- Introduction to Journey Europe
- How we work
- Who attends Journey courses?
- What we believe
- Journey Europe and the church
1. Introduction to Journey Europe
Journey is a pastoral ministry, seeking to help Christians in a life-long journey of growth in our relationship with God, ourselves and others. Through courses, events and support, we offer a safe place where men and women can find hope in areas of their lives where they feel stuck or ashamed.
Journey ministries aim to equip the church by training pastors and leaders to effectively use our materials to help Christians in a life-long journey of growth in their relationship with God, themselves and others.
2. How Journey Europe works
Journey Europe oversees 6 countries running our programs. There are 4 courses: Journey of Grace; The Summer Week; In The Beginning; and Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Not all of these courses are yet running in all countries.
The core part of our ministry is based on small group work where every delegate gets time spent in listening prayer, assisted by Journey Team Members.
Each of our courses consists of:
- Worship – God’s presence brings healing and reminds us who He is and who we are.
- Teaching – Applying God’s word to our personal situations.
- Prayer in closed same-gender small groups – Sharing our stories in front of others breaks down shame barriers and opens our hearts to share and receive from God.
Each course will:
- Challenge and deepen your relationship with God.
- Provide an opportunity to be open and honest with others.
- Help you to understand the roots and healing process of your issue.
- Give you words to describe your inner pain and losses.
- Open up the power and scope of the Cross in new ways.
- Enable you to continue on your healing journey with renewed vigour.
3. Who attends Journey Courses?
Journey is aimed at people who want to grow in their true, God given identity and their ability to have healthy relationships.
Journey Europe courses are open to people with various issues:
relationships
- fear of men or women, difficulty in establishing intimate relationships
- having difficulty in saying ‘no’, keeping healthy boundaries
- emotional dependency, codependency
- victims of abuse (emotional, mental, physical, sexual)
- various forms of addiction
- lack of intimacy with God, or a distorted image of God as Father
(sexual) identity
- low self esteem
- feelings of emptiness
- gender insecurity
- pornography, promiscuity
- sexual fantasies and addiction
4. What we believe
- We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, the final and fully sufficient authority of doctrine, that corrects, challenges and instructs for right living.
- We believe in one God, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that this God is the Creator of all humankind, the One who defines who we are, what it is to be truly human and made in His image.
- We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God, only begotten Son of the Father. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and lived a sinless life. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, buried and rose physically from the dead. He ascended to the right hand of the Father and will come again in power and glory.
- We believe that faith alone in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord frees us from the destructive power and consequences of sin, which are death and eternal separation from God. Through the Cross Jesus took the penalty of death upon Himself, which enables us, by His gift of grace, to live His resurrected life.
- We believe the Holy Spirit renews our lives, transforming us from one degree of glory to another into God’s likeness. As adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father we become increasingly rooted and established in His love, and grow in love for God, our neighbours and ourselves.
5. Journey Europe and the church
Introduction
Journey Europe is dedicated to serve the church, the worldwide Body of Christ represented in the local church, to support and strengthen her mission to be a safe place for broken people.
People who struggle with brokenness in the area of their (sexual) identity and relationships need not only to hear the Biblical principles, but also find a place where they can work out their healing journey with others, in a safe atmosphere of love and encouragement, in balance between grace and truth.
We see as essential for the functioning of the group that there is an open and trusting relationship between a local Journey group and one or more local/regional churches.
Journey Europe works with local groups all over the world, led by teams whose members have completed a Journey leadership training. A local Journey Europe group is led by a male and female coordinator. A team can consist of members from different churches.
The Journey Europe group
The contribution of the local Journey group to the church is primarily to run Journey courses aimed at specific groups. These are discipleship courses that seek to deepen our relationship with God, bring to light sinful patterns of thoughts and behaviour, and find healing for underlying wounds that rob us of our full glory and potential in God.
Our core values are:
- worship, teaching with testimonies and healing prayer in small groups
- orthodox interpretation of the Bible as the inspired Word of God
- an acknowledgment of the power and the extent of the Cross
- the forgiveness of our sins, and the blessing of our identity as God’s image bearer
- belief in the healing power of prayer
- belief in healing as a process, with the grace to allow participants to make progress at their own pace, and be responsible for their own choices throughout the process
- the value of the group process, with clear boundaries both for participants and team members
The Church
Journey Europe seeks to be a gift to the church, in an open and trusting relationship with the local church leadership and its pastoral care. We believe God raised up this ministry to strengthen the church and its ability to bring healing and restoration to people. What we would need from the local church in order to do this is:
- the blessing from the church leadership for a church member who is the local Journey coordinator, and possibly for other Journey team members from their church
- prayer support for the Journey team
- pastoral back-up for the coordinator
- endorsement of the Journey group and their courses to church members who are in need of personal healing in the area of (sexual) identity and relationships. In addition, a local coordinator may be asked in specific cases to advise the pastoral team of the local church in situations with brokenness in the area of (sexual) identity and relationships.
Depending on the specific circumstances and needs, a supporting church may be able to provide facilities for the Journey group, such as the use of the church building for groups at limited or no costs.
Journey Europe does not ask local churches to pay coordinators or team members for their involvement in the local Journey group. However, in some instances churches have facilitated training of coordinators/team members by providing part of the costs.
We see the cooperation with a local church as a long term relationship, where we seek to maintain and strengthen the relationship over the years.