Our beliefs
Find out where we stand on a number of topics, from the Bible to Human Destiny.
Our Statement Of Faith
At The Crossing, we talk a lot about God’s big, big story. The story shows God actively involved in redeeming and restoring His good but broken world. He invites, equips, and empowers His followers to play a role in that story. We believe in one God, but there is more to the one in the one. God exists eternally in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each Person of the Trinity is equal in power and authority. Each Person works in our world today.
Throughout history, the triune God interacted with specific men and women. The Bible, a collection of sixty-six books recorded in the Old and New Testaments, presents these interactions. While maintaining the language and voices of its human authors, Scripture is inspired by God and as such, trustworthy and true in all matters of faith and practice. God uses the Bible to instruct, rebuke, and transform His people. At its most basic level, Scripture tells the story of a faithful God redeeming, restoring, and reconciling His creation. Jesus Christ is the center of this story. As the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus existed before all things, making Him equal to God the Father in both power and glory. He is both fully God and fully man. These two natures co-exist and are equal in every way. Jesus died and physically rose again on the third day, launching God’s new creation project. The project will end with His second coming and the complete restoration of creation. To use a different word, God’s redeeming work in Christ is what we mean by salvation.
"And when we accept God’s free gift of grace, when we trust what Jesus did for us on the cross, confessing our sins and accepting Him as the Lord of our lives, God forgives us."
Salvation means rescue, which begs the question; rescued from what? According to the big story, God rescues people from something and for something. God rescues us from sin. Sin is a word that basically means missing the mark. When you sin, you fall short of God’s standard, and Scripture makes it clear that all people have done this. All of us have rebelled against God and disobeyed His commandments. This means that everyone needs a savior. And when we accept God’s free gift of grace, when we trust what Jesus did for us on the cross, confessing our sins and accepting Him as the Lord of our lives, God forgives us. He adopts us as His beloved sons and daughters. More than that, God sends His Spirit – The Holy Spirit – to take up residence and live in us.
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. He seeks after us, seals us, convicts us of sin, imparts truth, and empowers us to serve others. He, too, equips Christ-followers with unique spiritual gifts to partner with Him by serving others. Serving is a fundamental aspect of following Jesus. This is what we are saved for. By the power of the Spirit, believers find practical and tangible ways to embody the radical love of Christ in their day-to-day lives. God loves us, so we love others. It is that simple. This is what it means to be “the Church.”
The Church serves as God’s hands and feet in the world. It is made up of broken but forgiven people who model Christ’s love in authentic and messy communities. In the big story, “church” is not just a location, but a calling. It is an identity that you live out each and every day. Every weekend, Christians come together for corporate worship, but our worship doesn’t stop there. Jesus calls His followers to leave the church walls and be the church in the world. The Crossing gathers together throughout the week to fulfill this calling, building relationships, reading Scripture, serving the marginalized in our community, and worshiping the living God. We boil this down to "the 3 E’s." We explore God’s truth humbly, experience His grace personally, and express His love extravagantly.
God is making all things new. We really do believe that. With His death and resurrection, by the power of the Spirit, Jesus is creating a new world. At the end of the end, Jesus will return and fully restore His creation. He will resurrect men and women, giving them renewed glorified bodies and assigning them their eternal destinies. All who have accepted God’s grace will live with Him in the New Heavens and New Earth. Non-believers will enter into eternal judgment. God will live and reign with His people forever. All sickness, disease, pain, shame, loneliness, guilt, and heartache, even death itself will be forever cast away. That is how the big story ends. From the garden to the cross, from the resurrection of Jesus and the Church to renewed creation, God is working in our midst. And we trust that because God is faithful, He will bring His story to the appointed end that He has promised.
Want to know more? Dive into our thoughts on baptism, communion, and women in leadership. Still have questions? Reach out to pastors@thecrossing church.