Category Archives: Missional

Who is within your reach?

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Who is within your reach?  We have people we encounter throughout the week.  There are lives that we have the ability to touch.  Crossbridge is a reaching church.  We are intentional with the relationships within our reach.

At Crossbridge, we use the word missional.  We want to be a church full of missional people—people joining God on his mission to seek and save the lost in their daily lives.  To reach is to live missionally.  We believe that Jesus has called all of his followers to live out the words of his great commission:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20

We believe these words are intended for all followers of Christ.  We view those people within our reach—people in our neighborhoods, work places, and those places we most frequently visit as our mission field.  We believe these are the places where we live out the GREAT COMMISSION.  When we reach, we get to know the people around us, and we view all our relationships with a purpose.  We imagine how Jesus would respond and act accordingly.

A church that reaches is a church that believes that its gatherings and programs are not primarily where disconnected people make connections with our church.  There is something we like to say around Crossbridge, “The front door to our church is the front door of your home.”  No matter what the front door of your home may look like, the idea is this—we believe that the most effective way to connect people with our church AND with the love of Jesus, is by first connecting them in relationships with the people that make up our church.

As a reaching church, we don’t fill our calendars with programs.  We make time to live missionally.  We live intentionally within our normal activities throughout the week.  Crossbridge strives to be a church full of people living intentionally within their reach.

Crossbridge is Missional

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Crossbridge is a church full of missional people–people who are living out the words of Jesus throughout the week.  At Crossbridge we will relentlessly pursue our mission of helping connect disconnected people to God.  Missional people join God on his mission to seek and save the lost.

We believe that following Jesus is as much about what we do and how we act as it is about what we read and what we believe.  We know that following Jesus is about so much more than attending a worship gathering on the weekend.  When we leave our worship gatherings and our small groups, we are more equipped to be intentional with our relationships during the rest of the week.  We see our neighborhoods, our work places, and recreational zones as our mission field.  We are intentional in our relationships with the people in these environments.

There is something we like to say around Crossbridge, “The front door to our church, is the front door of your home.”  No matter what the front door of your home may look like, the idea is this—we believe that the most effective way to connect people with our church AND with the love of Jesus, is by first connecting them in relationships with the people that make up our church.

We take seriously the words of Jesus:

  • Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:18-20
  • “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.Matthew 5:13
  • “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

This is what we want to happen at Crossbridge:

  • We want to be people like Jesus
  • We want to be a church full of people living out the GREAT COMMISSION
  • As a church, we want to have a greater IMPACT on our COMMUNITY
  • We want to take the CHURCH to our CITY
  • We want to demonstrate God’s love to a broken world

AND we want to challenge and encourage each other along the way.

Crossbridge is MISSIONAL

Missional Community Groups

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We’ve been using a term around Crossbridge this summer–missional community groups.  Our hope this year for groups at Crossbridge is that they be missional community groups.

Missional community groups (at Crossbridge) function in one of two ways:

1)      Groups with a mission:  These groups have a common cause as their affinity and they work TOGETHER to accomplish that mission.

2)      Groups with missionaries:  These groups have a relational affinity and they hold each other accountable for the individual mission that God has called them to.

This is the way I like to think about.  If we want to be more like Jesus, we have to act like Jesus.  At our Sunday gatherings, we hear the words of Scripture.  The Bible is taught and if we engage in this Sunday morning experience, we leave knowing more about what the Bible says and we know more about how we are supposed to live.

The challenge is that there is often a disconnect in what we know and how we act.  This is where our groups come in.  If Sunday mornings are the place that we learn, missional community groups are the place where we act.  Missional community groups are the place that we talk about what we learn on Sunday morning.  They are the place we learn from each other.  We “practice” living out the words of Jesus and find support from our group.

Missional Community Groups are a place we experience the words of Scripture.

Missional Community Groups are a place we act more like Jesus.

Missional Community Groups a place we can live out the Great Commission.

 It might look something like this:  together your group determines a mission . . . each week you pray for that mission . . . as a group, you plan for your mission . . .each month you take time away from weekly activities to make that mission happen . . . together you accomplish this mission . . . you share your experiences . . . you learn from each other.

It might look something like this:  gather together weekly with your community groups . . . hear stories about how others are living out the great commission . . . ask questions and get ideas . . . ask your group to hold you accountable for “doing” something every week . . . do something each week . . . come back and share what you’ve done with your group . . . learn from each other . . . encourage each other . . . pray for each other . . . hold each other accountable.

 This is what we want to happen at Crossbridge:

  • We want to be like Jesus
  • We want to be a church full of people living out the GREAT COMMISSION
  • As a church, we want to have a greater IMPACT on our COMMUNITY
  • We want to take the CHURCH to our CITY
  • We want to make living out the WORDS of Jesus more FUN

I am so excited to hear the stories that come out of our community groups this year.  I can’t wait to hear stories of transformed lives . . . of transformed neighborhoods . . . of transformed work places . . . and transformed families.  I look forward to hearing how God has worked through our missional community groups over the next year.  I look forward to seeing the ways God is impacting our city through this church.  I look forward to celebrating together!