Focus 2024
Let’s Grow
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”Psalms 92: 12-15
Throughout scripture, we see God as a gardener – planting, cultivating, and nurturing His creation. From planting the garden of Eden in Genesis to tending the grapevine in John.
We believe growing, developing and maturing are important to God. When it comes to faith, God wants us to grow, develop and mature. We call this process discipleship. Our journey and everything we do, whether it is attending an event or joining a community Sunday, or participating in a LIFEgroup, is about our growth and discipleship, becoming the people God created us to be. As we grow and become more like Jesus, we also want to focus on helping each other grow spiritually.
To facilitate our growth, we need a spiritual growth and development plan to guide us along our discipleship pathway. We have identified 3 levels of growth for our discipleship pathway. These 3 areas are enmeshed in our vision of Encounter, Embrace and Engage.
For encounter (learning), we focus on growing your personal relationship with God, this can happen through attending the Sunday service, attending a course, or Bible study.
For embrace (community), we look to our church community, taking action to build our community through serving on a team or helping in a ministry. This is we discover and put to use the gifts that God has given us to help build the body of Christ.
For engage (outreach), we want to look outside our community and think of how we can make an impact in the world with the love of Christ Jesus. We do this with acts of charity or participating in outreach.
It is important to recognise that we are all at different points on our discipleship journey and we need a custom response to our point of need. In a church the size of Crossroads there is no way the pastors can help every person on their individual journey, so we each need to take personal responsibility. Each of us should regularly stop and take stock – to pray and think about where God is leading us next. To do this we have developed the 3 Disciple Questions.
1. Where have I been?
2. Where am I now?
3. Where am I going?
How we answer these questions is determined by the season we are in. If you are new to faith, your answers will be very different from someone who has followed Christ for many years.
At Crossroads we recognise 3 different seasons in our faith journey:
The Grow season is for those who are new to Christianity – for those who are still getting established in the faith and learning what it means to be a follower of Christ. During this phase you would join a LIFEgroup and consider attending a course like, Grow 1 and trying out different teams to serve in. You would also participate in outreach initiatives.
The Thrive season is for those who have been Christians longer, who have had all their basic questions answered and are ready to explore more topics of faith. During this phase you are already a member of a LIFEgroup, you are ready to attend courses like Grow 2, and assist a serving team. You would also assist with outreach initiatives.
The Flourish season is for those who have a firm concept of faith and a broad scope of knowledge. In this phase you are ready to go deeper and take the lead. You would be a LIFEgroup veteran. You lead a team or mentor a younger believer 1-on-1. You also take initiative in coordinating outreach events.
As God continues to grow our community spiritually bringing us to maturity in faith, we can stand firm in our faith, express love to one another and witness God’s goodness to the world.
An core element to our discipleship journey is LIFEgroup. It is difficult in a large community like Crossroads to connect on a deeply personal level. It is important for us as believers to have a safe space where we can come together with a small group of people, to talk through the challenges we face in our faith and in life. A group where we can open scripture and allow the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us. A group we can socialise with who will love, support and pray us through our highs and lows.
To get real one-on-one connection and fully develop as a disciple, LIFEgroups are an essential part of our faith journey. We encourage everyone in our community to be a part of a LIFEgroup.
Our Vision
Encounter Jesus
As we read Scripture it becomes clear that God has a deep and unending love for us; to see the broken restored, the sick healed, the purposeless finding purpose, the marginalized finding meaning. It begins with an encounter with Jesus. And our vision is that XRDS will be a place, where, no matter who you are or where you’ve been in life, you can come and experience this life transforming encounter.
Just like a potter taking a piece of clay, applying pressure to it and skillfully transforming it into something beautiful, this encounter can be painful at times. But the end result is always life. So part of our vision is to create an environment here at XRDS, that will make this process of change possible for every person.
And that’s why we want to put a lot of time and energy into the Sunday morning experience as a key moment in encountering Jesus, and in realizing the change process in your life. It is in the presence of God that you find healing and transformation.
We want the Sunday morning to be a space where everyone feels welcome to explore and develop their faith in Jesus.
Embrace one another
Part of our vision is to see XRDS developing a culture of community. A community where people feel they belong. A community that places high value on learning how to embrace one another. A community that understands that you can’t get closer to God without getting closer to God’s children. A community that understands that I am, because you are. We want XRDS to be a place where people not only meet Jesus, but also value meeting one another.
At the very essence of being community is understanding that community is an attitude of the heart – a heart ready to give, a heart that believes I exist not for myself, but for the sake of others.
That is why being community is not always easy. When one struggles, we all struggle; when one is in pain, we’re all in pain and that makes community difficult. But it is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us. Community is a gift, a gift we want to embrace and celebrate here at XRDS.
That is why we put such a value on LIFEgroups and we would like to see every group in XRDS function as a LIFEgroup. So that as a community we are working and growing towards our shared goals and stimulate conversation around our shared vision.
We have identified key areas that need growth and development in XRDS. We need to better care for one another. We need to get better connected with one another. We need to better communicate with one another.
Engage the world
We want XRDS to be a church that takes seriously its responsibility of being the presence of Christ in a world that is broken, lost and hurting.
In Scripture we read of lives transformed as they encountered Jesus, we read of them re-discovering that they are not alone, but part of a family and then we see them sent into the world. XRDS must be a church that helps its members to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20).
God, the master potter, shapes us and moulds us so that our lives, which are uniquely shaped and gifted, might be an offering of life, hope, and light to a hurting world. We are constantly developing new ways of equipping one another for service.
Our missions committee is also exploring new opportunities for short term mission events, locally and around the world. Our vision is that we remind one another that together we can make a difference in this world.