history
Crossroads was initiated in 1987 by a church planting team sent out by Christian Associates International, now Communitas, an American mission organisation. The team was led by the founder of the organisation, Dr Linus Morris. The church was started in people’s homes in Hoofddorp and Amstelveen in 1988 and within two years started to have regular services in a larger facility. In the early 1990s we became a legal church in the Netherlands. Small groups developed during these years and experienced significant growth.
Since then, Crossroads has been through a number of transitions. Throughout them all we kept on growing and developing, both in numbers, outreach and maturity, experiencing God’s purposes and plans for the church. From its inception in 1987 to today, Crossroads has always sought to reach out relevantly to the world in which it is situated.
values
1. We put Christ first
We believe in the authority of scripture and study them to learn about Jesus. Our approach to the bible prioritizes transformation over information. We invite His Spirit to transform us and desire that our lives will reflect His love and bring honor to Him.
2. We are grace oriented
Following Christ is a lifelong journey. We pursue wholeness in Christ but accept the messiness of human experience. We challenge each other to holy living but live in the wideness of God’s mercy. We extend grace to each other as we make mistakes, we are quick to forgive and keep pointing each other to Jesus.
3. We are united in diversity
We are a diverse church, made up of people from every corner of the world and every walk of life, yet we are united in the essentials of our faith in Christ while embracing diversity in the non-essentials. We love the diversity of languages, cultures, and faith backgrounds in our community, it makes us richer.
4. We value relationships over rules
We believe in the power of God’s grace to transform lives and reject attempts to legislate the Christian life through human rules. We deal with issues redemptively rather than judicially. We aim at righteousness and emphasize values and principles, avoiding legalism and rule setting.
5. We are authentic and transparent
We value “realness” over performance. We seek to be humble, vulnerable, approachable, open, and teachable. We believe the quality of our human relationships are an expression of our relationships to God. We believe being in community is an essential part of discipleship. In community we can be real with one another and encourage each other to grow in faith.
6. We believe in ‘every believer’ ministry
We believe that each person is a unique contribution to the kingdom of God, and it is our desire to see everyone in Crossroads develop to their God-given potential. We all have a role to play in fulfilling God’s call for Crossroads. The role of our staff is to lead, equip and empower teams to do ministry. We believe God works through every believer and not just a small group of “professional Christians”.
7. We pursue excellence
We do the best we can and strive to get better. We also believe that serving God’s Kingdom is the most important thing a follower of Christ can do and thus it should be done with the greatest quality possible.
8. We are strong at the center and open at the edges
We believe belonging comes before believing. We want to be a community where people are free to explore faith and questions. We want to be inclusive with people while upholding our faith. We believe that the answers to life’s questions are to be found in Christ, but we never claim to ‘have all the answers’ ourselves, we share what we believe and point people to Christ but leave them free to decide for themselves.