Last fall, we began to incorporate a Crosspoint edition of ‘Mythbusters’ into our membership class, Discover Crosspoint.  As an elder team, we came up with 10 key myths that people may unintentionally believe about Crosspoint.  From who we are, to what we do, to why we do it.  So over the next several weeks, I’ll be addressing some of these myths in the form of blog posts.  These are good reminders for both those who have been around Crosspoint for years and those who just started attending.

Myth #1:  Crosspoint is the perfect church.

I know this doesn’t come as a major surprise to anyone…but we’re not the perfect church.  We haven’t and we won’t always get it right.  All Crosspointers…from our leadership, to our volunteers, to our members, are not perfect and without flaw.  As you know, there is no such thing as a perfect church.  Sometimes, people come to Crosspoint in the elusive pursuit of the perfect church.  They have left their previous one for various reasons, and although they may not verbalize their journey as one in search of perfection, in a sense, sometimes that is their goal.  And then when the imperfection is revealed in some way, they move on.

Instead, the church, not just Crosspoint, but the larger Body of Christ, is made up of people who are imperfect and bent toward sin by our very nature, and in need of a Savior.  The Body of Christ is made up of believers, who are right in the midst of their own sanctification and growth in Christ.  No one has arrived or completed that journey, and won’t this side of Heaven.  This is why we continue to keep Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, the perfect One, at the middle of all we do.  The church is not built on anyone or anything other than Jesus, who was without stain, blemish, or defect.  He is who we worship and elevate, not ourselves and our supposed righteousness.  We aren’t out to make much of us, but rather much of Him, and the grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness we’ve experienced through Christ and the cross.

So because we aren’t the perfect church nor will obtain such a description, at some point in your relationships within Crosspoint and your connection to the ministry, something won’t go right.  You might be offended by something that is said from the stage on a Sunday, you might be put off by someone within the ministry you serve in, or the 3D community group that you are a part of.  You might be hurt by someone in the Body and the words they spoke, or the ones they forgot to speak.  You might get really upset and angry about something, or feel tempted to gossip about or slander another Crosspointer.  You might feel out of the loop because of broken communication.

But this is where we must remember that life within the Body of Christ isn’t always clean and perfect like the plastic people we played with as kids.  Our goal is not to be that type of plastic, fake community where everything is perfect on the surface, but below it, there is hurt, unforgiveness, or frustration.  One picture of the Body of Christ in the New Testament is one of family.  Within the context of family, we work it out because of love.  We forgive because He first forgave us.  We love, because He first loved us.  We humble ourselves so that we might receive grace, rather than choosing pride which God opposes.  Within the family of God, we are an authentic community where we are honest about our lives and hearts, and seek to grow in the Greatest Commandment of loving God and loving others.  So for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of the name of Jesus, we work through the conflict, hurt, or misunderstanding.

Personally speaking, the Lord has done much sanctifying and transforming work in my own heart, not by when I fled or ran from the mess of relationships, but when I leaned into it.  When I had to look someone in the eye and ask forgiveness.  When I had to own up to my own sin, or take the responsibility for the part I played in something that went wrong.  When I had to go to someone and share how I was hurt by a situation, and wanted to make sure we were right with one another.  Our pride doesn’t relish those kind of moments, but the Lord does.  Because it is in those environments where He spurs on some of the greatest growth in Christ in our lives.

Read Colossians 3:1-17 for some encouragement on things we must put to death and put off, and then those virtues and characteristics we must put on and be clothed in as members of His Body.