Jesus intentionally made disciples in relational environments.  At The Crossing, we want to follow Jesus’ method and model – Matthew 4:19

• Following Jesus

• Being changed by Jesus

• Sharing in the mission of Jesus – reconciling a lost world to God through Christ. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

As God’s church, believers are called to function in unity as one body – each fulfilling a necessary role.  Structure and authority within this community of believers is essential for the body to function properly and for individual members of the body to mature and grow.  We see this in Ephesians 4:11-13.

• God’s church rests upon a foundation of the lordship of Christ.

• Upon this foundation, God establishes leaders in the church.

• The responsibility of leadership is to use teaching, mentoring, modeling, shepherding and discipleship to prepare God’s people for ministry. 

• Those being prepared do effective ministry both inside and outside the church.

• Growth is an inevitable result of caring and ministering to others. 

• Unity results as the body functions together with each doing its part.

• This process produces mature believers living transformed lives.  These mature believers are disciple-makers and the future leaders of the church. 

We see this process lived out with dramatic results in the first church – Acts 2:42-47

“And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”