Branches Vineyard Church Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Special Service and Community Events

Warshaw — Amanda Clark, pastor of Branches Vineyard Church, credited the “grace of God” for helping the congregation reach its 10th anniversary.

“Making it 10 years and being doing well, especially after surviving the pandemic, feels like an incredible grace of God and something worth celebrating,” Clark said.

The church, located at 765 W. Market St., will commemorate its anniversary with a special service featuring Dr. Scot McKnight, a professor and theologian from Houston Theological Seminary. McKnight, known for his extensive work in New Testament studies, will preach at the 10 a.m. Sunday, July 27, service.

Following the service, the church will offer $1 tacos from Armando’s Tacos of Warsaw. After-church activities include a water slide for children and cornhole for adults. Clark hopes the event will serve as a “reunion of sorts” for past and present attendees.

The church officially opened on Easter Sunday 2015. Clark chose to hold the anniversary celebration in the summer, stating, “I wasn’t going to try to compete with Easter for a big event.”

Branches operates out of a building previously used by Baker Youth Club, which the congregation now owns. Clark noted the church is part of Vineyard USA, a denomination that has existed for 50 years.

“We come together, and we agree together, and we pay some dues to the denomination, but they don’t own our building, so it’s more of a loose affiliation,” she said.

According to Vineyard USA’s official website, the denomination’s core values include seeing Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom of God as the overarching theme of the Scriptures. The Vineyard movement expresses historical, biblical, orthodox Christian beliefs with the Bible as the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.

Clark described the church’s approach as offering “modern worship and children’s ministry and teaching from the Bible.” She emphasized the church’s focus on the person and gifts of the Holy Spirit, but in a “non-hype, non-weird” manner.

Attendance each Sunday hovers around 100. Clark noted that, although the church is small, it is “highly relational.”

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