A statement from this morning’s service at CrossWay Community Church regarding the recent tragic events concerning Goerge Floyd as well as many others.

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OUR MISSION (MISSIOLOGY) – “to make maturing followers of Jesus by the power of the gospel…” (CrossWay MKE). We are called therefore to…

• Embody the transforming effects of the gospel.
• To uniquely demonstrate these things to our surrounding society in the precise moments they long and grasp for these things themselves (=witness).
• Also, inasmuch as we are able, to see the transforming effects of the gospel to pervade and impact our surrounding society.
  • to obey all that Christ commanded (Mt 28), carrying these things even into the realms of our society.
  • to seek the good of our city in which we are exiles, inasmuch as we have opportunity (Jer 29:7).

DOCTRINE OF HUMANITY (ANTHROPOLOGY) – Every person is made in the image of God; every life is valuable; every person and every people is worthy of dignity and just treatment (there are no “lesser” people).

DOCTRINE OF GOD’S LAW – God commands us to love him with all our heart, mind, and strength (=the greatest commandment); and the second is a necessary corollary of the first–that we love our fellow neighbors who bear his image.

DOCTRINE OF GOD (THEOLOGY) – A God of justice, who is righteously furious and wrathful with injustice; who puts himself on the side of those subjected to mistreatment and oppression. And as those who are his, we are called to reflect his character (“to be holy as he is holy”), to care about what he cares about.

DOCTRINE OF SIN:

• Teaches us to grieve and hate that which is contrary to God’s law.
• And it teaches us to expect evil in the human condition, to not be surprised to find sinful tendencies woven into the fabric of our society, especially where they’ve been long-standing.

DOCTRINE OF GOVERNMENT – We believe that government is a gift from God for the good ordering of our society. And we appreciate and thank God for the many, many police officers who serve our communities well. And yet we remain painfully aware that neither is our police force immune from the effects of sin.

BELIEF IN TRUTH & JUSTICE – Means that we care about things like order, presumptions of innocence, just proceedings; and yet it also means we are also sensitive to reflexes that we have to dismiss, discredit, and excuse patterns of suffering. It means that while we uphold the judicial system, we also understand, that because of sin, our judicial system will often fail to deliver justice.

DOCTRINE OF SALVATION (THE GOSPEL) – Not only has God reconciled us to himself, but he reconciled us to each other. We are a community in which the divisions of this world are to be broken down for all the world to see.

DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH (ECCLESIOLOGY):

• Interconnected – We are all members of one body. So when one part of the body suffers, it’s impossible for us to ignore them, because we are interconnected. If our brothers and sisters are concerned, we don’t ignore their concerns. We listen to each other. We weep with those who weep (Rom 12). And we do what is in our power to effect change for them when necessary.
• Welcoming – And when we don’t agree on every matter, we show grace, welcome each other as Christ has welcomed us (Rom 14), and bear with one another.

DOCTRINE OF CHRIST (CHRISTOLOGY) – Tells us about how Jesus entered into our lowly condition, embarrassing our human form in all its weakness, and knows the plight of the suffering, having himself tasted the depth of human suffering.

DOCTRINE OF THE FINAL JUDGMENT – Enables us to pursue justice by just and peaceable means; not taking vengeance into our own hands, but entrusting vengeance ultimately to God and in his timing (1 Peter 2; Rom 12). As Paul instructs us, “Be angry, but do not sin” – Eph 5).

DOCTRINE OF THE FINAL THINGS (ESCHATOLOGY) – Our hope, when all wrongs will be righted, every trace of evil vanish forever.

OUR PRAYER → “Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as in heaven.” (Mt 6)