JOURNEY CHURCH DEFINITION OF MINISTRY

I SEE JOURNEY CHURCH AS….

PERSONAL:

Journey Church is personal

Life with God should be intimate and connected. God is not interested in impersonal acts of worship or service motivated by what others think (Matt 6:3). The Bible is filled with God’s personal interaction with imperfect people and our community reflects this. We are not just names, faces in the crowd, or nameless. God knows each of us by name! He knows our fears, failures and shortcomings yet He loves us faithfully and unconditionally. As followers of Christ we become like Him by connecting with each other in a personal and vulnerable way.

I SEE JOURNEY CHURCH AS…

INSTRUCTIONAL:

Journey Church is Instructional
The Word is very clear by evidence of what Jesus instructed His disciples. (Matt. 28:19) “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” Our responsibility was never to just grow as a church as much as it was to grow as a disciple of Christ. This means that we all are students learning about Christ everyday for the sole purpose of relationship with Him, and to advance His kingdom by winning souls. This is in fact the heartbeat of Journey Church… to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

I SEE JOURNEY CHURCH AS…

INSPIRATIONAL:

Journey Church is Inspirational
Church shouldn’t be dull, boring or duty driven. Instead, Church should encourage, convict, motivate and inspire each other to live “worthy of the calling” that we have received in Christ. After all, the message of the Bible is about “Good News!” A church service is a place for celebration, joy, and a place where we can encounter a living God through the presence of the Holy Spirit: that’s why you’ll see people moving, singing, laughing and enjoying each other because the spirit of God is among them. Life’s difficulties are a challenge and we shouldn’t minimize the struggle, but we should remember that Jesus is the one who said “Come unto me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you REST…for my yoke is EASY and my burden is LIGHT.” His life among us, and “undeserved grace” is reason enough to be joyful.

I SEE JOURNEY CHURCH AS…

CONVERSATIONAL:

Journey Church is Conversational
We want our services to be relaxed, conversational and for the teaching to be culturally relevant to normal people with normal problems that need a real God. This is why you will find the teaching and preaching at our church to be less dogmatic and more conversational but with no compromise. The word is truly what changes hearts. In addition, we want everyone to belong to a life group where they can build relationship and converse about the Scriptures, learn from one another, coach each other and do life together within a genuine community. Our desire is to have our communities be conversant in Christ’s ways as well as our cultural norms, able to communicate and demonstrate God’s love in our world with conviction through the Holy Spirit.

I SEE JOURNEY CHURCH AS…

RELATIONAL: Christianity is a relationship with God and not practiced as individual spirituality. It’s shared in the context of community and not in isolation. None of us are perfect and so we all need one another to coach us and help us on this journey of life. All of us have weaknesses and strengths that must be shared in order for us to grow. This is why the bible says to “confess your sins one to another”! There is no reason why any of us need to be defined by our greatest weakness, but the bible makes it clear that “iron sharpens iron” and though it may at times seem like a grinding process, the finished product is becoming sharpened by God. The goal of this community of believers is to encourage authentic, accountable, and healthy relationships that will flourish by doing life with one another and become witnesses of God’s plan for that person as He unveils their purpose. We have each other and God is with us in a special way when we connect in the strong bonds of relationships (Matt 18; 1 John 1:7).

I SEE JOURNEY CHURCH AS…

CHARITABLE:

Journey Church is Charitable
God has given us His Son, the gifts of the Spirit and everything we need for life and godliness. He is the giver of life and we become like Him when we become givers as well. The Bible teaches us to give our firstfruits and best of all we have received as a way of demonstrating that God is our source and provider and has first place in our lives. According to Jesus, finances are the surest measurement of our hearts. We bring what the Bible calls a “tithe” or “10 percent” of our resources to encourage the work of our local church as well as giving above the tithe as offerings to worthy projects and needy people. Generosity should be our reputation within the community at large and our open-handedness will be the DNA of our message. So, we give of our time, talent (gifting) and treasure (resources). We give financially to the storehouse of the local church, to others in need and to missions local and missionaries around the world to carry the message of salvation.