Mission, Vision, & Values

Our mission statement describes who we are as a church and the hopes for our existence as an expression of Christ in Grand Rapids.

Crossroads Bible Church is a biblical community where Jesus Christ transforms lives, renews the city and the nations.

Our vision is what we keep our eyes focused on. It’s the goal and desire for our church as a church community, both inside and outside our four walls.

The Kingdom of Heaven

Our theme verse helps shape the idea of what it means to be partners in the Kingdom of God. This verse tells us that the invitation is for all people. Every individual at Crossroads who surrenders their life to Christ is a priest and partner in the Kingdom of God.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (I Peter 2:9 ESV)

Our values are a reflection of what we value. They define the necessary elements for our church community to be an authentic and healthy expression of God’s Kingdom. All three are vital and interconnected. The values are woven into our Sunday mornings, all our ministries, and our different forms of community. Additionally, we believe these elements are foundational to the health of the individual, a family, and a community.

Worship: The Wholehearted Pursuit of God
Mission: The Sacrificial Pursuit of Our Neighbor
Community: The Intentional Pursuit of One Another

We desire to shape an environment that creates space and opportunities for individuals and communities to wholeheartedly seek the Lord through learning and practicing spiritual disciplines. Wholeheartedness involves choosing to be “all in” to follow Jesus’ example of picking up our crosses daily and loving Him with our whole selves in all things.

We value our large gatherings as a means to exalt Christ and get His heart through prayer and studying His Word for the purpose of being sent out into our little corners of the world. However, we do not want to overvalue the large gathering of the church because we believe that the church is also expressed beautifully in the small. For this reason, we will push worship from platforms to people, from stages to tables, and from personalities to the royal priesthood of all partners, those linking arms with us. We do not simply attend church, we are the Church who gather and grow together.

Lastly, worship and work come from the same Hebrew word. For this reason, we see our occupations and jobs as a pursuit of God. When we work, we are representing God and imitating His characteristics.

The good news of the Kingdom is the most important identity that the church and the people of God have been entrusted with. We believe that we are all called and sent out to be priests, mediating and advocating for our neighbors and brothers and sisters in Christ who are marginalized, oppressed, or lost.

Crossroads is uniquely placed in the city, and for this reason, we believe we exist in the city for the city. As a royal priesthood, every person is called to use their unique gifts and talents to impact others and their streetcorners by bringing shalom into chaos and by disadvantaging themselves in order to advantage someone else, just as Christ did.

We recognize the greater global Church and see ourselves as a small piece to the body of Christ, both in Grand Rapids and in the world. For this reason, we value partnership with other churches and ministry organizations. Jesus came as the Savior, not of one people, but for the whole world. We seek to take seriously the mandate of the great commission and the heart of God. Our aim is to be a kingdom of priests sent into our local streetcorners, into our city, and into the nations.

Because God’s best for us is to live in relationship with others, we value life, mission, and ministry done as we link arms with our brothers and sisters in Christ. God instructs us how to live in relationship as a true reflection of Him through the “one anothers” of Scripture. We encourage the sharing of life at every level with trusted friends who are an extension of God’s grace and presence in our lives. For this reason we value hospitality and table fellowship, which creates havens for relationship formation and opportunities to serve one another and care for those who are hurting.

We value discipleship, which is best defined as “follow me as I follow Christ.” Jesus made “making disciples” one of His top initiatives. A disciple is someone who desires to become like Jesus. We want to become a community of disciples who are making disciples. We pursue these relationships with humility, dependency, authenticity, and in community, staking our confidence in the Word of God and the Spirit of God to do the life-transforming work of making His people into “little Christs” (C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity).

We believe God’s Word is the story of a creative, powerful, and loving Father who relentlessly pursues His children to find redemption through the blood of Christ and direction through the Holy Spirit. Our individual stories matter as we seek to join Him in His unfolding and overarching narrative while giving testimony to His restorative work in the world.

Jesus calls His church to a counter-cultural walk of love and sacrifice. Therefore, our culture as a church will look different from the world’s culture. We desire to focus on people, not programs; discipleship, not spectatorship; vulnerability, not secrecy; and weakness, not strength.

We commit to walk after Jesus in all aspects of our lives as a church, not running after what the world promotes or how the world defines success.

Our cultural convictions shape the characteristics, the qualities, and the essence we weave into every opportunity and expression of Crossroads, whether large or small. These convictions inform every decision we make from the formation of new ministries to the ways we plan our Sunday morning gatherings and community events.

• We value worship and community that is uncomplicated, pure, and humble.
• We do not desire to be trendy, flashy, or create events for entertainment purposes instead we value simplicity done with excellence.
• We are not a personality-driven church, instead we value the priesthood of believers.
• We believe in leading with humility which involves not taking ourselves too seriously.
• We do not want to create any distractions for people in their pursuit of God and others.

• We desire to integrate rest into our events and community because God created rest.
• We do not value striving, instead we embrace presence, patience, and ease.
• We commit to fighting the temptation to perform in ministry or focus on outcomes.
• We believe ministry should not be driven by numbers but seeing every opportunity as an offering to God to use as He sees fit.
• We encourage our people and our leaders to guard against burnout by taking time to breathe, to dream, and to enjoy life.

• We encourage our leaders and people to fight the urge to “clean up” or “put on the mask” in order to participate in the community.
• We believe authenticity and vulnerability are cornerstones to a good community.
• We value story and testimony.
• We all need God’s grace, forgiveness, and the blood of Christ so we can be real about our struggles.
• We believe God does His best work in struggles and heartache so we will not hide them.

Our character qualities are the marks of a partner, participant, or leader at Crossroads beyond being a surrendered follower of Jesus. These characteristics are what lends to our uniqueness as a part of the body of Christ, both collectively and individually, and informs the way we do community, ministry, and partnership. We do not hold these characteristics pridefully but instead know that we are one expression of the larger Church.

We resolve to live lives that are cross-shaped just as Jesus did from start to finish. This is a life marked by self-sacrifice and embracing an upside-down Kingdom where the last will be first and the first will be last (Matt. 20:16); and where saving your life leads to losing it and losing your life leads to finding it (Matt. 10:39).

We openly admit our weakness to each other and to God which shapes our relationships, community, leadership, planning, partnerships, and theology. We commit to assessing the plank in our own eyes before thinking about removing addressing the spec in our brother’s or sister’s.

We see ourselves as stewards of God’s goodness and Kingdom. Therefore, we desire to be generous with our time, talents, and treasures to one another.

We commit to being people who pursue God and His Kingdom with all of our heart, soul, and strength and doing the same in our pursuit of one another.

We are people who have strength, courage, and resolve. We don’t shy away from obstacles or difficulty, instead we embrace hardship as an opportunity for growth and refinement. Grittiness also leads to fearlessness to live counter-culturally.

Because we believe in the priesthood of believers, we applaud when our people dream dreams of the Kingdom and make them happen on their streetcorners or in our midst.

We believe in a healthy balance of allowing community to form organically and yet know this is often supported best through simple forms of organization. We recognize that there are challenges when we become unbalanced in either direction.