An Experiment …

We often try “experiments” at Crossroads. Some of them go well. Others, not so much. But that’s why we experiment - to discover new, effective means of carrying out our ministry programs and engaging potential new opportunities. As we experiment we find that some things just don’t come together the way we thought they would, or that there are some unique challenges, or that some things work even better than we thought.

One example will be our Wednesday Family Service experiment this week (May 14, 2008, for those who read this blog archive two years from now). We have been discussing ways and means of enhancing the “family” things that make up the church … testimonies, kids singing, baptisms, parent dedications and more. So often these special events get rushed or just left out in our regular worship times. For example, we have 20 baptisms this week … and we can only adequately handle two or three in our worship times.

We’ve been tossing this around as a staff for many months and decided to see what might happen if we created an alternate time for some of our practices on Wednesday evening when so many are already in the building. Of course we didn’t realize we’d have so many to baptize, but we can try to get a feel for how this might work, we won’t have to delay membership for some folks (baptism is a requirement), and we might find a new venue for teaching our children about the worship and work of the church.

Experiments also allows us to see the value in change now and then - especially when we see renewed value in what we are doing. Somewhat ironically, a number of years ago (while still on NE 8th St.) we added baptisms to our morning worship services rather than doing a special service on a Sunday evening. Adding a real baptistry to our platform and retiring the leaky horsetrough was a nice touch too. We had several members concerned we would “devalue” baptism as the testimonies had to be a bit shorter and they were no longer the main focus that they had been. I think most found that it was a good choice. In fact, it’s something we’ll continue while trying to find ways to further enhance the ministry. The great thing is that we have so many to baptize this month!

If you’re around, join us at 7:00 PM. Come early for our inexpensive Wednesday dinner in the cafeteria.

Worship at CBC - A Few Thoughts

Worship is a significant priority for believers. In fact, it is the ultimate priority. It is one of our five key values, and the consideration of this concept alone could (and has) resulted in lengthy books and blog posts. Knowing that most online readers will choke after much more than a screen or two of text, I’d like to briefly highlight some thoughts about “worship” in the context of Crossroads’ ministry. Over the life of this blog, we’ll attempt to periodically expand on these.

We seek to regularly focus the entire church on God his works by considering who God is and what He has done. We come together as a broad community to engage together in bringing God glory in praise, prayer, communion, baptism and expository preaching of the Scriptures. We submit ourselves to God and honor Him by our presence. To that end we have made several commitments that may be distinct from some other churches.

We hold that, rather than targeting a certain demographic in worship, we should understand worship as the broadest common point of equipping, connection, service and mission for the entire church - young or old. To that end we embrace and encourage a blended style of music that might be meaningful across generations, and we hold that the Word of God preached will work in the hearts of all through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit. We also hold that it is vital that we all endeavor to be worshipping together regularly as an entire community.

• We desire that all believers from Junior High age up, regularly attend and participate worship services. We encourage parents to model and encourage this commitment with their adolescents. (of course, some parents choose to train their younger children in the practice and presence of worship as well). We do have youth ministries, fellowship groups, home groups, men’s groups, women’s groups and other ministries that are more accessible for different demographics.
• We hold that the careful, verse-by-verse exposition of Scripture is the best approach to preaching to unwrap the whole counsel of God for the entire family of God.
• We also believe that the worship services of the church are primarily for believers who should, out of the overflow of that worship, live as redemptive agents in the world. We also believe that unapologetic worship and teaching of the Scriptures will impact those who do not yet believe.

An Often Asked Question

I mentioned that we have seen our average attendance grow by 400 over the past few years. Many are already believers who have been sigificantly committed to a previous church. They have many questions about our fellowship, but one comes to the forefront fairly quickly - some form of “how do I give to this church?” or “why don’t you take an offering in worship services?” Our practice for 22 years has been to allow members and friends of Crossroads to discretely drop their contributions to the work of the church into collection boxes at the back of the worship center (or, deliver them to the church office during the week).This choice (which pre-dates my joining the staff) wasn’t made because we considered collections in worship to be wrong or unbiblical and in looking back at the leadership records of that time we find that there were three understandings that lay behind the decision:

• Taking up a collection in the middle of worship was seen as a distraction, often breaking the flow & emphasis of worship.
• People outside the church in the early 1980’s seemed to be very put off by churches and ministries that were “always talking about money.” It was one of the primary spoken excuses the un-churched gave for avoiding church. The same feelings continue to be held by the un-churched today.
• A conviction that offerings were to be “given”, not “taken”.

There were those who were concerned that the church would run out of funds, lay off staff, or have to cut back on missions when donations shriveled up. (Even today we still have some who suggest that we’d get a much more in financial support from a weekly worship offering). Interestingly, a look at the financial records shows that donations to the church increased by 10-20% weekly after the use of collection boxes was implemented.

An earlier statement of ministry convictions included this statement:

 Our ministry is supported by faith in an omnipotent and sufficient God who provides for His church through the faithful financial gifts of its members and friends.  Because we believe that an offering is to be given rather than taken, offering boxes are located by each doorway for the convenience of those who understand their God-given responsibility.

The manner in which people give to the church may change over the years, but that first sentence will remain true in all times. We do talk about money as appropriate, and always let the congregation know if there are financial concerns, believing that God will move through his people — no cajoling, begging or manipulation required.

I suppose that I should note that we do take up one collection monthly as part of our remembrace at the Lord’s Table. As a tangible response in remembrance of God’s great grace and mercy we give to our Benevolence Fund which is used to minister to those in need (a topic for a future post).