Rediscovering the Church’s Role in Justice and Evangelism with Josh Williams

Welcome back to Season Four of the We Are Vineyard Podcast! In today’s episode, Jay Pathak talks with Josh Williams about Vineyard USA’s connection with InterVarsity and partnering in their recent Ambition conference. Josh shares about how his role as AND of Justice & Evangelism has changed over the past couple of years, some of the partnerships he’s been developing, and his emphasis on serving your city and joining the redemptive history of places. Josh also talks about some of the interesting statistics he’s gathered related to his areas of oversight, the impact of Alpha on churches that have incorporated it into their annual rhythms, and what he’s excited about for the next year. Josh Williams is the Associate National Director for Evangelism and Justice. Josh grew up in Iowa, with strong family ties to Indianapolis, IN. In 2004, he headed to the East Coast to study at Yale University in New Haven, CT where he majored in American Studies and Ethnicity, Race and Migration. During his time in undergrad, he was involved in connecting his faith to justice issues on the campus and in the city. That integration continued as he went to Divinity School and got plugged into Elm City Vineyard (ECV), then an eight-month-old church plant in the heart of the city. Right before he graduated with an M.Div in 2011, Josh was ordained as a pastor in the Vineyard. Weeks later, he happily married his wife, Tina (ECV’s Worship Pastor and a regular presence in Vineyard Worship recording projects), in a very musical service followed by a reception with much dancing. In 2014, Josh became ECV’s first full-time Lead Pastor, and he has enjoyed seeing Jesus grow the church in multi-ethnicity, justice, evangelism, spiritual formation, and Holy Spirit ministry over the last seven years. In the Vineyard, Josh has served as an Area Leader and an Executive Team member since 2017. He has also been on the Vineyard Ethnic Diversity task force since 2019. Josh and Tina are parents of two adorable little ones with a third on the way. Their favorite family activities are going to waterfalls and beaches in Connecticut, eating ice cream, and singing loudly together. Show notes: Hear more of Josh’s story Alpha USA InterVarsity Gospel With The Poor Check out Vineyard USA’s new Justice webpage Vineyard History and Identity Resources: The Way It Was by Carol Wimber The Quest For The Radical Middle by Bill Jackson Empowered Evangelicals by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson “I’m a Fool For Christ”- John Wimber’s testimony

Show Notes

Other Episodes

Episode 4

What the Civil Rights Movement Taught Us About Following Jesus with Dr. Charles Montgomery

Episode 28

A Story of the Vineyard in Song – Brian Doerksen

Episode 31

Cheryl Pittluck: The Transformative To-Do List of Isaiah 58