The following are The Journey’s theological distinctives regarding the order of and life in the local church. The organizational application of our ecclesiological distinctives are outlined in our Bylaws.

Autonomy and Membership in the Local Church: A local church is an autonomous congregation, the essence of which is its members. The congregation is responsible for church discipline through the admission and dismissal of members. Membership in the local church is the church’s public affirmation of a believer’s public profession of faith, the mutual commitment of the congregation and the member to one another, and the believer’s willful submission to the elders of a particular local church. At The Journey this means that prospective members affirm and agree to uphold The Journey’s Core Convictions and to live in accordance with the Membership Covenant. (Matthew 18:15–20; Romans 12:6–8; 1 Corinthians 5, 12; Hebrew 10:24–25, 13:17; 1 Peter 4:10–11)

The Officers of the Church: The officers of a local church are elders and deacons. Each local church is led under the Lordship of Christ by a plurality of qualified male elders (also called bishops/overseers or pastors). These men must live above reproach and have an ability to accurately and faithfully teach the Scriptures. Pastors/elders oversee the doctrine and direction of the church. These elders are identified and appointed by the existing elders and affirmed by the congregation. The elders are assisted by qualified men and women of godly character serving as deacons (which means servant or minister). Deacons lead the flock in serving, particularly in regard to meeting the practical and physical needs of the congregation. (Acts 6:1–7; 20:17, 28; Romans 16:1; Ephesians 4:11–12; 1 Timothy 2:9–3:7, 3:8–13, 5:17; 2 Timothy 2:2; Titus 1:5–9; 1 Peter 5:1–2)

Family Worship: The centerpiece of the Christian life in the local church is the worship gathering on the Lord’s Day. Allowing children to witness their parent’s model of worship and devotion and allowing them access to the means of grace present in the gathering are essential means of evangelizing and discipling our children. Therefore, while we offer age-based activities outside of the worship gathering, we joyfully include children in our worship service. (Deuteronomy 31:12–13, Joshua 8:35, Ephesians 6:1–4, Colossians 3:20)

The Ordinances: The two ordinances of the church are baptism, the new covenant initiation ceremony, and the Lord’s Supper, the new covenant renewal ceremony. Both ordinances are visible signs in the life of the local church which correspond to invisible realities in the universal Body of Christ. Baptism is immersion in water as a visual sign of a believer’s participation in the gospel, whereby a repentant sinner professes faith in and allegiance to Christ, public identification with a local body of believers, and dedication to grow in godliness in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Likewise, in baptism the church affirms the baptismal candidate’s faith, welcomes him into the church fellowship, and pledges to assist the new believer and/or church member along to spiritual maturity. We invite all who have placed their faith in Christ who have not yet been baptized upon their profession of faith to take this joyful step of faith. The Lord’s Supper is the partaking of the bread and the cup of the local church gathered together for the purpose of remembering Christ’s sacrifice, anticipating his return, and recommitting themselves in obedience and faith to Christ to be observed each week. All who have faith in Christ and are not subject to church discipline are invited to participate in the Lord’s Supper during Sunday gatherings of The Journey. (Matthew 26:26–29, 28:19; Luke 22:19–20; Acts 2:38, 41; Romans 6:3–4; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29; Hebrews 7:27)

Spiritual Gifts: All believers are given gifts by the Holy Spirit to be used for the building up of the body of Christ. Certain gifts, the miraculous so-called "sign gifts," including speaking in tongues and prophecy, have been subject to confusion and controversy since the early church. Speaking in tongues (human languages previously unknown to the speaker), prophecy (infallible verbal propositional revelation), and performing miracles (like healing) seem to be especially prevalent during the apostolic era (the foundational generation of the church) and used to confirm the apostles' and prophets' authority and message. God does still perform miracles, and Christians should not have any hesitation to pray to that end. However, the primary priority for believers in this era should be studying and appreciating the inspired, sufficient, and authoritative Scriptures that have been passed down to us. (Deuteronomy 13:1–5, 18:15–22; Isaiah 28:10–11; Acts 2:1–13, 43; 10:46; 11:15; 1 Corinthians 12; 13:8–12; 14:10, 21–22, 29–31; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 2:20, 4:11–16; Hebrews 2:3–4; 2 Peter 1:20–21; Jude 3)

The following are The Journey’s distinctives on various theological and significant social and ethical issues. These articles are subject to modification, deletion, or addition at the discretion of the elder board.

Hermeneutics: We will have the most accurate understanding of the Christian Story when the Bible is interpreted using a consistent literal, historical, grammatical hermeneutic. This means that the goal of the reader is first and foremost to understand the objective meaning of a text. That is, what the original author intended to communicate to his original audience, using the normal rules of human language. To say that this hermeneutic is literal is to say that we seek the normal or plain meaning of the text, including accounting for any figurative language in the text. Each biblical text has one meaning that is definite and fixed, but this does not negate the validity of multiple significances, including multiple valid applications of the ancient text to our lives today.

Marriage and Family: An aspect of the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Story is God’s design for the family. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime designed to model Christ’s relationship to the church. This permanent covenant by which a man and woman become one flesh is the exclusive relationship for which God designed sex. In this covenant, husbands and wives have different but complementary roles and responsibilities while having equal and intrinsic dignity, value, and worth as image-bearers of God. The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, and he is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. And as the church submits to Christ, the wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to raise their children to love and serve God, not provoking them, but bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Children are to honor and obey their parents. (Genesis 1:26–28; 2:15–25; Matthew 19:3-6; Ephesians 5:22–33; 6:1–4)

Doctrines of Grace: Every part of man is so affected by sin that he cannot and will not turn from sin and believe in Christ. Therefore, God, in His infinite wisdom, chose before the foundation of the world to save the elect, by the Holy Spirit overcoming their hardness of heart and bringing them to faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit keeps those saved by His grace to the end. Christians can live confident in the sovereignty of God over their salvation. (Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 26:28; Mark 10:45; John 6:37, 44; 10:15, 26; Acts 13, 48, 16:14; Romans 3:9–18, 7:18, 8:28–39, 9:11–23, 11:7, 14:23; 2 Corinthians 4:3–6; Ephesians 1:3–6, 2:1–5; 2 Timothy 2:25; Hebrews 9:28)

The Church and Israel: The church is the New Covenant people of God made up of believing Jews and Gentiles and is distinct from ethnic, national Israel. As a New Covenant community, the church is not under the Old/Mosaic Covenant or Law in the same way as the nation of Israel was, though Christians are still to reflect the character of God as revealed in the Law. While the people of Israel are dispersed because of their corporate rejection of Jesus, according to God’s grace and His covenant with the patriarchs, they will one day corporately repent and be re-gathered in the promised land in preparation of Christ’s Kingdom. (Genesis 12:1–3; Matthew 16:18; John 14:1–3; Acts 2:1–4; Romans 6:14; 9–11; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 2:11–22, 3:1–6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–17)

The Millennial Kingdom: The great hope of the Christian is the end of the Story. Believers eagerly await the imminent return of Christ when he will reign upon the earth with his resurrected saints for 1,000 years in fulfillment of all of the biblical covenants before judging the living and the dead and establishing the eternal state in the new heavens and new earth. (Matthew 19:28, 24:36; Acts 1:6–11; 1 Corinthians 15:23–25; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 19–22)