Teachable Teacher

  If I’m going to explain to you what Crosswalk is all about, I might as well start with the most outrageous part of the vision God has given us.  We are going to take Jesus to the world one town at a time!

You may be thinking, “But Chris, there’s already SO MANY CHURCHES out there!  Why plant more?”  Simply put, there aren’t enough churches for everyone to go to.  Here is an excerpt from www.barna.org :

When these statistics are projected across the aggregate adult population, the numbers are staggering. An estimated 73 million adults are presently unchurched. When teens and children are added, the total swells to roughly 100 million Americans.

To put that figure in context, if the unchurched population of the United States were a nation of its own, that group would be the twelfth most populated nation on earth (trailing only China, India, the churched portion of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia, Japan and Mexico).

Included among the unchurched is an estimated 13 to 15 million born again adults and children.

Instead of starting one church and having everyone within driving distance to attend that one church, God has told me that he wants us to start a network of churches.  Each church will be linked with the others on some levels while also being able to target their specific community.

This presents numerous benefits:

1. Good churches located right in your community.  People will not have to drive long distances to churches that don’t exist in their community.  It is easier to get your unchurched friends and family to Sunday services if they don’t have to run out of town to get there.  And just think of all the gas money you’d save!  
2. Because the church is in your community, it exists to help those in your community.  You can know that when you volunteer your time and resources at a church, it will be helping those around you (your neighbors, friends, and co-workers) to come into a relationship with Christ.
3. The network allows for all of the benefits of a large church.  Imagine for just a moment…A church that has the financial resources to pull from in order to reach the lost.  A church network united under qualified leadership who offer even the campus pastors opportunities to learn and grow.  A time of fellowship between all churches of the network (This could mean large scale youth conferences, worship concerts, and regional outreach).

I’m really pumped about this.  It may seem pretty ambitous but there’s one thing I AM CONFIDENT OF…  God is authoring this thing.  That means He will finish it.  I’m so blessed to be along for the ride!