Crossroads 37 Guiding Principles

Crossroads 37 is a partnership of churches in Indiana with one clear mission. That mission is to launch37 churches across the state of Indiana. We desire that these churches share a unifying DNA that will be outlined below in this guiding document. It is our desire for this document to bring clarity to what it means for a pastor and their congregation to be a participating member of the C37 network. 

The ongoing development of this network has grown from the grassroots of Church of God congregations in Indiana. We will work hard to ensure that our efforts remain in the grassroots going forward. It is our intention to give a clear name, mission, and a network of pastors to empower Indiana Ministries to continue to serve the church in Indiana as an accelerator for healthy multiplication. While we are a grassroots network of churches we will serve as the church multiplication initiative of Indiana Ministries. 

The guiding principles below will shape our unifying DNA and form the culture of the C37 network, 37 churches, and the multiplication ventures we start. This is a living document. We firmly understand it will morph and change over time.

• Reaching people far from God is our why.

While the primary focus of C37 is to start 37 new churches, the deeper why that drives this focus is reaching people who are far from God. C37 network churches will be guided by a deep burden to reach new people for Jesus. And, the churches we start will share this core 
passion.

• Prayer is our priority. 

Any significant move of God always begins with prayer. This is way beyond a words on a page. It is our number one guiding principle. Our work together will be guiding by a praying people who have a deep desire to be in sync with God’s heart for multiplication in Indiana. 

• Generosity is our culture.

C37 is founded and will be driven by a culture of generosity. The participants of our network and the churches we serve will lead with a loose grasp on the resources that have been entrusting to us. When God invites us to share our time, money, and people we will do so sacrificially. It will be from this wealth of resources that we will live into the mission of C37. 

• Collaboration is our practice.

The mission of C37 is much bigger than any one church. Launching 37 churches in Indiana will require a great collaboration. We firming believe we are better together. Therefore, our practice will be to collaborate as we start new reproducing churches across the state. 

• Discipleship is our engine.

We understand that our mission will require an engine. We are also aware that we need an engine that can fill our leadership pipelines with called and qualified multipliers who can effectively start new churches. C37 churches and new churches we start will be deeply committed to focusing on making disciple that reaches multiple generations of reproduction. We believe these intentional pathways for disciple making will create an engine that will lead to the fulfillment of the C37 mission. 

• Churches that start reproducing churches is our expectation.

Seeing the C37 dream come to life will demand a growing number of churches across the state to become reproducing churches. It is our expectation that C37 churches and those we start ask and answer this pressing question, how will we multiply? When God provides the answer(s) to this question, it is our expectation that C37 churches will faithfully multiply starting churches that start churches.

• Kingdom measurements like those below are our scorecard.
  • Salvations
  • Baptism
  • Disciples made
  • Leaders made
  • Multipliers sent
    

The 4 R’s will guide our partnership for multiplication and Kingdom impact. We believe these four dynamics have the power to form a kingdom impacting partnership between pastors, churches, and Indiana Ministries. They will also frame our ministry together as we collaborate for multiplication of 37 new churches. 

• Relationships—The foundation of the C37 network will be relational in nature. It will be a network of relationships between pastors, leaders, churches, and Indiana Ministries that will serve as an accelerator for our mission to multiply.

• To live into that reality, we will: 
  • Create a consistent relational rhythm (quarterly) of connecting as a network.
    • We will connect for: 
      • Relationship building
      • Training and learning
      • Prayer
      • Dreaming and planning
  • We will meet monthly for a time of prayer as a network.
  • When we make strategic decisions about when and where we will multiply will do so in the context of community and collaboration. An advisory team will help strategically guide C37. That team will initially include the follow leaders: Amanda Daniel, Debbie Salters, Ben Stuckey, Curt Walters, Stu Kruse, Doug Talley, and Tom Planck.
  • We will leverage IM multiplication systems.
  • We will intentionally inspire other pastors/churches to join the cause.
    
• Resources—To accomplish our mission, there will be a significant need for financial and people resources. Our culture of generosity will drive the accumulation of the necessary resources to fulfill our dream of starting 37 new churches. Below are a few ways we will ensure we have the resources to accomplish our mission. 
  • Our financial commitment is to see participating churches give an annual gift to fund C37 multiplication efforts that increases yearly.
  • We will create start up fund-one time gift from each partner church.
  • C37 churches will be a sending churches who sends multipliers and/or people.
  • We will fund a part-time director role and Tom Planck of HGC will serve as that leader. 
    
• Residency—We believe the best leaders are prepared leaders. To fully prepare leaders for multiplication and to also fill the leadership pipeline with multipliers, we will work to build multiple places of residency around the state. The churches that have residencies will provide a real-time learning environment for future multipliers and those preparing to multiply. 
• Reproduce—Our commitment to multiply has been clearly stated and outlined above. It is also the expectation that participant churches in the Crossroads 37 network be reproducing churches. We desire that to be the case for established churches and those we start. 
  • We will launch 37 kingdom impacting multiplication ventures that also reproduce. 
  • We will widen the scope of multiplication ventures to include church expression with a minimal ecclesiology (worship, mission, community): 
    • Dying churches (mergers)
    • Campuses
    • Ethnic works
    • Autonomous churches
    • Networks of missional communities

The dream that is captured above clearly defines the hill we feel we have been called to take for the Kingdom. That hill is to build a grassroots network of churches in Indiana that will launch 37 multiplication ventures. To do so, will require a great collaboration.

We are committed to those marching orders. 

We are The Crossroads 37 Network. Together, we will fulfill our mission.