The Journey Core Values Part 2 : Community (continued)

In my last post I talked about Community and the significance that it will play in the foundational development of The Journey’s DNA.


One aspect of community that I did not cover in my previous post is that of age-level and family based ministry. I would like to devote this blog to explaining our passion for providing holistic family ministry under the umbrella of Community.

We believe that the family unit is perhaps the best example of true community that we have here on earth, and as such, the church would be remiss if it did not celebrate the family and provide ministry to the individual parts of the family as well as to the entire unit.

Age Level Ministries

We will provide, from the outset, ministry for infants, children and youth. Nursery will be provided at all of our pre-launch events and worship gatherings along with children’s ministry for 3 year- old through 4th grade. Screened, trained and gifted children’s leaders will provide fun, biblically based programs for children during Community Life Groups, Informational Meetings and Worship Gatherings. We LOVE children and we want them to be a part of everything that we do as a church. As a United Methodist Community, we also believe in infant baptism as a way of initiating children into the family of God and we pray that we will have many opportunities to share in the sacrament of baptism as a community. Once children get to 5th grade, we will offer age-level ministry for middle and high school students as well as a Confirmation Class for 6th graders. As with our children’s ministry, all of our youth workers will be screened, trained and gifted youth ministers who love your sons and daughters and who will provide opportunities for fellowship, discipleship, worship and mission. Youth ministry will not happen on Sunday mornings, as we encourage youth to participate in worship with their family and friends. We have not decided on a time for youth activities yet, but we are currently renovating part of The Connection on Main Street to be used as youth ministry space, and we should be prepared to start having youth gatherings by the end of the summer.

We also recognize that churches have not done a very good job of providing effective ministry for young adults: those young men and women between the ages of 18-35 who have graduated from high school, but remain in the area to work or to go to college. Young adulthood is a critical time in a person’s life, and we want to do all that we can to provide ministry for these young people. A goal from the very beginning will be to find ways to connect with single and married young adults with and without children of their own, and develop ways to minister to their needs.

Holistic Family Ministry

We will encourage parents and guardians to keep their children and youth with them during worship gatherings at least during the music. We find that children particularly enjoy the music and singing, and we will strongly encourage their participation in worship.

We also intend to provide fellowship and discipleship opportunities for the whole family. We are planning a Marriage and Parenting class, and will be looking closely at a Family Retreat to Blue Lake United Methodist Assembly within our first year.

In short, we will be a church that sees family as a priority, and a church that will strive to provide quality ministry for all ages as well as offer opportunities for the entire family to grow in Christ together.

The Trinity is a picture of the Divine Family. God’ desire for us as those created in His image is to model a healthy family to the world around us. We acknowledge that in this world we live in, the word family does not mean what it used to mean; traditional values are being deconstructed, the divorce rate continues to soar, children are being raised in single-parent homes, bouncing around between two different families, and many are growing up without any kind of Godly parental figure in their lives at all. This grieves us, and we intend to do whatever we can in our little piece of this world to bring hope and restoration to the broken, hurting, lonely, hopeless, depressed, discouraged, and empty children, youth, young adults and adults of Crestview Florida.

We will do this by making Community a part of who we are from the very beginning.

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