We are excited for what lies ahead for us together as a church. We want introduce to you a new ministry initiative that we believe aligns with our vision, purpose and with the “DNA” and giftings of Crossroads. As staff and LT, we have been praying, listening and dreaming where God is leading us. In light of the changing landscape of church attendance and the evolving culture around us, we recognize the importance of adapting our approach to discipleship, community engagement and the way we “do” church in some ways. With that said, we are excited to unveil something we have called Crossroads Community Serve Sundays.
Our plan is to facilitate 3 of these Crossroads Community Serve Sundays each year, strategically positioned in the spring, fall, and winter seasons. During these Sundays mornings, we hope to offer 2-3 service opportunities for individuals and families to participate in, instead of our typical worship service expression. Our hope is to think through and provide opportunities for everyone, including kids and those with mobility issues, to engage in a type of community service, loving and caring for our community. We have heard from you a desire to engage in loving our community, and it is happening in different ways amongst our congregation individually, and we have tried some things over the past few years here, but we are thinking how can we maximize participation and think through how we can get everyone involved.
Now, the aim is not only to serve our community, but also to cultivate deeper connections within our church family. Serving together does seem to bring people closer together in my experience, and let’s be honest, most of us can come here on a Sunday morning and you have time to say hi and bye and put away a couple chairs. And that’s ok with what happens during a typical worship service type of environment on a Sunday. But, again, we have heard the desire for closer community and connection as a value for Crossroads, we see this another opprtunity and a new way in getting to know each other, while serving alongside each other on a Sunday morning.
Also, we envision Crossroads Community Serve Sundays being as a space where you may feel more inclined to invite and welcome a friend/newcomer. We get that different environments and spaces make it easier to invite and engage someone who might not be ready for a Sunday morning worship experience or has some hold ups for a variety of reasons. Our dream would be to hear about stories of people going, “Hey, want to come to church with me, this Sunday we are cleaning up the river bank and handing out hot chocolate. Should be fun." or, "Hey, want to come to church with me, we are prepping care packages or serving a pancake breakfast to our neighbourhood.” Eventually, wouldn't it be cool if we are known as the church that does this new expression of worship on Sundays and people take notice?...The church being the church.
Well, this sounds nice but, what about????....A few more "whys" to help you understand this initiative.
-It gives our musicians, sound team, kidszone team, the preaching preparation time, etc. etc. and all the work done on a Sunday morning a bit of a breather once in a while. I think it will be really good to give some of our spiritual muscles of service a break and exercise some others that need attention. Like, we don’t want to be the guy at the gym who only exercises the upper body and the legs look like tooth picks. Spiritually speaking, we want to help direct and give ways to engage in different forms of worship and spiritual exercises. We would say this is a type of worship service and practicing different spiritual habits or exercises helps in your growth and experience as a follower of Jesus! So, why not just plan it for a Saturday? Well, we have tried some other things with not the attendance we are hoping for, and we see community service as a high value item for us and want to give it the attention and space in our strategy as a church in the way we design programs. The reality is, we know everyone is busy and has a certain allotted number of hours to give to “church” activities, and we want to maximize that time and be aware of the culture and context we are trying to do church.
How you can help and support?
Prayer. We are excited and asking you to join us in prayer and participation about the potential impact of this ministry and the opportunities it presents for us to express the love of Jesus in practical, tangible ways. We ask for your prayers, support, and willingness to participate wholeheartedly!
Patience, participation, flexibility and a good attitude! This is an out of the box idea and a change to the rhythm of doing things. It’s going to be like working out a muscle you haven’t in a while. It might hurt, feel sore, feel a little awkward and uncomfortable. We are going to want and ask for constructive/helpful feedback as we move along and figure this thing out, but it’s going to take some time and effort.
Join the team!? One of Pastor Kyle's roles as a staff member will be the oversee this project and ministry. He would like to provide and form a team in the future to make this ministry happen and run. Maybe God has put on your heart a desire to serve, dream and contribute your gifts/skills to this ministry. Let him know if you might be interested in forming a CCSS dream team! (kyle@crossroadscommunity.ca)