A Rockford faith leader stepped away from her traditional role at a church last year with a plan to create a different worship experience. WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose follows up to see how things look today.
Violet Johnicker pastored at Brooke Road Methodist Church for seven years. She is now the executive director at Rockford Urban Ministries, an interfaith social justice advocacy nonprofit. She said she and others spent several months trying to get a new church up and running. It was launched on Palm Sunday.
“It's called Table of Grace,” she said. “It actually meets at the Good Shepherd YMCA here in Rockford. And we've been so blessed by our Lutheran friends to have had great support for that. So, I am in what is sometimes called co-vocational ministry.”
This means Johnicker will work part time at the physical location and part time for the nonprofit.
“My two jobs, work really well together,” she said. “So, when I'm out there doing things with Rockford Urban Ministries and getting connected to folks who are maybe interested in a version of faith and Christianity that they hadn't seen before, then I can also share with them about the church plant that I'm working at or make referrals to them to other faith communities or houses of worship.”
A church plant is when an existing congregation starts a new church in a different location. The goal is to expand the reach.
Johnicker said if there are individuals who are not connected to a congregation yet, they are welcome to learn more about what faith-based approaches to social justice look like.
