Our Beliefs at Crossroads, the Essentials.
God’s Purpose for the Church

“His [God’s] intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” Ephesians 3:10-11. The supreme purpose of the church is to glorify God by showing His wisdom before all of the created beings.

Our Purpose at Crossroads

To make God’s Wisdom known
Crossroads exists as a special instrument to make God’s wisdom known to all of His creation. We declare His wisdom as we seek to understand and live His truth; truth revealed in His Word as well as throughout creation.

To Communicate to the World His Word
We desire to demonstrate the wisdom, adequacy and relevance of God to our world. We will explain to individuals how they can be one with God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To Support One Another
We intend to help each other experience God’s forgiveness, healing and strengthening. Together we want to discover and understand His purpose for our lives.

Our Strategy
We will work at fulfilling our purpose through helping people experience God’s forgiveness, holy living, and growing in our knowledge of God.

Forgiveness:
 We will teach others to trust in God and in what He has done to release them from true guilt through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Through Christ we can offer an end to their guilt and separation from God. At Crossroads we do this through:
 • Bible teaching
• Biblical counseling
• Evangelism/Apologetics training
• Missions, both national and international
• Outreach projects

Holy Living:
We will seek to live lives in our relationship with others, self, and God which are pleasing to God, that is living holy. Holy living is dependent on our response to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the intervention of the Holy Spirit, and God’s timing. At Crossroads we will help people to live holy through:
• Meaningful worship services
• Biblical counseling
• Good Samaritan Ministry, helping to meet the physical & spiritual needs of the body
• Grace motivated service
• Christian community, i.e. Christians caring for Christians

Growing in our knowledge of God:
 We commit ourselves to pursue Biblical training and spiritual disciplines that conform us to Christ and enable us to help others toward spiritual maturity. We do this at Crossroads through:
• Sunday worship & Bible teaching
• Children’s ministry
• Youth ministry
• FLOCKS small group involvement
• One on one discipleship
• Special enrichment seminars
• Prayer emphasis

When we experience God’s forgiveness, live holy, and grow in the knowledge of God we are restored and have a sense of purpose and destiny. The angels are amazed and give God glory.

Foundational Blocks of Our Philosophy of Ministry
to Fulfill Our Purpose and Strategy
There are three foundational blocks upon which our approach to church ministry is built.

Multiple Leadership:
There are 3 Biblical terms for church leaders: elders (16 times), bishop (6 times), and pastor (1 time). When one looks at all of the passages that speak of church leadership there is not one passage that clearly describes a church as being governed by a single leader. There is always plurality. Jesus sent the disciples out in Mark 6 two by two. In Acts there was always a team. Solomon wisely said, “One may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecc.4:12). We believe leadership must involve more than one person including the church’s teaching ministry.

Plurality of leadership has many benefits, some of which are:
• It increases the overall effectiveness of the church by sharing the load.
• It diminishes the loneliness connected with a one-pastor system.
• It provides a process for training men for ministry.
• It provides a broader base for church leadership and doesn’t rely solely on one man.
• It allows for needed variety in the pulpit.
• It helps to prevent “burnout” of pastors.
• Plurality protects the local church from the whims and abuses of one man.

Hospital Refuge:
This touches on how we view and relate to people. We are concerned about the number of Christians who in the past have been active in the ministry of the Kingdom but aren’t today. There are many reasons for their inactivity. Our goal is to provide a place where these fellow believers can come, learn the Word of God, recuperate, and then begin to use their gift for the Kingdom. Galatians 6:2 says, “Carry each other burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Grace Motivated Ministry:
We will work at providing an atmosphere of love and encouragement so folks can respond to the Lord. Our question when we meet folks must not be what can they do for our church but what can we do for them? What can we do to help them see the greatness of God and respond to that?

When it comes to ministry we want folks to serve the King because they love Him and want to serve Him. This means we don’t generally recruit workers. This is sometimes frustrating. Someone may have an idea or see a need but until God brings a person to head that up it won’t get started. We want to make Crossroads a place of shelter, encouragement and instruction for Christians. It is our conviction that the Word of God is powerful. If we teach the Word and care for one another, folks will respond to Christ’s grace and want to serve Him.

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Crossroads Community Church • Highway 20 & Old Bend/Redmond Highway • PO Box 6075, Bend Oregon • 541·382·1063