Sadly, there is a myth out there, not necessarily at Crosspoint, but among the American church.  And that myth is that churches are in competition with one another.  I’ll be the first one to admit, I love competition.  I personally love coaching and playing basketball and being able to compete.  I love competing in board games and games out in the yard.

But the last thing I want to do is to compete with another local church.  Crosspoint is not in competition or a rival to other churches.  Our goal is not to outgrow or out-teach, or out-serve, or out-anything another local Body of Christ.  Because at the end of the day, the church down the street is not our enemy.

Instead our enemy is described in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  Our enemy is not brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God, but rather the devil who is described as a thief whose mission statement is simple…steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10a).

So knowing the truth of who are enemy truly is, according to Scripture, we resist the sinful temptation to compare or somehow get into that game of we’re better than you are.  That game is appropriate when a scoreboard is involved and fans show up.  It is a scheme of the devil when it happens in the Body of Christ.  In many ways, we are in partnership with local churches in ways such as the Eureka Area Food Pantry, Heart House, and specific events throughout the year.  So if a local church is preaching the Bible as truth, and Christ and the Gospel are being proclaimed, then we’re rejoicing because the Kingdom of God is advancing, the big C church is growing, and ultimately God is being glorified by His bride.

When Crosspoint began 10 years ago, our church planting coach reminded us that often times as a result of a new church being started, the ‘spiritual temperature’ of the community goes up.  I don’t have a giant thermometer in my yard judging spiritual temperature, but I pray that was and continues to be the case.  That lives would be changed by the power of the Gospel (Romans 1:16), not only at Crosspoint, but in churches throughout this area!  For His glory and honor.