Our Heritage
The Crosstown congregation has a rich heritage in churches of Christ and our roots in the American Restoration Movement of the nineteenth century. This was a movement in which Christians from various backgrounds came together seeking common ground and the unity for which Christ prayed for His disciples. They endeavored to use the New Testament as the rule of faith and practice for the church.
We remain committed to this same mindset. We want to be only Christians as described in the Scriptures. We do not want any human traditions or denomination determining what we teach and practice; instead we are committed to following only what was taught through the Bible. We are not a denomination and have no interest in being one. Again, we want to be only Christians, no more and no less.
However, we are more than our past. Though we are proud of where we have been, we also want to focus on where we want to go. We want to be a body of believers who are seeking to follow Jesus faithfully in this generation.
While we have no official statements of faith apart from the Bible, what follows is a brief overview of our core beliefs and values.
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is God’s inspired word. The men who wrote the Bible were supernaturally guided by the Holy Spirit. We believe that the Bible, because it is from God, is authoritative and is the ultimate guide for Christian faith, belief and life (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Psalm 119:10).
God
We believe in the one true God revealed in the Bible. He spoke the world into existence and sustains all things today. God remains active and involved in this world and in our individual lives (Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 1:10-12, 11:3).
We believe that God exists in three distinct personalities: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14; John 1:1, 14; John 16:12-15).
Jesus
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. We believe He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, shed His blood dying on a cross, was buried and raised from the dead three days later. He ascended to the Father and now reigns over his Kingdom. (Romans 8:34; Philippians 2:5-11)
We believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven (Acts 4:12, John 14:6) and is the only one qualified and able to redeem us and save us from our sins (Hebrews 9:11-15). We believe that one day Jesus will return to take his own to live with him forever (Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God. He is a helping presence in our lives. He indwells Christians and works to empower and equip the Lord’s church. His presence in our lives shows that we belong to God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; Romans 8:9).
Sin
When God created human beings in His image (Genesis 1:27), He gave us the ability to make our own choices. Unfortunately, we often use our freedom to disobey God, which is sin. We believe that our sin separates us from our holy God (Isaiah 59:2). To sin is to violate God’s law and to rebel against Him. Sin is pervasive – it consists not only in the bad things we do but also in the good things that we fail to do (James 4:17), it manifests itself not only in word and deed but also in thought (Matthew 5:28). The Bible teaches that all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8-10).
Salvation
We believe that God’s love and justice intersect at the cross. Since God is just, He cannot simply ignore or disregard our sin but because He is loving, He wants to be in fellowship with us. God’s solution to our sin problem was to send Jesus to serve the death penalty due us and to reconcile us to Himself so that he might reign in our hearts and lives (2 Corinthians 5:18-19; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10; 1 Peter 3:18; Romans 6:23). This is why the Gospel is Good News!
God has acted on our behalf but we must choose to accept or decline His gift of salvation. We accept the gift of salvation through faith. Faith is more than just intellectual ascent (James 2:19) it is made complete by our actions (James 2:22). A faith-response to Jesus includes turning away from sin (what the Bible calls “repentance”-Acts 2:38), confessing with the mouth and with action that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9-10) and baptism. Just as Christ died, was buried and raised from the dead, we also must be buried (immersed in water) with Christ in baptism and then be raised to live a new life (Romans 6:4). At the time of our baptism our sins are taken away and the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in us (Acts 2:38); additionally, we are added to the Church (Acts 2:47; 1 Corinthians 12:13). Throughout our lives we are continually being transformed into the image of Christ by His Spirit who lives in us.
The Church
We believe that the church belongs to the Lord! It is His body and every Christian is a member of that body. It is not defined racially, socially, geographically or ethnically. The purpose of the church is to glorify God (Ephesians 3:10-11). God is glorified when we grow closer to Him (Ephesians 4:11-16). Every member is encouraged to find a place of service in the local congregation (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Peter 2:9) We believe the Bible teaches that the main mission of the church is to spread the good news (Gospel) of Jesus Christ both locally in our community and throughout the world (Matthew 28:18-20).
Christian Living
Through the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, the Christian life seeks to live out the way of Jesus every day and demonstrate with what the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) We are flawed, imperfect people, but God in his mercy is transforming us more and more into His image. Together as a church, we cling to the cross of Christ as we grow in sacrifice, service and self-emptying love (Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:22-25; 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Worship
We believe the Bible teaches we are to meet every first day of the week (Sunday) for worship, just as the first century Christians did. (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Hebrews 10:25). When we meet each Sunday, our worship—like that we read about in the New Testament—is centered around the remembrance and celebration of the Lord’s Supper, and includes singing, prayer, giving and the study and proclamation of God’s Word. Our congregation is a family of God’s people that embraces our diversity and worships God as one body. We invite you to visit us anytime and to join us in pursuing the heart of God.