The Church is a Crossover Network

I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
-1 Corinthians 1:10 (NLT)

The Church is a crossover network.  Crossing over is the ministry of Jesus.  And the whole Church is a network of connections with a common center of gravity and purpose which is Christ and his mission to disciple nations.

The Church is a crossover people.  We go to people who are unlike us.  And we reconcile people to one another and to God.

The ministry of the Church is the ministry of reconciliation.  The Church holds the power, the hope, and the wisdom that all peoples need.  The Church travels across boundaries into different cultures, classes, ethnicities, races, and creeds.

The whole Church has many individual tribes who are all one in Christ.  We are different tribes, but we are not tribal, because love in Christ is our center of gravity.  As every person bleeds red blood, no matter the color of their skin or their culture; we also have many tribes, all in Christ, and  recognize each other as brothers and sister, because of Christ within.

We are one, but have many tribes.  The Church crosses over into communities and cultures that are not like they are.  Crossing over is not to assimilate but to reconcile: first us to them, and then them to us, and them to God, and the only basis for our crossing over is our having been reconciled to God and to one another, in Christ.

We are not humanists, but Christians.  We are carriers of hope from God in Christ.  We love humanity, but not with human love or out of human solutions.

We love people because God loves people and God is transforming us into being like Jesus, who loves, because he knows the Father loves him and has sent him to show Father's love.

The Church is a going out and crossing over people.  This is who we are and what we do.  The essence of the Church is loving reconciliation, so what the Church does, reflecting Jesus, is crossing over.

The Church is also a network.  We are connected to one another, in our tribes and tribe to tribe, all connected in Christ.  The lack of networks or networking or connection between tribes and individual Christians is a tragedy and a disaster.

The lack of network or the disconnection between tribes and individual Christians or the massive disunity in the Church has greatly weakened the Church for her mission in the world.  The most powerful force or army in the world has been greatly dis-empowered by our lack of connection or being networked to one another in unity.

The whole Church is meant to be in one network, under one head.  It can be a patch-work.  Instead, we have many tiny and some bigger, individual networks.

This will and has to change.  For the net to work, it must be mended and that is already underway.

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