Our History

Journey Church
Journey Church has a strong and vibrant history in the greater Rockford area. The church was planted in 1955. The fruit has been a strong influence for the gospel of Jesus Christ in this area, with a number of people discipled and equipped for ministry, and numerous ministers sent out into full-time ministry.

In the year 2000, Pastors Bruce and Robin came to lead this congregation, developing a fresh vision and strategic plan. In 2007, we purchased our current facility on Forest Hills Road and moved in after reconstruction was completed in early 2008. This location was selected through God’s leading as a flexible facility on a main roadway.

Open Bible Churches
Open Bible's roots date back to the Azusa Street Revival of 1906 in Los Angeles. Pentecostalism spread across America quickly after that famous outpouring of God's Spirit. In 1935 two revival movements, Bible Standard Conference of Eugene, Oregon, and Open Bible Evangelistic Association of Des Moines, Iowa, merged to become Open Bible Standard Churches.

Open Bible is an association of autonomous, evangelical, Pentecostal/charismatic churches. Their purpose statement declares “Open Bible is an international family of Spirit-empowered churches committed to glorifying God and fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ by making and releasing disciples, planting churches, and sending missionaries.” A unique Open Bible quality is that their churches have relationship with each other and cooperate together for certain purposes while maintaining our individual identity and autonomy. As affirmed in their position statement, they seek to maintain “A balance of affiliation and freedom, providing accountability without undue control.” Individual churches are congregationally governed and locally owned. You can visit their website at www.openbible.org.

The Open Bible fellowship of churches now has 3,150 ministers and 1,700 churches in 45 countries. The national headquarters is located in Des Moines, Iowa.