Dominique Jones

Sister Dominique Jones

Chapter Title: Raised Like a Pastor’s Kid

Signature Scripture

Psalms 27:13

“I had fainted unless I had believed to see

the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Sister Dominique Jones’ Background: Born and raised in Philadelphia, has served God all her life, organized and participated in youth ministry for over ten years.

Sister Dominique Jones’ Reflections: Back home I was raised like a PK, a Pastor's Kid, because my family was part of my church's administration. We went to church service every Sunday to sing or usher, we always stayed for afternoon service, and there were trustee duties after church, choir rehearsals as well as other meetings during the week. In the Baptist Church when people knew your parents, they felt they had permission to parent you as if you were their child. This meant on any given Sunday, I could have twenty-five self-appointed parents giving me correction or sending me on errands.

Sister Dominique Jones’s Most Significant Accomplishment: My youth ministry. As a child I valued family and knew the worth of being loved and supported. The Youth Ministry focused on God and building a family like atmosphere in and out of the church.

Sister Dominique Jones’s Challenges: As a survivor of “church hurt” the males in church are another challenging issue because they have used my age, gender and title as the youth ministry leader to be condescending. My youth ministry wasn't valued equally as their ministry of working with adults. I didn't preach from the pulpit and therefore, I was no competition to the other ministers. At twenty-seven years old, I was still being described as a child. I have also had past incidents where my instructions to my youth group were scoffed at because I was instructing them to save themselves for marriage. My attempts to provide wisdom and alternatives to young people who wanted to live for Christ were dismissed and replaced with clichés like "you'll know when it's the right one" and "if you're in love, it’s OK".

Sister Dominique Jones’ Testimony: Having survived losses and attacks, God has given me a mighty testimony that will help women who are new to ministry. I would advise any woman with a Call to serve God to have a spiritual purpose with goals that are as essential to them as breathing. I would also advise them to have passion for their ministry; it’s essential against obstacles like loss, disappointment and the emotional pain of betrayal. If their ministry is based on their burning passions then these difficult issues will only delay— not stop—their journey.

Sister Dominique Jones’s Observations: It’s important to understand ministering is not preaching to people, it’s having a conversation that creates an opportunity to tell someone about Jesus. When serving God’s people, ministers need to recognize that individuals speak from their level of understanding. They will need to minister to people at their level as well as having practical answers to their problems. Yes, Jesus talked about spiritual things, but He also addressed people’s everyday problems: Cancer in Mark 1:40, Hunger in Matthew 14:19, Violence against women John 8:7 and Elder Abuse in Psalm 71:9.

Sister Dominique Jones’ Vision for the Church: No matter how advanced society becomes, there is still a role for the church to present Christ to His people. However, we must move with the times and not allow the world’s messages to be louder and have more impact than Jesus’ message. The church must broaden their definition of help by recognizing the anointing God has placed on lay professionals and their ability to assist with issues within the congregation. We need to enlist every available resource that God provides as a weapon against the enemy because the enemy is using every available resource to draw us away from Christ.