If you’ve never met Vern and Sue Tompke, the three things you need to know about them is that they are passionate about God, passionate about their marriage and passionate about their family. Everything in their lives flows of these things: Gifted teachers, and abundantly artistic.

Vern and Susan met at UBC where they earned their degrees in Teaching and Teaching via Business. While they began working in the school system, over time God took them from teaching in the classroom to teaching in their home and in the Church. Vern began working as the Associate Pastor at the Penticton Vineyard in 1991.

In 1996 Vern and Sue were commissioned by the Penticton Vineyard to plant a Church in Chillwack, BC. Since 1996, the Chilliwack Vineyard Community Church has grown into a thriving part of Chilliwack including the addition of the Chilliwack Vineyard Community Centre in July of 2016. 

Whether teaching about the heart of God on Sunday morning, serving in the community, or helping men in recovery, Vern is passionate about extending the grace of God into peoples lives. Susan is currently a teacher in the public school system and is passionate about helping immigrant kids integrate into their new community.

Grace On Tap by Jenna Hauck

Featured in The Chilliwack Progress 2015

The Vineyard Community Church was planted in 1996 by Vern and Susan Tompke. Vern came from a rather interesting family who straddled both sides of the fence. On one side, Vern’s mother stressed the value of attending church and developing one’s spiritual connection with God. On the other side Vern’s dad was a popular tavern owner who played the social centre of many people’s lives. 

“It wasn’t that my dad didn’t respect church” Vern said, “in fact he had a tremendous respect for “Billy Graham and his message”. “It’s also safe to say”, added Vern, “that my mom played a pretty mean piano as well.”  

 Over the years Vern and his brothers and sister struggled with the “great divide” between these two communities. Three years ago, Vern’s father Leroy was diagnosed with lung cancer. 

 On one of Vern’s last visits to the “families bar”, Vern remarked at all the “on tap” signs hanging around the tavern. Suddenly he remembered a phrase by the author Philip Yancey, - that of God’s grace on tap. Vern’s dad was intrigued by the phrase and at Vern’s request, his dad gave him one of the signs to modify. Today the sign hangs on the front of the church. In one sense it is a memory of Vern’s Father who passed away two years ago. To Vern it also symbolizes that God’s grace is available to anyone who “recognizes their need of him”. “Just because people don’t have their act together shouldn’t disqualify them from church”, he says.

“I want to see a church where people are accepted to come to him in their “need” - not having to pretend they have it all together.” Just like in a tavern, what people are looking for is a measure of love, acceptance and forgiveness. Shouldn’t church be a place where broken people come to experience healing for their soul, a place where their life can be put back together again. Shouldn’t church be a place where people experience God’s grace on Tap?