The sum of all we do at CrossPointe is contained in this vision statement. For, “God has highly exalted him [Christ] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” (Phil 2:9-11). Thus, the goal of exalting the supremacy of Christ directs all our endeavors and our life as a church. Even our name was chosen with this idea in mind: the cross of Christ points our way, it directs our steps as a compass guides the traveler.

But what exactly does it mean for a church community to “exalt the supremacy of Christ”? This can be summed in three ways: our church encourages people to KNOW his grace, to GROW in his grace, and to SHARE his grace with others.

know His grace

To know the grace of Christ is essentially to know God. Paul says that the light of knowledge of the glory of God radiates out from the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6). New life in Christ begins when the message of Christ and his kingdom enters the ears and mind of a sinful man or woman. When the Holy Spirit accompanies this message, the message of free mercy and pardon offered to rebellious sinners through Jesus Christ, light dawns in a darkened mind. New life is born. God’s seed planted in one’s heart sprouts and springs forth from the ground.

grow in His grace

Once he births new life in a person, God does not then abandon him as an orphan. He puts them in a community, a church that will nurture and care for them. The church instructs one another (Rom 15:14), growing together in the graces of God, the fruits of the Spirit, and putting to death the old, sinful ways of living. The entire aim of the church is “making disciples” of Jesus, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded” (Matt 28: 18-20). The sprout begins to grow into a young sapling, its growth and limbs stretching upward and outward as it sends its roots deep into the earth for nourishment.

share His grace

The end of God’s work is not a life that grows merely for the sake of growth, but a life that can in turn begin to share the grace of God in Christ with others. It is like a tree that, reaching maturity, begins to produce fruit that can nourish and sweeten the lives that it touches; it becomes a source of life and grace for others. Our business, then, as Christians, is to be instruments in God’s hands. That same grace which saved us from sin, and grew us into disciples of Jesus, moves us to encourage others to know, grow in, and share the grace of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5).