Our last core value at Crosstown Church is unashamedly unAmerican. We value dependence. We believe that the Church will succeed in its mission only by relying on the power of Christ. Therefore we happily embrace every opportunity to express and to celebrate our total dependence on God and his power to carry out his mission in this world.
In a culture that rightly celebrates political independence, it is easy to overlook the reality of how dependent we already are on God. The Bible asserts that if God chose to “gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (Job 34:14-15). The next breath you take is on loan from God! Even those who adamantly declare their independence form everyone and from everything are, according to Romans 6:16, slaves to the sin they submit to.
If Crosstown—or any other church for that matter—succeeds in our mission, it will only be because of God’s power. We may think it was our effort or hard work or ingenuity that is to be credited, but God will jealously protect his own glory. When Christ established the Church, he made it clear why it would not fail: “I will build my church,” he said (Matt 16:18).
Therefore it is possible to “do our best” and still fail. “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psa 127:1). While God is not telling us to lay down our hammers and nails, he is saying that all of the human effort in the world can do nothing if God is not empowering it. Even “good works” done in pride and apart from divine enablement are doomed to fail (see Mark 9:14-29).
Practically this means that we want to be a church that prays. Not the token prayers we are accustomed to, but fervent prayers of a people who are aware of their total dependence on God. Prayer is one of the best way to acknowledge and to remind ourselves of our dependence on God. It is alarming how little professing Christians pray either with one another or in solitude. And the main reason we don’t pray is we don’t feel the need. May God forgive us for our arrogant independence, and may he graciously remind us of just how dependent on him we really are. For everything.
