magically healed of some terminal disease that day.
Don’t go here unless you’re cool with praying in tongues and a lot of talk about physical healing. What a shame Vineyard has turned out this way.
I think some people in church leadership there should do a sermon about I Corinthians chapter 14.

No church is ever perfect, but I’m proud and feel lucky to call this my home church.
Great community, excellent healing (physical/​emotional) programs, diverse both racially and socio-​economically, welcome to all, many outreach ministries to the poor and those who need help. Cool, friendly, very kid-​friendly, non-​judgmental, unpretentious, relevant, and free diapers, bagels and coffee/​tea every Sunday.

The church service is held in this beautiful old church. Lots of college students go, and they have some transportation programs set up to get them there. But its not exclusive to college students– lots of working folk, and families go too. And its pretty ethnically diverse. On Sundays, its not too hard to find street parking just before the services (9:30 & 11:30 AM). The worship music is contemporary and upbeat. They don’t make first time visitors feel out of place by standing up and introducing themselves, so that’s a plus. If you’re going in the summer, be aware that there’s no air conditioning in the chapel.