The Lord Jesus Christ came to build His church (Matt. 16:18). He is its chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20); its Head (Col. 1:18); its foundation (1 Cor. 3:11); and its body (Col. 1:24). The church universal to be sure made up of the elect from every tribe, tongue and nation; but also the local church as well. The Cross Church as four key pillars it is built upon from which all other ministry flows:
- The One Triune God
- The Word of God
- The Gospel of God
- The Worship and Glory of God
At The Cross Church our ministry philosophy is built upon three key pillars: inreach, upreach and outreach.
Inreach – Living in Community:
Body life – the life of the fifty one anothers found in Scripture put into practice among the body of believers. As the Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 4:12-16,
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherdsand teachers,to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Living sacrificially in covenant relationship with one another daily. And then demonstrating that in real and tangible ways to a lost world. (Galatians 6:10)
Upreach – Living The Worship-Centered Life:
All of our labor for the Lord should be motivated and driven by worship. Worship is simply defined as: all of our lives lived for all of His glory. Adoration is the worshipful submission to being conquered by God.
”What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and worship Him forever!” We are to exist and live in light of His glory and worship each day. “Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31). May every Christian be what Luther said, “a living doxology”. This is what it means to “present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable, and pleasing unto God – this is our just and spiritual worship.”
Outreach – Living Missionally in a Lost World
If we are living and serving faithfully each other within the church; doing all things to the glory and praise and worship of God; then we will be a community of believers who will want to take the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to others in the world in which we live. This is both show and tell: show, living the truth of the gospel; tell, proclaiming the gospel of sola fide and repentance to others.
The Missional Church is not about developing programs, events, classes, etc. for the purpose of attracting nonbelievers to come to church. It is about the “equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry” so that they will go in confidence with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the people in their community that the Lord has sovereignly placed them in.
The Church Gathered: in covenant relationship and in the worship of the glory of God.
The Church Scattered: going into all the world and making disciples; calling all men everywhere to repent of their sins; to confess Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives and believe in their hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. To believe solely on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. To warn a lost world about the wrath to come and to compel them to be reconciled to God through our Lord Jesus Christ in the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit (Titus3:4-7)
