About CrossWay

CrossWay began in January of 1998 as a church plant by the Village Church of Gurnee with a vision to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois.   You can read more about our history by clicking here.

Our mission is to 'Bring glory to God through the transformation of lives by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ'.  We believe that the center of  the Christian faith is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the good news of what Jesus has done on behalf of sinful people, so that we can know God.  We believe that we can achieve our mission only be keeping Christ central in our life as a people and a church.  This is why at CrossWay, we are very intentional that everything we do as a church would point people to Christ.

At CrossWay,  we believe that the most important thing for you to know about a church is what it believes about God.   Our Statement of Faith explains what we believe the Bible teaches.  This Statement of Faith captures what we believe as a church, what we will teach as a church, and what we will pursue as a church. If you want to pursue membership at CrossWay, we ask that you agree with our Statement of Faith.  If you have any questions about our Statement of Faith,  please call our church office.

When you believe something deeply, it will affect the way that you live. The same is true for a church. What a church believes should be evident in its values and practices. CrossWay's defining values are  values that we are seeking to intentionally build into our life as a church.  If you were to talk with a long-term CrossWay member, we would hope they would describe CrossWay in these terms.

CrossWay is led by a plurality of elders.  Governmentally, we are an elder led church with congregational affirmation.  What does that mean?  It means that as an elder led church, the elders provide the primary leadership and direction of the church.  When the elders have a major decision to make, we seek God’s direction together and then we seek the congregations affirmation for the way we sense God leading us.  Some of the elders serve on the elder team vocationally – it’s their full-time vocation - and others do it as lay elders and they have another primary vocation or job. As a team we function as a plurality of elders which means we all share equal authority and responsibility for shepherding the church.

There are three major components of our Life Together at CrossWay

• Sunday Morning Worship and Teaching - When you attend a Sunday morning service at CrossWay,  our hope is that you would quickly notice three distinctive characteristics:
  • Biblical Teaching - We believe that the Bible is the primary means by which God is revealed to us and by which God builds his church. Our desire is to teach and apply what God says.
  • God Centered Worship - We believe that worship is all about God, it is to be directed to God, and therefore our desire is to sing theologically rich and God-centered songs.
  • Authentic Community - We are seeking real, authentic fellowship on Sunday morning where believers are ministering God’s grace to one-another.  We want to cultivate a community which welcomes new people and where the church genuinely cares for one-another.
     
• Small Group Ministry -  Care Groups at CrossWay are gatherings of 12-18 adults that meet together several times a month to to encourage one another to become more like Christ.  Our desire is that you would find that our Care Groups embody the following three characteristics:
  •   Biblical Relationships - The Christian life is not solitary.  God calls us to live out our lives with him in the context of relationships – especially those relationships with the members of our local church.  The care group structure provides a context to enjoy friendships, give care during trials, serve together, and help one another grow.
  • Spiritual Life - The care group should be a place where we expect God to be at work.  Our meetings allow for time to cultivate an awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence and activity.  This building of faith in God’s active presence often takes place in moments of encouraging each other through Scripture, praying and worshiping together, and using spiritual gifts to build up one another.
  • Christian Growth - Gospel-centered believers grow in Christ-likeness as they work out their Christian lives with one another.  The care group setting is a place where we can share openly, explore a biblical understanding of ourselves, invite others to help illuminate the thoughts and motives of our hearts, confess sin, apply the truth of the gospel to our lives, and help one another change through mutual care.
     
• Ministry Teams - Ministry Teams are places where people serve together for the mission of our church. 

CrossWay is also actively engaged in many different ways in the Outward Mission of telling the world about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Planting Churches - CrossWay planted a CrossWay Milwaukee church in South Milwaukee in 2008.  Our desire would be to continue to plant churches as God raises up leadership and planting teams.
• Local Community Projects - CrossWay has begun a partnership with Wilson School in Kenosha.  
• CrossWay Pastoral Training Course -  The purpose the CrossWay Pastoral Training Course is to provide future pastors with focused training, opportunity for growth in serving the church, and cultivation of godly character, all within the context and care of this local church.For more information call the Mark Rogers at the church office.
• Mission Partners - CrossWay partners with many missionaries and misison agencies throughout the world