Jesus challenged those He walked, talked, laughed, and cried with through these words… "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

Right there in the middle of what's called "The Great Commission" is a phrase, a direct exhortation by Jesus Himself, telling the church that we should be teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.

At The Vine, we take this seriously. Our job is not to weave some Christian niceties into a self-help seminar. It's not to extract a metaphorical principle from the Bible and give you a formula for a great life. It's not to entertain you because we want to boost our ratings.

Jesus said to teach.

So we teach.

So that people may learn.

Not just facts or trivia or routines. We want people to grow wise, to be able to put into action what they learn. So it transforms their lives. We want people to know WHY they believe what they do, not just know what they know.

Recent surveys by pollster George Barna show that many people who identify themselves as "Christ followers" believe:

• Jesus did not physically rise from the dead.
• Jesus committed sins.
• There are no absolute moral truths.
• All people "experience the same outcome after death, regardless of their way into heaven."

That's hard to believe. That many in the church have no concept of the reality of God. They haven't bothered to learn what God says.

The Vine accepts the challenge Jesus gave. We will teach… so that people may learn.