A Conversation With Trav And Pixi Johnson: Backyard Missionaries
In Happy Valley, South Australia, Travis and Pixi Johnson call 72 Candy Road their home-away-from-home. Built in the 1800s, the little old church sits proudly on the corner, sheltered by peppercorn trees and besides a grassy hill often dotted with kangaroos.
Junktion, the op shop and coffee shop that calls this little church home, is an arm of Access The Story, Trav and Pixi’s local ministry. In 2014, the Johnson family left the country-wide missions organization they had been serving with to launch ATS locally in Adelaide. Since then, their backyard ministry has grown to professional development courses, teaching and equipping in the Philippines, sponsorship fundraising, local community outreach and local church partnerships.
I have been lucky enough to be around the Johnsons and their family since the very beginning of it all! They were my youth pastors, then my internship coordinators and ultimately my friends. So, grab a cup of something delicious and come spend some time with Trav and Pixi Johnson. Let them share with you a little about what it’s like to minister to young people and Christian educators in Australia, serve coffee and thrifted goods in their neighborhood and ultimately be a missionary family in their own backyard.
Q: Can you share a little bit about how Access The Story and Junktion came to be?
Trav: AccessTheStory was born out of a passion to see the next generation formed by the story of the Bible. Our “story-formed” approach to discipleship and Bible-engagement began as an experiment in my local church — engaging young people through story-telling and interaction as a youth pastor. In 2008 we joined Youth Ministries Australia and saw our practice grow as an initiative with a larger organization. And in 2014, AccessTheStory became its own entity, enabling us to focus on our approach through camps and retreats with young people — and more recently through workshops and resources for teachers and leaders.
Pixi: When we first set up the ATS office, there was a corner deli operating next door, but not long after, it closed down and the corner store remained empty for some time. I started dreaming up ideas with one of our interns (you, Hannah!) of possibilities for the space next door. We wanted firstly to provide a source of income to assist in running ATS. I’ve always loved op-shopping, so it was natural to lean towards an op shop. On brainstorming and creating a vision board, we liked the idea of the space being more than a place to sell goods but a meeting place where we could engage with the community and build relationships. These were the seed thoughts of Junktion, and God really grew it from there
Q: How do you see ATS and Junktion ministering in your current location in Happy Valley?
Trav: The scope of ATS has always been broader than our local community: seeking to engage young people and to empower teachers and leaders through God's story wherever they might be. But we can now see a stronger local connection emerging in the wake of 2020. As an arm of ATS, Junktion has provided a natural connection with our neighbourhood, and over the last year has been the venue for a faith community to gather. As this small group of people explore planting ‘church’ around Junktion, I'm beginning to see how ATS practice can help shape this community.
Pixi: Junktion ministers to the community in that it’s an op shop that provides great quality goods at old fashioned op shop prices. We love people getting a bargain! It’s also a space where the community can catch up with friends or have some quality alone time over a cuppa and sweet treat. It’s not unusual for people to share some of life’s struggles with us while visiting too, as we like to provide a friendly, welcoming, safe space for people to enter into. It provides a place for people to recycle their goods and also feel a part of something bigger because part of our profits support high school students in Cebu, Philippines.
Q: What’s something you really enjoy about serving young people and Christian educators and creating resources?
Trav: Over the years there have been countless times where a young person discovers something of who Jesus is for themselves, and then as an expression of that discovery, they share their learning with their community — in essence, young people preaching truth to their peers! I love seeing that happen, and I love helping leaders and teachers provide spaces for that to happen as well.
Q: What’s something you really enjoy about serving coffee, selling secondhand goods and connecting with locals?
Pixi: I love hearing people’s stories! It might be memories they experience from things they find on a shelf or their delight when finding just the thing they’ve been hunting for at a great price. A cuppa & some old fashioned home baking has the ability to comfort and lift a person’s spirit, especially when served with a smile, as people like being cared for, and this is a way we love to do so for our community.
Q: What are some of the challenges of being missionaries in your ‘own backyard’?
Trav: Our financial model is dependent upon donors — we are grateful for the relationships and partnerships forged over the years, but there are times we find the process challenging — particularly if people carry the perception that mission happens in other countries and not our own. What's more challenging for me though is the fatigue that comes through constantly initiating. Pioneering something, breaking new ground, or being involved in start-up activity can be very exciting, but it also means bearing the responsibility of taking first steps often. I've found that "initiative fatigue" can be a thing, so I'm learning to monitor my own energy levels and regulate activity so our work is sustainable. I'm learning that capacity is built over time rather than pushing for quick results and it all resting on my shoulders.
Pixi: Disconnecting and having downtime as it’s hard to switch off sometimes.
Q: How has working together in these ministry spaces shaped your faith?
Trav: The opportunity to work together in mission has been (and is) amazing. We've always felt that it's important to see life and ministry as a shared experience as a couple, but looking back over some of the seasons there have been times where we've needed to function with different emphases (and it's felt like we're doing stuff separately). So, the last decade has been a tremendous privilege to be in close proximity and working on something together. I think the way this has shaped our faith is in the gift of encouragement we are to one another — particularly when circumstances are a bit tougher. I've often experienced God's care and encouragement through Pixi's words or presence, or belief that with God's strength we can persevere and continue to notice how God is working in and through us.
Pixi: It’s certainly a privilege and blessing to be able to work together as a couple in this way, getting to share the highs of what God is doing and the lows in the times things don’t go according to plan. I’ve found it super important to always depend on and look to God for direction and strength as He knows the plans He has for us.It’s only in His strength we can accomplish anything.
Q: What’s something you hope for in the future for ATS and Junktion respectively?
Trav: My vision is to see a "story-formed" approach to discipleship move from emerging to mainstream practice over the next decade — where teachers and leaders throughout our country are seeing young people engage with God's story in a fresh and powerful way — seeing a new generation write a new story of faith in our culture. This is much bigger than what I or ATS can begin to accomplish, and the immediate future is pretty unclear (Covid has messed up our 'normal' ability to plan!), so the better answer about the future is to be faithful with what we've been given right now in the next month, or two, or three. There's something I want to write. There's some people who went to a recent workshop I want to follow up with. There's some next steps I want to take with the people who are "Junktion church" (I'm particularly excited about this one!).
Pixi: My hope for Junktion’s future is that it will continue to be a blessing to the community it sits in and that God will raise up volunteers that are passionate about the ministry and able to help carry the workload.
Q: Could you share a piece of advice for someone considering local ministry?
Trav: Wait and don’t wait. Wait on God, be patient, allow God's timing to unfold as you press into who He is over what you think He's calling you to. When God's timing emerges, don’t wait. Resources, people, courage, food on the table — they will come in the midst of the faith steps you know you need to take. If you wait for there to be enough before you step out, you may never discover that God is enough. There is a frustrating tension there, I know, but that's all part of the adventure!
Pixi: If you feel God has put it on your heart to be involved in local ministry in a particular way, I would say “Take that step of faith!” Don’t let doubts stop you, God will close doors if it’s not part of His plan, but step out and have a go!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I'm Hannah - mama to two littles and dipping my toes into my next right thing as I learn to navigate this chapter God has called me to. I generally hover in that space between consciousness and coffee as I try to take each day knowing I need grace to get through it. I'm a lover of good words, strong conversation, a well-worn thrift store and a doughy doughnut.