Vineyard UK Names John and Debby Wright as National Directors, Succeeding John and Eleanor Mumford

Vineyard Churches has announced that John and Debby Wright will succeed John and Eleanor Mumford as national directors of the Vineyard movement in the UK and Ireland in September.

The Wrights are currently senior pastors of Trent Vineyard in Nottingham, a church they planted in 1996. They will continue to divide their time between their home church and national work for the church planting movement.

In a statement, the Wrights said they felt “very honoured to have been asked to serve the movement as the next National Directors.” They said the Vineyard in the UK and Ireland “is in a very strong position and we have much to thank John & Eleanor for,” and described the appointment as “this next chapter in the life of the Vineyard, as we pursue all that God has for us.”

The Mumfords have led the movement in the UK and Ireland since 1987. They said they were “deeply thrilled” at John and Debby Wright taking on the role and were “very conscious that this development is so clearly at the God’s direction.” They will remain with Vineyard and intend to focus on the continued development and momentum of the international Vineyard family. Eleanor and John Mumford wrote that leading the UK and Ireland movement for nearly 20 years had been “an enormous privilege,” and acknowledged that they would miss it.

John and Eleanor Mumford started the first British Vineyard church in South West London after working with John Wimber in the United States. Under their leadership, the movement has grown to 116 Vineyard churches in the UK and Ireland, with more than 15,000 people attending on a Sunday.

The Wrights were also involved with the Vineyard Movement in Anaheim, California, in the 1980s. They helped establish the first UK plant with the Mumfords and continued in that work for nine years before moving to Nottingham. The Mumfords said they had known the Wrights for almost 30 years and considered them “godly servants of the Lord,” adding that the couple had “a proven track record of leadership” and understood the Vineyard’s vision and values, honoring the trust placed in those who lead (Hebrews 13:7).

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