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Introduction
to Crossroads Fellowship
Thank you for your interest in Crossroads Fellowship. This article explains
the basics of our vision and message to help you get an idea of where
we are headed.
Crossroads Fellowship is a mission church of the Presbyterian
Church in America and a church plant of the Southwest
Church Planting Network.
Our
Vision
Our vision is to see the city of Albuquerque transformed by the gospel
of Jesus Christ in all aspects of its life.
Our
Message
We want people to experience the joy and transformation that God gives
to us in the gospel. The gospel is not simply about becoming a nicer or
more moral person. It is about a whole new life, a new object of worship.
Once someone is gripped by God's grace every aspect of life is different.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of all and He brings comprehensive transformation-in
community, in relationships, in career, in social structures-as the result
of being restored to a relationship with him.
Our
Core Values
The
Gospel —The gospel
changes everything
The classic Gospel message is that sinners are forgiven and accepted by
God’s grace alone because of the work of Jesus Christ (2Cor 5:17).
This grace transforms anyone and any place that it touches. The Gospel,
therefore, avoids legalism and liberalism, moralism and relativism —
yet it does not produce “something in the middle,” but something
different from both. The Gospel critiques both religion and irreligion
(Matt. 21:31). It will affect everything we do at our new church.
The City—The
gospel changes our attitude toward the city
Crossroads is a church in the city and for the city. The city is the best
place for a Christian to live and serve. First, we teach the importance
of the city as the place where the ideas, values, and spirit of a culture
are shaped. Second, we celebrate the tremendous spiritual receptivity
in cities. Third, we teach a love and respect for the city.
Outward
Face—The gospel makes us a people for others
The gospel teaches us to have a deep respect and a great hope for every
non-Christian. We are a church not just for ourselves but for our friends
and associates who don’t believe. We are relentlessly aware of and
welcoming to non-believers in our midst. First, this means that we actively
love our neighbors and seek to develop redemptive relationships with them.
Second, we try to be sensitive to non-Christians in our meetings, being
thoughtful in our communication of the gospel, inviting questions, never
saying “just believe because we say so”. Third, this means
we take a process, not a crisis approach to communicating the gospel.
Community—The
gospel creates a new community
We not only speak the gospel verbally, but we embody the
gospel, making it visible through deeds of service and through community.
The gospel completely transforms human relationships. Without the gospel,
Gal. 5:26 tells us, we will either provoke those whom we feel superior
to, or we will envy those whom we feel inferior to. But since the gospel
has both humbled us and yet has assured us that we are loved and valued,
now we are free from both envy and pride, and both inferiority and superiority.
Changed
Lives—The gospel produces changed lives
The gospel does not just reform people but transforms them. The gospel
makes us “new” not just “nice’. First, the gospel
produces an entirely new relationship with God—a personal Father—child
one rather than an impersonal boss-employee one. Second, the gospel gives
a whole new motivation for obeying God—love, gratitude, delight
in God, rather than a fear and self-interest. Third, this means the gospel
gives freedom and power to love and serve others unconditionally with
no strings attached. Fourth, the gospel gives us a whole new relationship
with ourselves. We no longer take our identity from what others think
of us or from what we think of ourselves, but from what God thinks of
us in Christ (1 Cor. 4:3-4).
Social
Healing—The gospel produces social healing
All social brokenness is a result of sin. The gospel is the only cure.
First, the gospel makes us humble—which heals the racial/nationality
brokenness. Second, the gospel heals the class brokenness by making people
with means generous through the power of Christ’s sacrificial giving
for us, and by empowering the poor to self-sufficiency through its hope.
Third, the gospel points us to a methodology. The gospel is that Jesus
has moved in with the poor and become a neighbor to us (Jn. 1:14), and
has become poor so that we might become rich (2Cor. 8:9), in order to
redeem both soul and body (1 Cor. 15) and in order ot finally rehab the
physical and social world (Rev. 21-22).
Cultural Renewal—The gospel produces cultural renewal
The gospel enables us to realize afresh two things. First, all of our
work matters to God. The gospel calls all of God’s people to be
prophets, priests, and kings (1 Pe. 2:9). As a result, all so called “secular”
work is as valuable and God-honoring as Christian ministry. Second, God
matters to all our work. That means the gospel shapes and effects the
motives, manners, and methods we use in our work. The gospel enables Christians
to work in their vocations both with excellence and Christian distinctiveness,
thus transforming the culture in which we live from the inside out.
Movement
Mindset—The gospel continually breaks out
The gospel does not just have power, it is the power of God (Rom. 1:16-17).
The kingdom of God is unstoppable in its growth (Matt. 13:1-23; 11:12).
Therefore, we encourage Christians to initiate and lead ministries. We
do not control everything from a centralized bureaucracy. Second, we are
willing to network and partner with a great variety of churches and ministries
in the city to see the gospel spread. We are not turf-conscious but kingdom-conscious.
Third, we aim to plant churches with the same gospel-based core values
throughout the city. It will take not a church, but a movement of churches
to transform the city.
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