Introduction

The founding members of Crossroads spent over two years praying, thinking, discussing, listening and reaching consensus on how to function as a church body whose direction is set by a congregation that listens carefully to one another and to God.

Crossroads’ system of governing is constructed on two basic premises:

• The members decide “the important stuff”, including deciding what is important.
• The members spend as little time as possible in traditional Community Meetings deciding “unimportant stuff” and attending to issues already delegated to staff and working groups.

We have chosen instead to minimize the portion of church business that is considered a given from one year to the next.  Instead we include as much of the membership as possible in an annual rethinking of direction.

Yearly Direction Setting Retreat

The annual rethinking of direction begins with a time of listening to God and one another, and culminates in a retreat where we jointly reach consensus on what is “important stuff” for Crossroads and how will it be addressed this year.  Out of that listening and consensus reaching process Work Groups are chartered to address those issues identified as most important. 

Congressional Led

Because of our desire to do decision making congregationally we work at decision making to assure –

• The minority is heard and has an opportunity to impact everyone else.
• The congregation is not “held hostage” by a very small group of dissenters.
• A high degree of consensus is reached on major issues.
• The process for making the decision coincides with the import of the issue.

Membership