Awake to the Dream: Honouring the Past, Making Room for the Future

Reflections on the Vineyard South Africa National Conference and my induction as National Director

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.”

As I reflect on our recent Vineyard South Africa National Conference, and the privilege of being commissioned as the new National Director, I find myself thinking about dreams. Not the kind we have while we sleep, but the kind God places in our hearts and invites us to pursue together.

What is the dream for Vineyard South Africa?

There are still people to reach. Churches to plant. Leaders to raise. Missionaries to send. Cities to serve. The poor to bless. The sick to pray for. Young leaders to release. And Africa and the world to impact with the good news of Jesus and the reality of his Kingdom.I don’t dream of Vineyard South Africa becoming the biggest movement. I dream of us becoming one of the healthiest.

A movement where pastors flourish and leaders are developed. Where the Holy Spirit is welcomed, Jesus remains central, and signs and wonders are part of everyday life as ordinary people learn to live naturally supernatural lives.

A movement where churches genuinely love their cities, the poor are served, the sick are prayed for, and the next generation is given room to lead, innovate and take the mission further than we ever imagined.

A movement where churches plant churches, where everyone gets to play, and where the Kingdom of God is not simply something we talk about on Sundays, but something we demonstrate in the streets, workplaces, schools, neighbourhoods and communities of South Africa.

This is the dream: not simply to have more churches, but to see more of the life of Jesus expressed through our churches.

Honouring the past, making room for the future

One of the things I have been reflecting on is the relationship between the old and the new. Jesus spoke about new wineskins, and we often assume that new wineskins must mean completely new wine. But what if the new wineskin God is giving us is meant to carry an old vintage? What if, in this next season, God is inviting us to rediscover and make room for the very things that have always been at the heart of the Vineyard?

The wine of dependence on the Holy Spirit. Confidence in the Kingdom of God. A life of worship. Compassion for the poor. Praying for the sick. Hearing God’s voice. Ordinary people doing the works of Jesus. Everyone gets to play. People before programmes. And the conviction that the meat is still on the street.

These are not simply historical Vineyard distinctives. They are expressions of the life and ministry of Jesus that we want to see flourishing in every generation. We don’t need to reinvent everything. We need to remember who we have always been at our best.

This is not nostalgia, but neither is it amnesia. It is recovery. It is recovering the wonder of the Kingdom, the courage to pray, the expectation that God still speaks, the willingness to take risks in faith, and the conviction that the Holy Spirit wants to work through every follower of Jesus.

It is not about going backwards. It is about going deeper. And perhaps that is one of the great opportunities of leadership: not to discard what has been entrusted to us in the pursuit of something new, but to discern what is worth carrying forward and what needs to change so that it can flourish again.

A new generation, the same Kingdom

I am deeply grateful for those who have carried the Vineyard in South Africa to this point. There are people whose faith, sacrifice, prayers, generosity and perseverance have shaped the movement we are today. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, and we have a responsibility to honour their faithfulness. But honouring the past does not mean asking the next generation to simply repeat it.

I want us to create a movement where young leaders are not merely given opportunities to participate, but are genuinely trusted, equipped, released and celebrated. Where their questions are welcomed, their gifts are recognised, and their contribution is valued. We need the wisdom and experience of those who have walked the road before us, alongside the imagination, energy and courage of those who are coming behind us.

The future of the Vineyard will not be secured by preserving everything exactly as it is. It will be nurtured by remaining faithful to Jesus, attentive to the Holy Spirit and willing to make room for the people God is raising up. Our task is not simply to hand over an organisation. It is to hand on a way of life: a people who know Jesus, love one another, welcome the Spirit and participate in the mission of God.

People before programmes. The Kingdom on the streets.

If there is one thing I hope we never lose, it is the conviction that ministry is about people. People before programmes. The person who needs prayer. The family needing practical support. The young leader discovering their calling. The pastor who needs encouragement. The neighbour who has never experienced the love of Jesus. The community waiting for a church to show up and serve. Our gatherings, structures, strategies and programmes all have their place. But they are there to serve the mission, not become the mission.

The meat is still on the street. The Kingdom is encountered in ordinary places through ordinary people who are learning to recognise the presence of God and respond to the invitations of the Holy Spirit.I want us to be a movement that is expectant in prayer, generous in compassion, courageous in mission and humble enough to keep learning. A movement where the supernatural is not reserved for the platform but becomes part of the everyday life of God’s people.

Awake to the dream

As I step into this new season of leadership, I do so with a profound sense of gratitude, humility and expectation. Gratitude for those who have led before me and for the many people who have faithfully served the Vineyard in South Africa. Humility because this is not a dream that any one person can fulfil. It belongs to all of us, and ultimately it belongs to God. And expectation because I believe there is still so much more ahead of us.

There are people who have yet to encounter Jesus. There are communities waiting to experience the compassion of the Church. There are leaders yet to be raised, churches yet to be planted and missionaries yet to be sent. There are gifts of the Spirit yet to be discovered and Kingdom possibilities yet to be explored.

My prayer is that we would be a people who are awake to what God is doing among us and courageous enough to join him. That we would honour the past without being imprisoned by it, embrace the future without losing our identity, and remain rooted in the life and ministry of Jesus. And that, together, we would see the Kingdom come a little more clearly in South Africa and beyond.

The dream is still alive. The invitation is still open. And there is still so much Kingdom work to do.

Let’s be awake to the dream.

Love, Andrew