"Why do you meet at a school instead of a church building?"

Well, why not a school?? The early church met in homes; they never built "churches" until centuries after Christ. We're meeting in a school because (a) we don't have money to build our own place (yet) and (b) we are specifically trying to reach people who may have had bad experiences with religion in the past. We've found that going to a church service at a school doesn't intimidate people as much as going to a place with pews, organs, choirs, etc. We are actually excited to have the opportunity to hang out with many people who didn't think much of Christians before, and we're encouraged whenever they are willing to have honest discussions about God, life, and their spiritual journeys so far. Those discussions can happen in a school, at a coffee shop (like Pastor Brian's "office",) on the bus, or wherever.

"What's the big deal about being so casual? Shouldn't we dress up for church out of respect for God?"

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray ("Our Father..."), that word "Father" was revolutionary--he used the Aramaic term abba, which most properly means "Daddy." Jesus instructed his disciples to refer to God as their heavenly daddy. Almost all translators use the term 'father', but Jesus shows us that we can approach a loving, graceful heavenly father with the same heart attitude that a little kid has when he/she runs and jumps into the lap of his/her papa. When you go to your dad's house, do you always dress up and act all formal? Or do you go, dress comfortably, kick your shoes off and just be yourself? We take worship real seriously, but most of us prefer to dress casually.


"What's a church plant?"

A church plant is simply the start of a church in a community. It typically has a sponsoring church (or two) that helps with start-up costs, processes, marketing, etc. We call this a "parent church". (Our parent church was Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park.) The people who have studied church growth have concluded that today's society craves community. We often live far from extended family, have busy schedules, and many live in homes where we don't know our neighbors. The popularity of tv shows like "Seinfeld" or "Friends" shows the desire of people to feel connected and accepted. The realities of a large church often mean that people don't feel as connected, as accountable, or as needed as they do in a smaller church. Annual statistics show that it takes 87 people doing their assigned job in a large church for each one person who makes a commitment to Christ. On the other hand, it takes just 3 people doing their job in a church plant to bring that same person to faith. If those 87 people were spread out into 29 church plants, there would be 29 new believers instead of 1. That's a much better "rate of return" if you are interested in investing your time wisely, and a lot more rejoicing in heaven if you're truly interested in reaching the world with the good news of Christ.

The Journey Church - Meeting at Weaver Lake Road Elementary School
15900 Weaver Lake Rd. Maple Grove, MN - Sunday 10:00 a.m.
612-720-3932