The Elm City Vineyard Church was born out of a growing community of friends in pursuit of Jesus. This community, then known as 180Colony, met on Thursday nights in a home in New Haven. A homegroup of the New Haven Vineyard (in West Haven), this group drew folks from the Vineyard, from other churches, and folks who weren't involved in church at all. The focus of the group was much like the focus of ECV homegroups: relationship with God and one another through prayer, worship, and Bible study.
By 2007, a group of folks from the 180Colony community began wondering: What is God up to? Every week, more and more great folks were getting connected to the community. Eventually, the answer was: God is planting a church. After several months of further prayer and discernment within the community and with the Vineyard movement locally, regionally, and nationally, the Elm City Vineyard was born in the fall of 2007, under the leadership of Matt & Hannah Croasmun and Caleb & Kathy Maskell.
That fall, the church began meeting in the basement of a church on the downtown Green. We still meet near the Green at First and Summerfield United Methodist Church. The one homegroup became three; these days, there are usually 7-8 homegroups operating in the church.
From the very beginning, we've always valued team leadership and team ministry. This means diverse teams of folks teaching and leading worship on Sundays, a dynamic group of homegroup leaders gathering communities within the church, and a culture in which everyone's contribution is valued.
