The Rev. George J. Ashford Jr. and Olisa Ashford lead worship at Journey Church, a new United Methodist congregation in Columbia, S.C.
COURTESY PHOTO
The Rev. George J. Ashford Jr. and Olisa Ashford lead worship at Journey Church, a new United Methodist congregation in Columbia, S.C.
COURTESY PHOTO
Spiritually, I am not the same person I was seven years ago,” says the Rev. George A. Ashford Jr. “During this journey, God has stretched me and made me more aware of the power and strength that only comes from a deeper relationship through Christ.”
Ashford is the lead pastor at Journey Church, a United Methodist congregation in Columbia, S.C. His smooth, deep bass voice is excited, as he describes a man dressed in a suit, requesting baptism and ready to be immersed.
Ashford was born in Columbia. His father and mother influenced his spiritual formation and hearing a call to the ministry. His mother was a schoolteacher. His father was a presiding elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. From childhood, he sang in the choir, went to Sunday school and attended revivals, as well as many church conferences.
“Growing up in our house, the motto was ‘after Sunday comes Sunday.’ We lived, breathed and ate church.”
Ashford received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from South Carolina State University and two master’s degrees from Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta. He earned a doctorate from Columbia Theological Seminary, also in Atlanta. After graduating from the Reynolds Leadership Program at Duke University, Ashford began a journey as a church planter.
“Growing a church from birth to maturity has been exciting to me,” he says, “as well as being afforded the opportunity to meet new people and build nurturing relationships. Also, making disciples of those who have never belonged to a church is a constant motivator.”
Ashford admits some of the challenges of planting a church have included protecting the vision of Journey as a new church, committed to “doing church” differently, instead of operating like a congregation with a long, existing history. “With that challenge consistently before us, we intentionally recommit ourselves regularly to the vision and methods of reaching new people for Christ.”
Asked how church planting has strengthened his spiritual walk, Ashford says the principle of sowing and reaping is manifested very quickly in starting a new church.
His greatest joy as an experienced church planter?
“Freedom to be innovative and creative; freedom to dream a dream, form a team and go for it!”
Celinda J. Hughes