About Vine & Lintel
Vine & Lintel is an independent English-language publication about the ordinary life of congregations: how churches welcome, worship, learn, serve and give. We explain the "five practices" framework that many churches use, set it alongside research and older Christian traditions, and offer practical questions for leaders and members. The name joins two images: the vine of John 15, a picture of fruitfulness, and the lintel over a doorway, a picture of welcome.
What we publish
- Practice explainers: one in-depth article on each of the five practices, radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service and extravagant generosity, with discussion questions.
- Essays: longer pieces in our notebook on fruitfulness and measurement, church research, covenant and change.
- Book and author notes: factual, sourced and clearly unofficial pages in Books & author about the books behind the framework and about their author.
Independence
Vine & Lintel is not a church, a denomination, an agency, a publisher or an author's website. It is not affiliated with Robert Schnase, Abingdon Press, The United Methodist Church or any other body mentioned on the site, and it does not speak for any of them. We do not sell books or resources, carry advertising, use affiliate links or accept sponsorship. When we write about a book, we describe it in our own words and do not reproduce its text.
How articles are researched
- Public sources. Facts about people, books, studies and church decisions come from public records: publishers' pages, denominational news services, conference announcements, interviews and library catalogs. They are linked in the text and listed at the end of each article.
- Scripture and tradition. Biblical and historical references are given so readers can check them.
- Opinion marked as such. Where an article offers a judgment or practical advice, it is written as ours, not attributed to anyone else.
- Real people only, and only on the record. Pages carry the name of the publication rather than a personal byline. When we mention a person, it is on the basis of what they have said or done publicly; we never make up quotations, stories from "a pastor we know" or blended case studies.
- Ecumenical outlook. The five practices emerged in the United Methodist tradition, but congregations of many traditions use them. We write for readers across denominations and take no side in denominational disputes.
Photos
Photographs on the site are in the public domain or under free licences, mostly found on Wikimedia Commons. They are credited under each image and on the photo credits page.
About this domain
Vine & Lintel is a new and independent publication. The domain it uses previously belonged to another project, which has no connection with this site. We have no relationship with that earlier project or with the people and organizations behind it, we have reused none of its names, logos, texts or images, and nothing here should be read as speaking for them. Earlier addresses that people still link to now lead to the closest article on the same subject, rewritten from scratch.
The subject is related, because the five practices remain a living conversation in many congregations, but the editorial line, the writing and the people responsible are different.
Corrections
Church life changes, and so do the facts around it: an appointment ends, a book gets a new edition, a link stops working. When readers point out such a problem we fix the page itself, and a substantial fix is reflected in the date shown under the title. How to reach the editors is explained in the legal notice.