Our Church Structure

We believe that Jesus is the head of the church and that the church is the physical representation of His body to the world. We believe the Bible defines two formal positions for the church; that of pastors (same as overseers, shepherds, elders) and that of deacons. At The Journey we call our deacons "Care Ministers".?These are people who humbly serve others in the church. There is no hierarchy, but instead the pastors and care ministers serve the church continually through love and humility. We believe the Bible gives a fairly clear picture and guidance of how churches might structure themselves. This is not to say that there is only one perfect structure and that The Journey has found it and no other church has. There are many good and God honoring churches today that use different structures.

We believe that any structure, led by godly, humble leaders and supported by a loving, unified people is acceptable (assuming it does not directly contradict any clear scriptural commands or mandates). Nonetheless, we feel that the structure The Journey has chosen is true to the examples seen in Scripture in the early church and provides wise safeguards to human weakness while best enabling those in leadership roles to joyfully honor God according to their natural abilities and personalities.

The Journey recognizes the positions of pastors and care ministers. In the case of pastors,we believe that the church should raise, nurture and mentor pastors from within their own membership when possible. We believe this is gender neutral, thus The Journey will have both male and female pastors. We also believe that multiple pastors, equal in responsibility and authority while unique in talents and personality, best provide a nurturing and balanced environment for serving, protecting, instructing, encouraging, exhorting and leading the church. We recognize and adhere to the instructions given to those who would serve as pastors stated in 1Timothy 3:1-7; 5:17-25, Titus 1:5-7 and1 Peter 5:1,2.

We also believe that the office of deacon (we use the term care minister) has benefit for the church today. We believe that the ministry spoken of in Acts 6 indicate that care ministers are to assist the pastors of the church with the spiritual care of the church through the ministry of mercy and compassion; practically serving the felt needs of the church to ensure the spiritual unity of the church. In this way, the pastors may focus on the teaching, prayer, and caring for the needs of the community. We believe that the Bible indicates a plurality of care ministers within each church. As in the case of pastors, we recognize and adhere to the instructions given to those who would serve as care ministers stated in 1 Timothy 3:8-13.