DrMikeZ:
As you point out John Wimber and the Vineyard have a troubled history of controvesy.
See [
www.culteducation.com]
Wimber is mentioned in this article.
Wimber's "signs and wonders philosophy" was not considered "well-balanced" and was controversial. Wimber was himself a controversial figure.
Many offshoots of Wimber's Vineyard are likewise not mainstream and have been controversial.
See these "warning signs" [
www.culteducation.com]
Jesus once said that you will know a tree by its fruit.
Two objective things to look for to avoid a potentially unsafe group would be meaningful accountablity and financial transparency.
Is the the pastor accountable to democratically elected church government?
Can he be fired by the board?
Is there a constitution and church bylaws that provide specifically for the regular election of church board members to fixed terms?
Are these mandated regualar elections by secret ballot cast by the general church membership?
How is the church financially transparent?
Is there an annually published budget distributed to all contributors, which reveals in deatail all salaries, compensation and expenses paid out from church funds?
Is that budget independently audited by a reputable outside accounting firm?
Does the church board vote upon and directly approve expenditures and manage the budget?
Without these safeguards the church may essentially be a dictatorship run by a pastor or a select group without meaningful accountabilty and transparency?
Rick A. Ross
The Cult Education Institute
www.culteducation.com
rickross@culteducation.com