Church Meeting Sunday May 15

The following went out in an email today:

Crossroads Community Church will have its very first general meeting after worship this Sunday.  The purpose of this meeting will be to select a transitional leadership team.  Once elected, this group will act quickly in the next weeks, building on the foundation of prayer that has already been laid.  They will help the church move forward with confidence and unity based on the Word of God.  We are thankful to the "launch team" that has helped us to this point.

Please be in prayer that we will obey God in all things. 

If you have not yet done so, please pray about signing the statement that we've been introducing in past weeks:

• Trusting Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, accepting the Bible as authoritative for faith and life, we believe God is calling us together through 2011 to pray, worship, study the scriptures, serve, care for one another and give financially for the ministry and mission of God through Crossroads Community Church of Cokato.

Those signing the statement prior to the meeting time on Sunday will be eligible to vote at the meeting.  The main order of business at the meeting will be the selection of transitional team members.  If you feel called to serve on this transitional leadership team (a kind of board of directors) for this time in this church's history, please let us know.  There is a "sign up" sheet at church for those who are willing to serve.  Of those who are willing, those at the meeting will select seven.  We are thankful for those who have already listed their names!

The Biblical basis for this team is from Acts 6, where the early church found it necessary to set aside seven persons to do administration for a period of time so others would be freed up to do the ministry to which they have been called.  See Romans 16 for another "list" of people who served as leaders in the early church.

Whatever questions or suggestions you may have about any of this, please reply to this email or contact me personally at steve@equalsharing.com or 763-291-3499.

Besides getting some organizational matters taken care of (constitution and bylaws, affiliation, plans for summer and fall) we will be quickly clarifying our common vision and mission as a church--based on the foundation of prayer and faith that has already been laid.

To do that, I ask that you be in prayer about the following question:  What do you believe the Lord is calling Crossroads to be? 

Here are some of the things the Lord has laid on my heart:

• This church will be a house of prayer, a place where we give over control to the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
  
  
• This church will always trust in the grace of God, not trusting in our own goodness (no matter how long we have been Christians). 
  
  
• This church will be founded on the God's Word revealed most clearly in Jesus and given to us authoritatively in the Bible. 
  
  
• This church will be a home for those who have had a Lutheran heritage and for others who have prayed most earnestly for a place to raise their children in the grace and mercy of God that has not moved off the foundation of God's Word. 
  
  
• This church will reach out, actively, assertively, generously and gently to those who are lost and are in need of the ONE Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.
  
  
• This church will not be a "top down" organization but, instead, will give guidance and support to Christians who are called to various ministries, whether with children, youth, the aged, those in need and those in crisis, with men, women and etc.
  
  
• With other Bible based churches in the area, this church will support marriages and families, helping them be faithful and forgiving.
  
  
• The grace based nature of this church will allow people to be themselves, to be real, to come as they are, to not worry too much about what other people think.
  
  
• This church will not be possessive or territorial.  It will not be overly concerned about "us" and "them," about lists of members and who is "in" and who is "out."  It will need to have organization and structure because it lives in this world, but it will be primarily spiritual in nature.
  
  
• This church will encourage risk taking for the Lord and it will be constantly bathed in prayer.  We will not live in anxiety.
  
  
• This church will be ultimately led by God, not by people or pastor.
  
  
• This church will seek an affiliation and other relationships that respect our heritage but will not bind us to external structures.
  
  
• Together, and as individually, we will pray for God's guidance often and always, moving ahead boldly or waiting as we trust the Lord's direction.

Can you say "yes" to these things? 

Are there other ways in which you believe the Lord is leading this church? 

Please pray and share what you believe the Lord is saying to you.

Hope to see you Sunday - Bible study and Sunday school at 9:00 a.m., worship with communion at 10:15, meeting follows worship.

--
In Christ,
Pastor Steven K. Thorson

Crossroads Community Church