The Big Idea
Our Vision and Values
Crossnet was started by a group of Anglicans, who really liked the Anglican Church but wanted to try and do a things a bit differently. We started Crossnet because we wanted to form a church that made it easy for people who weren’t going to church to come along. We felt that having services at 10am on a Sunday morning in a church building (which is what we had always done) is absolutely fine for people who were already committed to church but not so good for others. So we decided that we would try and run an Anglican church without its own parish and without its own building and see if it made any difference.
Church as an Outward-Looking Community
Because we don’t have our own building, we make a lot more use of public venues, like cafes and bars, and our own homes. That makes a difference in two areas. Firstly, it makes it easier for us all to understand that, in fact, being part of a church means that we are part of a community and a family and not just an institution. Secondly, we are constantly reminded that what God calls us to be as Christians is outward-looking. Church is not just for us, but for us to learn how to make God real to a world that does not yet know him. We currently meet in a café for our main worship meeting, but rather than understanding our main worship meeting as what identifies us as a church, we like to think of church as encompassing all that we do together as a community.
Mission and Discipleship
Our vision at Crossnet is that our whole church is involved in these two things. We invest time, energy, resources and prayer in mission and discipleship. We understand Mission to be communicating the good news about Jesus Christ: that the Kingdom of God has come through him: that he alone is the Saviour and Lord of the universe and that through him we receive the revelation of the person and nature of God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that God wants to work through and in the worldwide church to make this known, and so we’re trying to do our part here in Bristol (see Our Theology). We do this by trying to have worship services that are welcoming and open to those who may not know what we’re actually doing, by making time in our church for meeting up with those who don’t come to church in relaxed and easy environments, by being available for those who have questions about the Christian faith, and showing God’s love to the disadvantaged and underprivileged (see Outreach Projects).
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Being a Christian means being a follower of Jesus Christ or being a ‘disciple’. Being a disciple is something that we learn over a life-time and can only be done with the help of others. We encourage each other to grow in our understanding of the Christian faith, God’s love for us and for others, our appreciation of Scripture, our prayer lives, spiritual gifts, becoming more like Jesus, serving others both in our community and outside it, and a whole lot more. For discipleship we meet one-to-one and in small groups to encourage each other to live the Christian life well. |
Teaching and Studying the Bible
We believe that the Bible is God’s word and contains God’s words for the world. Not only is it a guidebook for life, but it has words of wisdom, comfort and revelation that are still relevant for everyone today. We teach from the Bible at Crossnet and try and apply biblical truths to the situations that we face and lives that we all live (for more see Talks).
Prayer
Prayer can be one of the most exciting pursuits in the Christian life (shame that people think it’s boring!). At Crossnet, we see God changing things through prayer, whether it’s us, or the situations around us. He brings us peace, healing and hope as we bring to him all our needs and the needs of those around us (for more see our section on Prayer).
Giving
We do not have a formal ‘collection’ or ‘offering’ at our worship service, but all our regular members give to Crossnet, for the work here and for other projects and charities that we in turn give to. We believe that what we have is only what God has given to us in the first place, so we are simply giving it back to him. Giving is a privilege, to see other people and projects thrive and flourish as a result of the money, time, effort and prayer that we have given is a blessing (for how to give to Crossnet, see our section on Giving).
Joining In?
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If you are not yet committed to a church, you like our vision and values, and you would like to join Crossnet, then we would love to have you with us. If you would like to become a member of Crossnet, then please go to the New to Crossnet section. If you don’t live in Bristol but would like to support Crossnet and be part of our vision, then please go to the Friends of Crossnet section. |
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The Future
Our vision for Crossnet is that we grow to have multiple expressions of church in different venues at different times throughout Bristol. (At the moment we have one main meeting on a Tuesday evening.) We are currently training future leaders with this in view. We are called a network church because we want to develop different arms of ministry in different networks. These will probably be very “different animals” – meeting at different times, with different types of people in different contexts. The underlying theology and strategy will be the same throughout, but the expressions will be different.
Indeed the different expressions will probably express the underlying tensions between church and mission, mission and discipleship, calling in and sending out. Jesus said that following the leading of the Spirit is like following the wind, you do not know where it comes from or where it is going, and although it may sound a bit presumptuous, we do see Crossnet’s future development in these terms.
The developing Vision
• We want to tell people that Jesus Christ is alive
and that they can know him. He has changed our lives powerfully
– he is the best news we know.
• We want to serve the community of Bristol, especially the
poor and disadvantaged.
• We want to help people understand Jesus and to learn to put
his teaching into practice. We seek to enter the life that he taught
which he called the Kingdom of God.
• Jesus’ only command was that we love one another.
We are seeking to be a loving, gracious and truthful community,
representing Jesus Christ here in Bristol.