Founded in the 1860s, First Baptist Church, 700 E. Olive St., has recently changed its name to Journey Church, a move to better reflect its mission, programming and outreach.

Associate Pastor Jake Rosekopf said the decision was reached after careful study and discussion over the past two years, working alongside staff including Senior Pastor Jacob Rahrig, and others.

“It was a long, painstaking process of getting to the point where we got comfortable enough to stand up in front of our church and say this is what we think we should do,” he said. “There is such a sense of unity right now in our church, that a name change could be a big deal, but we’ve gotten very little negative feedback about it.”

Staff considered a variety of names for the church, but wanted to make sure it stood out from others in the area, and was reflective of its teachings. The church will remain a Baptist denomination.

“When you study the word of God, you notice there were people that had such great encounters that God wanted to give them a new identity, vision and purpose,” Rosekopf said. “We are at a place now where we feel like this church needed a new identity, purpose and vision and God was going to push us forward and bless us on this mission that he’s called us to of making disciples. The Christian life is a journey.”

The church offers Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. are youth group, women’s Bible study and men’s Bible study. In addition, it operates Sonshine preschool, which is Christian-focused education. There are new small group, Bible studies and outreach events planned.

Membership is on the rise with upwards of 350-400 adults alone attending an average Sunday service. Rosekopf said he hopes the name change will also encourage folks who don’t have a church home to see what Journey Church has to offer. He said a study has shown that an estimated 17,000 people in Marshalltown do not belong to a church.

“Those are the people that are our targets for the name change – we want to be a name that people will want to check us out,” he said. “Our mission is to make disciples.”

The original First Baptist Church was situated at 5 E. Church St., from 1868-1911. The Baptist Temple was erected in 1911 at 202-204 W. State St. and was later demolished, with the site of its current church opening in 1974.

To learn more, visit www.journeymtown.com. The church may be reached at 641-753-3528 and Rosekopf at jake@journeymtown.com.

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at

641-753-6611 or

sjordan@timesrepublican.com