With this issue of our church newsletter we introduce our new logo, mission statement and newsletter name. This has been almost a year long process of prayerful evaluation and study by the staff and elders of how to articulate and communicate who we are as a congregation. These changes are meant to represent both our understanding of God’s Church through scripture and how we as a congregation seek to relate to our world. Does this mean that our past expressions of our mission and purpose were somehow wrong or inadequate? Certainly not! But it does mean that as we have entered our second century of ministry in Gladstone, and as our 21st century culture changes, we need to periodically re-evaluate how we express our purpose and understanding of our mission as a church.
    To that end, we commissioned our own Aubree Oberst to create a design that expressed our identity and that would give us continuity with all our publications and promotional material. As you can see, the most prominent detail is the cross. It is the cross of Jesus that identifies us with the saving Gospel of Christ, and shows that we believe He is the only way of salvation as given to us through scripture. Next we see that there is a path leading to the city which represents Jesus sending His Church to go into all the world to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). This also shows that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) for us to follow, and that we are to answer the call as His disciples to take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34).
That is why we have chosen the phrase “Following Jesus into all the world” as our statement of purpose and mission. This is a subtle shift from our past emphasis of being built on the foundation of Christ (which is still true). While our identity will always be founded on Jesus, we must be more intentional about going out to the world, locally and globally, to present the Gospel to those who are less inclined to come to us or our building or our programs. Notice the emphasis Jesus puts on action for His Church: “I Am the Way,” “Come follow Me,” “Go into all the world.” I believe this reinforces our recent emphasis on finding ways to go where the people are with the Gospel message which will bring them to Christ for the hope of new life.
    That brings us to a new name for this newsletter. Over the 100 plus years of our history, this publication has been called by various names, presumably either as a reflection of the times or as a statement of identity. We know of issues called The Bulletin (1920s), the Gospel Journal (1940s), the Christian Shepherd (1950s) and for the last 30 years, The Bell (and there might have been others). Obviously each name was significant for its time. But now our newsletter will be called The Journey to indicate the journey we each are on with our Lord through life, our journey together as believers, and the journey we travel to go to those who need to hear Good News! May all that is published in this periodical help us move upward in our faith, inward in our relationships, and outward in our mission.
    This inaugural edition of The Journey also coincides with Easter. Since January we have been traveling the Road to Jerusalem through the Gospel of Luke. Easter marks the end of the Road to Jerusalem! Or is it just the beginning? For it is from Jerusalem, it is because of Easter, that Jesus sent His disciples on their journey to the ends of the earth in the power of resurrection! We have heard and received that Gospel, and continue to follow Jesus into all the world so that all will hear the Good News, and some will join us in following Jesus on His Way!
 

Denis Whittet