of the gospel. This is why we exist as a church. It encompasses our inward mission to the body of believers that call CrossWay their church home and our outward mission to all peoples, tongues, tribes, and nations. It all flows from the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the heart of the gospel is the truth that “Jesus died for our sins” -1Corinthians 15:3. Yet the gospel is so much more. It is all that God has accomplished and made possible by sending Jesus to be our Savior.CrossWay’s inward mission is to glorify God by the on-going transformation of believers into the image of Jesus Christ by the power of the gospel. In Colossians 1:28 Paul says, “Him (Jesus) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Inwardly, it represents the power of the gospel in our on-going pursuit
of Christ-like maturity.CrossWay’s outward mission is to glorify God by reconciling sinners from every nation, and culture, and race to the God who created the heavens by the power of the gospel. It is to proclaim and demonstrate the gospel “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me (Jesus)” -Acts 26:18. It is to CrossWay’s outward mission strategy to which we now turn.
We see basically four types of outward mission by the New Testament church. The church demonstrates mercy and compassion to those who are the outcasts and afflicted in society.
In the gospels Jesus demonstrates mercy, and compassion, and care to every manner of people with every form of affliction. Jesus calls his disciples to do the same. The church evangelizes unreached people groups so that the gospel is proclaimed to all nations. Jesus told the disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” –Matthew 28:19. The church plants churches and appoints elders where there is no local church gathering. We see Paul establishing churches in Acts and instructing Titus to appoint elders. The church identifies and trains godly men to shepherd the local church. Paul instructs Timothy to train others who will also be able to instruct and teach the church. CrossWay is seeking to follow this fourfold biblical pattern of mercy ministries, evangelism, church planting, and training of pastors.Jesus also instructs the disciples to be His “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea
and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" -Acts 1:8. We see the outward movement of the gospel from the church in Jerusalem to all nations. Similarly, at CrossWay, we see our responsibility to move outward from Bristol, to our nation, to the ends of the world. In all of this, we are seeking to pay attention to, participate in, and respond to the people and relationships that God is providentially building with the people of CrossWay. Thus, we want to see our mission go forward with people who are being raised up and sent from within CrossWay and through the relationships that God is building with other churches and people outside of CrossWay.In summary, CrossWay is seeking to participate in mercy ministries, evangelism, church
planting, and pastoral training that is happening locally, nationally, and internationally through the people of CrossWay. Over the next several weeks we are going to introduce you to some of our mission partners, the people around the world who are partnering with CrossWay in seeking to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives by the power of the gospel. Let me invite you to return week after week to see what God is doing around the world and how God wants you to participate in our outward mission to the nations here in greater Kenosha and around the world.
