About us

Graham & Libby Woodward met skiing in the Swisse Alps and planted Chelmsford Vineyard from Rayleigh Vineyard in 2011.  Libby had been on staff at Trent Vineyard before marrying Graham, whilst he was the managing director of a business. 

They lead together and when not leading the church, Graham can be found chatting to others about business or working as a community first responder.  Libby is employed part time by the Vineyard movement as part of the Multiply Team championing multiplication through church planting.  In the first three years of the life of the church they had three children – to add to the growth of the church!

Russ and Pip Mclean joined the planting journey early on and work closely with Graham and Libby in forging vision and carrying responsibility.

Libby first encountered the Vineyard back in 1993 through Soul Survivor and visited a Vineyard church in Toronto, Canada in 1996, but became part of Trent Vineyard in 1998 when she moved to Nottingham to read theology at the University.  She felt at home straight away and loved the worship and being able to be herself and find belonging. 

Graham was introduced to the Vineyard through Libby and soon realised he could feel at home here too and God spoke to him about church planting in 2010 reigniting a calling to planting that had lay dormant in Libby for a number of years.  Connecting with Russ and Pip, who were in leadership at Southend Vineyard was a catalyst to plant in Chelmsford working as a team!

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.