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Updated: 3/11/08 |
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A Letter to CrossWalk members and friends.....
March 26, 2005
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A Defining Moment for CrossWalk
There are churches that are alive. They know what it means to “enter into the joy of their Master.” (Mt. 25:21,23) But these churches don’t just happen. They become.
Over the last several years CrossWalk has taken the initial steps towards becoming a church that reaches beyond serving itself. With the current level of commitment of time and money invested into this journey, our ability to take further steps is limited. We can survive where we are, but we cannot really thrive—at least not in the ways Jesus meant for his church to thrive.
Churches that learn to feel what God feels are the ones that make a breakthrough. And they are rare. Deep inside, for the first time, they want to participate with God in loving this world, so they make their agendas, schedules, and possessions available to God.
People who admire Jesus make an inner shift and start to follow Jesus. They become liberated from the fears that used to hold them back. They become increasingly free from the fear for their future by unlearning to measure life in what they own, how they look, and what other people think of them. Instead, they learn to measure life by how well they can love.
They also become liberated from the fear of living in a close community. They start to understand how believing in God always means trusting in people and in what the people of God can do together. Instead of looking at their congregation like a market place—everyone trying to obtain maximum benefit with minimum effort or investment—they resolve to give more than they receive. They give their best energies, prime time, and their hard earned possessions.
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What are your dreams for church?
IMAGINE a church where people are truly connected.
It would be a community where people can belong before they believe, a church without walls, where single people have a family, where everyone can find friends, where couples can get to know one another, where cross-generational experience is cherished, where youth are given real influence, where children have aunts and uncles in Christ, where life burdens are shared and where life’s joys are multiplied.
IMAGINE a church that loves the world in the ways of Jesus Christ. It would be a church that does not possess its vision but is possessed by it, a church that serves the world through sustained ministries that change people’s lives, a church that never forgets the needs of the poor and the oppressed around the world, a church that starts and supports other churches that share the same vision of loving well.
IMAGINE a church that has a place. It would be a safe place of refuge where we can hear the teachings and promises of God communicated with excellence, where we can restore the arts for the cause of Christ, where we can worship with all of our being, where we can quiet down and reflect, where we can organize to make in impact, where our children can safely play, where people can fall in love, where seven days a week everyone is having something vital to contribute. |
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This is a defining moment for us. A choice must be made. We can continue to be just another interesting church full of promise. Or, we can make a breakthrough. Who we will become depends on each one of us. Individually, and as a community, we have to respond to God’s call. ”Will I make the steps God asks me to make? Will I belong here while I live around here? Will I seek to find a place of service? Will I learn to know others and let others know me? Will I finance this journey? Will I use the time and energy that God gave me for causes that really matter to God?Will I alter my ways of living so that I can love well?” King David asked of himself, “How can I give God something that costs me nothing?” (2 Sa. 24:24)
God compels us to dream and we have been living out this dream all the way to this defining moment. Now, it is up to each one of us to decide whether we want to be a part of the journey that is opening before us. Is your heart in? Is your checkbook in? Is your schedule in? These are hard questions that must be asked because dreams never become a reality until people give flesh and bones to those dreams.
God communicated his love to us by giving His flesh and blood to it. In Jesus Christ, the love of God became real. And that’s what we are called to do for each other and for the world around us. Loving well costs money. A lot of it. Maybe more than you ever thought.
There is so much we can do together! You are invited to both imagine the future of CrossWalk (see the sidebar of this letter) and give flesh and bones to those dreams by investing our resources (see the attached page).
As we look to the financial future of CrossWalk, take a full month to think about your level of commitment, then fill out the attached page and bring it back to CrossWalk on May 7, 2005. Pursuing this dream might result in losing some other dreams you have. So please make this decision prayerfully and then faithfully walk the path where God is leading you.
—Vision & Mission Team of CrossWalk
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Can you believe the numbers?
Only 25% of attendees financially support CrossWalk. This means we are functioning at a very limited capacity. It also means if each one of us does our part we can quadruple the impact of our mission.
For example, if each one of us raised our giving by the financial equivalent of one coffee drink per week, within a year CrossWalk would be able to accomplish one of the following:
• Build an entire hospital in Ethiopia.
• Provide yearly housing and schooling expenses for 8000 orphaned children in India.
• Feed over 100 hundred homeless people three meals a day for an entire year in Inland Empire.
• Financially assist 400 of our church members with a months worth of rent during a financially difficult time.
• Provide a safe birth for 50,000 mothers in the developing world.
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Financial Facts:
• In 2004, $575,000 was received through the CrossWalk Fund line on the giving envelope. These are the only funds CrossWalk can use for it’s mission, ministries, staffing, and operations.
• The budget for 2005 is $620,000.
• Our dedicated and skilled financial team has kept CrossWalk operating in the black since our inception (1999).
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You can write the next chapter of CrossWalk’s story...
If you have a question, we want to wrestle with it. If you have a suggestion, we want to hear it. If you have a good idea, we want to use it. We don’t want to move into the future without your input. So please, don’t hold back.
To share your hopes and dreams, and to hear others, please use one of the following venues in the near future:
• Every ministry team and Vine class will meet for a conversation about the next chapter of CrossWalk.
• Come to one of our upcoming Town Hall style meetings where everyone can have a voice.
• You can also contact one of the staff members to ask questions, give suggestions, or share your ideas.
As you pray about our future, remember there are three main challenges facing us at this time:
• Meaningfully connecting our members with one another and with the communities we live in.
• Organizing a systematic program of mission in our neighborhoods, in North America, and worldwide.
• Acquiring land and building(s) for CrossWalk’s permanent home.
• By investing all of yourself you will affect the future of CrossWalk. |
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