Growing "Pains"

One of the first church planting resources I can remember encountering was a toolkit that walked perspective church planters through the process of launching a new church from scratch. I still remember bullet points that were shared in those audio tapes. The one I recall most often is this, "Church planters and their teams must remain flexible."

There have been multiple times in fourteen years of church planting when I have reminded myself of that important reality. We are in one of those seasons right now. Actually, the past two years have required that we live in a constant state of flexibility.

The new year has brought some very steady growth (numerical, financial, spiritual) at Journey Church. It has been awesome to see! It has forced us, however, to make some critical decisions quickly. There have been multiple occasions when we have had to "turn on a dime." We are turning again. It feels right. It feels good. Man, this is fun!

In the next three weeks, several ministry moves will take place:

- We are purchasing a boat load of new ministry equipment!
- We'll be moving our student ministry environment to Sunday mornings.
- We have added another part-time staff person. He'll be building and leading the student ministry house band.
- We are adding another children's ministry class. Space in the 2-3 year old has quickly become a real issue.
- We are moving Kidmo to a new location and changing the name.
(In fourteen months, we have doubled the space needed and used at LEHS where Journey meets every Sunday.)

Each of these moves sets us up for the Spring ministry season that is beginning. We are trusting that God will use each of these moves to continue to allow our influence to grow in West Chester and the surrounding areas. I fully believe we are creating space for the people God will bring in the next few months.

There is no question the best is yet to come at Journey Church!