Journey: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You will notice two changes: (1) some parts of our worship will be new (such as a time of confession of sin) and (2) the sequence of the parts of our service will be different (call to worship, invocation, confession of sin, proclamation of the gospel, response to the gospel, listening to God’s Word, responding to God’s Word, and benediction). We will follow this order each week but the service will not be a carbon copy from week to week.
As you wholeheartedly step into Journey, this vision will help you mature in Christ. You will find God changing your life as you worship Him through our weekly gospel-centered worship journey. You will care for others and be cared for by others as you engage in a Life Group. You will partner with others in our church in helping lost people in our community experience salvation through Christ.
We will not change our denominational affiliation. We will stay with the EFCA.
We are changing to Journey in order to do better what God has called us to do. Journey will help us refocus on our mission of “forming followers of Jesus who impact their world.” We want to be reinvigorated in our pursuit of God’s will and to pursue His will more intentionally. We want to bear more fruit for the Lord, bringing glory to God the Father.
Yes. The members of our church will vote on July 8 after the worship service.
We hope that adopting the name Journey Church will help us in our mission by opening doors for us to speak to others about our journey with Jesus, by eliminating confusion arising from the name “Evangelical Free,” and by reminding us of our vision—journeying with Jesus and inviting others to come along.
The most noticeable changes will be our new approach to worship, a sustained outreach into the community, and our new name, Journey Church. Some things will remain the same. In time, as God wills, we will also see changes in our facilities as the renovations of our Facility Improvement Plan are completed.
These ministries will continue. They play a critical role in the Equipping and Caring aspects of Journey.
During June and July Pastor Tom will preach a sermon series on the different aspects of the Journey Vision. Two key dates are July 8, the date of the business meeting for approving our new name, and September 9, the launch date for Journey. On September 9 will be begin our new approach to worship and we will unveil our outreach strategy.
There will not be any facility renovations by our launch date, September 9. However, we do hope to have some renderings of proposed future changes to put on display on September 9.
No, that is not our goal. Our Sunday morning worship services will still be designed to help believers worship God and grow in Jesus. Journey Worship is intended to help us do that even better. We surely hope unbelievers will attend, and we will do our best to make them feel welcome and loved. The gospel will continue to be shared both for the strengthening of the believer and for the salvation of the lost. However, we are not shifting to a “seeker-driven” or attractional model for Sundays.
The confession step is a time during the worship service when we acknowledge our sins to God. We are not confessing our sins to one another. Rather, we are honestly telling God how we have fallen short of His perfect holiness.
No. The By Laws of our church make no provision for members who are absent from a business meeting to vote on the items of that business meeting. Every time the By Laws address voting they state that members must be present to vote.