River City Vineyard History

River City Vineyard Christian Fellowship is a church that was started in November 1988 by George Esser and a team of 12 other people. Their vision was to create a church that reached out to their generation, that was relevant to our culture, and was a place for people to feel loved and accepted. The church is a fairly young church with many people on social assistance of some kind.

In addition to being a church, River City Vineyard is a community centre. Activities include a gun club, AA, NA, gambling and other anonymous meetings. There is also a homeless shelter, food bank, free store and shower program.

River City Vineyard purchased the old YMCA building in 1997 and have kept a lot of the community aspects of the old YMCA including renting rooms out to service organizations, fitness activities, and charities. They still carry part of the YMCA’s mandate, “body, soul and spirit.”