MonticelloLive

The leaders and members of Journey Church have had little trouble living up to their name. In their 4 ½ year existence, this community of believers has met at 6 different locations. This coming Sunday (June 3), they will transition into their seventh… at 775 Edgewood Street in Monticello. They will have a fellowship time at 10:00, and worship celebration will kickoff at 10:15. What makes this transition a little more special is that the church owns this property.

The “journey,” as it were, started in January 2003. Pastor Jeff Noble, along with 6 or 7 others he knew were interested in starting a new church, began meeting in the Nobles’ living room to begin a 4-5 month process of praying, talking to family and consulting with Arkansas Baptist State Convention personnel. This group fleshed out the core values that would shape the vision of the church (which exists as a non-denominational church, with no formal ties to the ABSC or the Southern Baptist Convention). During those first months of prayer and discussion, they “deprogrammed” their own church experiences, with an eye toward giving Journey Church a totally different structure from what everyone else was used to. This wasn’t going to be church business as usual.

At the time, Noble was serving as director of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) on the campus of UAM, and in May of 2003, Journey Church began meeting at the BCM building for worship. Noble and ABSC leaders knew at this point that he would be resigning from his position as director, and in August, it was made official. By this time, the church had grown to the point that the adults were now meeting at the Wesley Foundation building, and the children at the Missionary Baptist Student Fellowship (MBSF) location, located in close proximity to each other on the UAM campus.

Describing Journey’s existence as “nomadic,” Noble told of the church’s move to an empty building at SeaArk Boats, behind Pauline Baptist. Shortly after, the church discovered a vacancy in the North Park Village Shopping Center, knocked out some walls and assumed this would be home for the next three years. Six months later due to space needs, the adults found themselves meeting for worship at the Hollywood Cinema, while the children continued to gather at the North Park location. Eight months after that, Journey leased a second location at North Park, and have had Stage surrounded for the past 18 months.

May 31 saw the expiration of the lease at the shopping center, and the church members have been working feverishly to prepare their new building on Edgewood (behind the BP station on Hwy 425). Noble says that Journey experienced a good period of growth at the North Park location, but the new building offers more opportunities for ministry, not to mention doing away with the high cost of leasing space designed for retail use in the shopping center.

Journey Church also owns a parcel of land across the street from Monticello High School. When asked how the Edgewood facility plays into their plans for future utilization of the property on Old Warren Road, Noble says he has no idea. He does foresee the building on Edgewood as a transitional location in the long run, perhaps to be converted for another type of ministry to the community, or even to be given to someone else. The leaders of Journey don’t want every building they use to be a church building.

“No point in having a building that’s only used twice a week,” says Noble.

He notes that the main emphasis of Journey Church is not “church” activities, but rather to “shove” people outside the walls of the church and into the community. He feels that folks should get involved in the life of the community, citing such examples as volunteering at the library, coaching children’s sports, and being involved in civic groups such as Kiwanis or Rotary, to name a few.

Something Noble noticed when he attended another church in town, was that while he and his family were driving back to church for evening services, most of his neighbors were at home enjoying family activities.

“Sundays are overtaking Saturdays as America’s family day,” he said. “Sunday afternoons and evenings are the best opportunities for people to meet and be in contact with Christians, and Christians were running back to church to hang out with other Christians, not to mention attending various committee meetings and other organization-driven activities.”

So, a year before starting Journey, the Noble family made the decision NOT to go to church Sunday evenings, and they started to meet the people in their neighborhood. As a result of that commitment, Journey Church meets Sunday mornings for worship, and their small groups meet in homes at various times throughout the week. This, says Noble, serves to streamline the way church is done, and maximizes the potential for meeting people. As this quote from the church’s website puts it:

“Journey doesn’t need committed Christ followers. Monticello and Drew County… our world needs committed Christ-followers living their every-day lives in front of them.”

In other words, Journey tries to fulfill the “as you go” exhortation of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. Noble makes a comparison to a book he once read, entitled “When I Relax I Feel Guilty.” This, he says, seems to have become the motto of many Christians today. If they aren’t at the church every time the doors are open, they feel guilty, and yet this approach to church leaves no time for the Christian to give him or herself to the community.

The leaders of Journey wanted to structure a church that would minister to those that weren’t going to church. Most churches, says Noble, are organization-minded. They do great work, but have to spend time and energy keeping the church running. Journey, he says, wanted to be a church that intentionally tried to free itself from all the overhead and administrative concerns in order to meet and flow with the life of the community. They want to reach more people, but not necessarily do more “things,” according to the pastor. Home groups are encouraged to start and take ownership of ministries, rather than church-sponsored ministries that would present the same organizational dilemmas that others are dealing with.

Another unique aspect of Journey is that both as a church, and as individual members, they have a strong presence online. Many churches have websites, as does Journey, but many of Journey’s members have caught the blog bug. Quite a few of what Noble refers to as “pre-attenders” (folks that church members are cultivating relationships with who haven’t yet come to Journey) have been reached via the internet, particularly through the blogs of Journey members. Bloggers minister to others by sharing their thoughts, ideas and just the struggles of everyday life.

In fact, according to Noble, almost every member of Journey church can honestly say that God has challenged and grown them over the past year. Looking toward the future, Noble sees Journey branching out, with an emphasis on the Delta. He’d like to see Journey start churches across the region, autonomous, yet networked with one another with the purpose of sharing the message of the Gospel by being Christ-minded and community-oriented.

A streamlined church. A church with a nomadic existence. One that understands they are not defined so much by the location or the population of their building as they are by the presence of their people in the neighborhoods, schools and workplaces of the towns in which they live. Journey Church… a community of faith, ministering in the community at large.