A Connectional Church
Our conference is the Northwest Texas Conference and includes the cities and areas around Abilene, Midland, Lubbock, and Amarillo. In our conference we have 4 districts. We are in the Abilene district which has about 50 churches or so. A district superintendent oversees each district and is a representative of the bishop.
Because we are a connectional church, we operate differently than an autonomous church. First, pastors are sent to churches by bishops rather than voted upon by church bodies. Second, churches are required to pay into pension and health insurance pools for full time ordained pastors (called elders). Third, new churches receive funding (for a while) from their conference. Fourth, pastors and churches give account for their ministry to the bishop and his representatives (specifically the district superintendent).
Because we are a connectional church, many of our decisions and operations are done with some degree of oversight by our district superintendent, and if necessary, other conference bodies (such as funding bodies).
To this point the conference has had a hands-off but supportive relationship with the Journey.
How decisions get made
As the church matures, other committees (such as a personnel committee, lay leadership committee, and board of trustees) will be put into place.
Significant decisions such as relocation have to be done in agreement with various officials at the district and conference level.
This is why it it so important for you to give your input. Your thoughts and questions help us to get a pulse of the church. So that we can make the best decisions possible.
A Short History of the Journey Church
In 2004, land was purchased by the United Methodist Abilene Area Board of Missions in hope of planting a new church in the Southeast Abilene area. The board purchased 8.2 acres near the intersection of Oldham Land (FM 1750) and Beltway Drive (FM 707).
In 2006, Bailey Barkley was appointed by Bishop Max Whitfield to plant a new church with the expectation of someday building a facility on the purchased land. Bailey began his time in Abilene as associate pastor at Aldersgate United Methodist Church.
In 2007, Bailey was reassigned to full-time at the new church, which was by then named “The Journey United Methodist Church”. Monthly preview services began in the Fall of 2007 at Wylie Elementary School.
In January 2008, The Journey launched weekly services at Wylie Elementary School. Due to the unavailability of air conditioner in schools during the summer, The Journey relocated to the banquet rooms of Primetime Family Entertainment Center in June 2008. The church met there for a year.
In the Spring of 2009, Primetime Entertainment decided to expand their operations and The Journey was forced to find a new location. We searched for several places in Southeast Abilene but found no place to meet. All doors seemed to be closed but one: the World Gym building on Danville (where we currently meet). In June 2009 The Journey moved its services to its current location on a 2 year lease.
In September 2011, we moved to our current location - Wylie Intermediate school. Reasons for this are 2-fold: 1) to have a presence near the neighborhodds where our land is; 2) to operate in a more responsible fiscal manner.
Currently, we are looking at building on our land in the next few years.
