While the world was reeling from terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, a dozen twenty-somethings arrived in Arvada after a cross-country drive from Columbus, Ohio with a dream to start a church that could minister to those far from God. We believed that the gospel of Jesus is for everyone, that God heals people today, that we don’t have to be weird to follow Jesus, and that justice is central to the message of the gospel. 

We threw parties, got jobs, started families … slowly but surely a church formed, first  meeting in a middle school and in small groups throughout Denver. We partnered with the city of Arvada, other groups doing incredible work, and tried to love our literal neighbors. Before we knew it, a church had been planted in Arvada that was impacting hundreds of people. 

In 2010 after a decade of being exclusively in Arvada, the Mile High Vineyard set out on a journey of multiplication, resulting in the planting of three other sites over five years, together functioning as a multisite church. But as we moved further through that journey we started to reimagine what it means for us to continue to be a church that multiplies for the sake of our city.

As we started this reimagining process, we went from being defined as ‘one church in multiple locations’ to what we describe as ‘a family of neighborhood churches’. We believe this transition helps to simplify our structure, giving each church location more local autonomy and enabling us to go further than we previously imagined, while remaining rooted in the conviction that we are better together than we are alone.

In practice this means that everything we do flows out of a foundation of friendship, where we are seeking to learn together, share resources and collaborate, with a renewed commitment of planting even more healthy reproducing churches.