In 1974, after working as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, and planting a church called Jesus Chapel in El Paso, Texas, Kenn and Joanie Gulliksen moved to Los Angeles to begin a ministry that had been on their hearts for several years.

Starting as a small Bible study in the home of Chuck and Karen Girard (from the music group "Lovesong”), the fellowship grew very quickly, necessitating the beginning of other home studies, and the beginning of a Sunday morning worship service in Beverly Hills. God prophetically giving the name "Vineyard” to these gathered people.

"The Lord gave the name "Vineyard" to Kenn Gulliksen in 1974. At the time, Kenn had been leading a group of people in a home church for about four months. He had asked the Lord for a name that would best identify what God wanted to do.

Isaiah 27:3 'A vineyard of wine, sing of it! I the Lord am its keeper; I water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I guard it night and day.'

"John Wimber was a founding leader of the Vineyard. His influence profoundly shaped the theology and practice of Vineyard churches from their earliest days until his death in November 1997.

George Eldon Ladd’s theological writings on the kingdom of God convinced John intellectually that all the biblical gifts of the Holy Spirit should be active in the church. Encounters with Fuller missiologists Donald McGavaran and C. Peter Wagner and seasoned missionaries and international students gave him credible evidence for combining evangelism with healing and prophecy. As he became more convinced of God's desire to be active in the world through all the biblical gifts of the Spirit, John began to teach and train his church to imitate Jesus’ full-orbed kingdom ministry. He began to ‘do the stuff’ of the Bible that he had formerly only read about.

As John and his congregation sought God in intimate worship they experienced empowerment by the Holy Spirit, significant renewal in the gifts and conversion growth.

In the Spring of 1982, John's church joined the small group of Vineyard churches led by Kenn Gulliksen. Pastors and leaders from the handful of Vineyard churches began looking to John for direction.It was obvious God had called John to pastor the pastors and to train and encourage men and women to pursue what God had given them. And the Vineyard movement was born.

The Valley Forge Vineyard is part of the Association of Vineyard Churches, a growing denomination that now includes over 850 churches in 47 countries, including over 500 churches in the U.S. The major church associations today include: Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The United States is divided into eight Regions for purpose of bringing accountability and relationship to the church leaders and the churches. There are 60 Vineyard churches in the Eastern Region of which Valley Forge Vineyard is a part.

The pastor of the Vineyard Community Church is Bob Palumbo. Bob and Marilyn are originally from South Jersey and were married in December of 1968. They have two daughters, Julia and Patricia, and five grandchildren.

Bob became a Christian on June 1,1974 at a men’s retreat in Boyertown, PA. Soon after he felt a call to pastoral ministry. The Palumbos moved to Indiana where Bob attended college and seminary and served as Youth Pastor for a large church.

The family then moved to Colorado in 1979 where Bob pastored his first congregation. It was in 1983, while in Colorado, that they connected with the Vineyard. Since then they have helped to plant two Vineyard congregations, one in Colorado and another in Massachusetts, (Bob eventually became the pastor of both these Vineyards) and in 1992 moved to the Philadelphia area to plant Vineyard Christian Fellowship-King of Prussia.

It was in Massachusetts that the Lord began to give them vision for a Vineyard in the Philadelphia area. In 1991 Bob and Marilyn went back to Colorado for six months. There they sought further vision and additional training at the Vineyard in Ft. Collins led by Rick and Becky Olmstead. They were then sent out by Rick Olmstead and the church and returned to the Delaware Valley in February of 1992.

On May 5th of 1992, the Palumbos started a small group at the home of Hans and Janet Hermans in Norristown. There were approximately 14 adults involved. In October of 1992 another Kinship was started by the Palumbos at their home in Conshohocken. By then there were about 24 adults attending the Vineyard.

In August of 1993, the first Sunday morning service was held in King of Prussia in a building called Tiffney 2000 on Town Center Road. There was an attendance of 47 that first morning. Within a few weeks the attendance grew to 100 adults and children.

In January of 1994, Sunday services were relocated to the Valley Forge Middle School auditorium where it met for the next 9 years (except for a year in 1998 -1999 when, due to renovations at the school, the church met at Upper Merion Baptist Church on Saturday evenings).

In September of 1999, the renovations at Valley Forge Middle School were completed and the church resumed Sunday morning Celebration Meetings at the school location. The name of the congregation was officially changed to Valley Forge Vineyard in December of 1999 to reflect the "regional" characteristic of our congregation.

In 2000, a Building Search Committee was released to actively secure a home for our church family. In May of 2001, we conducted a Church Home Campaign to raise funds for a building. Over $500,000 was raised. Our search focused on the immediate geographic area in which we have been meeting for the past 10 years. However, after an intense search we did not find property or buildings suitable for a church home. After a time of prayer and fasting we felt the Lord wanted us to relocate further west toward the Downingtown-Exton area. Soon after, we found a 21 acre property which we purchased in 2003.

At the same time, we relocated the congregation to the Lionville Fire Company facility at the intersection of Rt.100 and Rt. 113 in Lionville. This location is only 5 minutes from the property. Upon relocation we changed our name to Vineyard Community Church.

In September of 2003 we celebrated our 10th anniversary. Our event was entitled “Celebrating God’s Faithfulness – The Best is Yet to Come!”

John D'Asaro, our first full time assistant pastor, came on staff in June of 2003. John, his wife Cindy and their children came to the Philadelphia area in 2002. John has 14 years experience in the Vineyard. Over the years they have been with us, it has become evident that John and Cindy were going to be a vital part of the future of Vineyard Community Church. John is responsible for our enfolding, operations and small group ministries.

In May of 2007 Justin Barney was brought on staff on a part time basis as an assistant pastor. Justin will be responsible for developing our PLUG Youth Ministry and other areas of our church life. He has vision for young adults and reaching out to the community. Justin and his wife Danielle are graduates of the Valley Forge Christian College.

In April 2007 we began construction on our new church home. Target date for completion is in September 2007. We will also establish a Christian day care center within our facility called The Vineyard School of Early Learning. You can find more information as our building progresses at this link.