Our Direction as a Church

Over the next few days, we will review the mission and vision for our church. I invite you to review the text below and ask any questions you like about their application in our specific setting of Southern Indiana, specifically Floyd County.

Our Mission Statement (This is why we exist - our purpose)
“Crossroad Church exists to glorify God by making disciples.”

CrossRoad Vision Statement (This is how we hope to accomplish our purpose).In submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and his Great Commission imperative, we as members of Crossroad Church share the following vision, expressed in the seven core commitments of our fellowship:

• CrossRoad Church is committed to expository preaching. As a church, we absoultely are committed to the inerrancy of Scripture and affirm the words of the Apostle Paul who taught that all Scripture is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3.16-17). We will develop a preaching and teaching ministry based on the historical, grammatical, and Spirit guided study of the Scriptures in their context, with an eye toward contemporary application. We are committed to expository preaching which seeks to honor the authorial intent of every passage of Scripture.
• CrossRoad Church is committed to aggressive evangelism. In order to participate in the fulfillment of the Great Commission, we intentionally will seek to proclaim the gospel throughout Floyd County, southern Indiana, and the entire world, so that God might glorify himself by drawing lost sinners to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. This evangelism will take place through:
o Intentional evangelization strategies directed toward the unchurched members of our community.
o Service ministries intended to address felt needs (counseling, literacy programs, family coaches, etc.) in order to build relationships that afford us the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to those who would otherwise not hear.
o Church planting as a means of evangelism. We will seek to plant other churches in Southern Indiana for the sake of reaching as many people as possible with the gospel.
• CrossRoad Church is committed to equipping all believers. We will develop an environment in which all believers are fully equipped for the work of ministry with the goal that every person in the church will be presented complete in Christ. Such training will include, but not be limited to, discipleship in the areas of:
o Baptistic Doctrine – CrossRoad Church is a Baptist church, which, by conviction, is committed to historic Baptist distinctives. Accordingly, we will labor to insure that all of our members are trained in sound doctrine.
o Personal Bible study – all members should be able to nourish themselves spiritually through proper study of the Word of God.
o Personal Evangelism – All Christians are called to participate in the fulfillment of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, therefore all members should be equipped to share their faith (1 Peter 3.15).
o Servant Leadership – Our goal as a fellowship is for every member to reproduce themselves in the lives of others (following Christ’s model of duplication and discipleship). We will therefore approach discipleship with that goal in mind.
o Christian Parenting – Given that we live in a society that is growing in both its opposition to the traditional family revealed in Scripture and its dysfunction as a result of its ignorance of Scripture, CrossRoad Church will make it a priority to equip parents to raise their children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.
o Christian Stewardship – We will be a church in which all members are taught the basic principles of good Christian stewardship and are expected to employ them. We will commit our time, talents, spiritual gifts, and financial resources to the church and the mission of Christ.
o Vocational training and mentoring for future ministers of the gospel – As a part of our discipleship ministry, CrossRoad Church will partner with students of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary to help provide mentoring and equipping opportunities for those called to vocational ministry.
• CrossRoad Church is committed to engaging worship in spirit and truth. We will strive for excellence in every aspect of our private and corporate worship. Our worship leaders will teach members to seek to glorify God in every aspect of their lives – a life of worship. While our corporate worship experiences will be designed to be understood by unbelievers, its primary purpose will be to lead believers to encounter the living God of the Bible.
• CrossRoad Church is committed to the ministry of prayer. As an affirmation in our firm belief in the sovereignty of God over all areas of life, a significant portion of our corporate gatherings will be devoted to a ministry of prayer that is based upon the Word of God.
• CrossRoad Church is committed to authentic fellowship. As a church, we will teach and model mutual accountability and support among the membership. We will help each other bear our burdens (Gal. 6.2) through prayer, friendship, encouragement, material resources, and where necessary, loving church discipline.
• CrossRoad Church is committed to cultural engagement. We believe that the church stands in continuity with the people of God in the Old Testament and as such, the cultural mandate should apply to our ministerial objectives. As a result, we will work to engage the culture with a biblical worldview as God presents our fellowship with opportunities to do so. We will seek to infiltrate and change our culture by living as salt and light in obedience to the Sermon on the Mount.

Above all we pray that God would glorify Himself by using CrossRoad Church to bring revival to Southern Indiana.

I look forward to your comments.

Chris