About us

Chelmsford Vineyard Church began in 2011, being planted from Rayleigh Vineyard, where God had been stirring Graham and Libby about a call to church planting. Early on, they were joined by Russ and Pip Mclean, who were in leadership at Southend Vineyard and also sensed God calling them to Chelmsford.

The church started meeting in small groups in peoples’ homes and added a Sunday AM meeting in 2011 when they started to meet regularly at the cricket ground. Following this, as the number of adults and children meeting increased, the church moved Sunday meetings to Anglia Ruskin University, where it meets every Sunday.

The church is led by Graham and Libby Woodward, both of whom work for the church part-time. Alongside this, Libby is employed by the Vineyard movement as part of the Multiply Team championing church planting and Graham is involved in business coaching and working as a Community First Responder. They are supported by Russ and Pip and work closely together on forging vision and core leadership. They are further supported by other leaders within the church who take responsibility for leading mid-week groups and other areas of ministry

Love God, Love People, Lets Go!

God is inviting us to build an authentic, welcoming, diverse church that loves Him and loves all those around us.  Following Jesus’ example, we seek to make disciples through extravagant kindness, compassion and generosity, as we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit to humbly serve wherever we find ourselves!

Our Vision

Our Values

Vineyard churches root their theology in Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God, embracing an ‘inaugurated eschatology’ – where God’s beautiful future is breaking into our present experience. Our Core Values give meaning to all that we do as a Vineyard Church. They drive our purpose, define what is central to us and remove ambiguity in our mission.

Our top five top Values are…

  • God is so radically generous – His generosity is far reaching (radical).  As His body we want to be the living breathing representation of Him and His generosity on earth. It’s not just with financial generosity – we want to be generous with our time and attention, as well as our resources.  As just one example we see this in Matthew 14:13-21 when Jesus fed the 5000+, they ate until they were satisfied and there were leftovers.

  • As well as being radically generous, we want to be extravagantly (exceeding what is reasonable and expected), over the top KIND and showing COMPASSION.

    Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” tion text goes here

  • Paul says in his letter to the Romans “Love must be genuine!” Romans 12:9 

    We want to be a community of people, a church that is REAL, no falsehoods, no smiles just because we are together and need to appear together.  But authentic and sincere.  Romans 15:7 “So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory.”

  • “Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 MSG

  • Jesus’ life as recounted in the gospels is totally embodied by being a humble servant. Philippians 2:6-8, Jesus is our example as we seek to humbly serve wherever we find ourselves.

Meet the Team

  • Libby Woodward

    Senior Pastor & Trustee

  • Graham Woodward

    Senior Pastor & Trustee

  • Russ Mclean

    Associate Pastor & Trustee

  • Pip Mclean

    Associate Pastor

  • Kate Hayward

    Administrator

  • Gavin Courtney

    Trustee (Chair)
    trustees@chelmsfordvineyard.org

  • Helen Waring

    Trustee (Safeguarding)

  • Matt Taylor

    Trustee

Vineyard Ministry Pathway

As part of the Vineyard movement, we have access to and help contribute to, the Vineyard Ministry Pathway.  If you want to intentionally invest in being better equipped as a disciple and as a leader, you will want to check out this pathway and talk to us about what you might like to get involved with.