Cross Timbers Church is a Texas-based church whose primary goal is to serve the community - there is a heavy emphasis on leadership and service both around the community and beyond. Their chief efforts are focused on professional Christian counseling, volunteer work, and humanitarian aid both domestically and internationally. The church itself is incredibly involved with the community, providing services of all kinds to those who request or need them. From running soup kitchens to giving supply-filled backpacks to students in the area, Cross Timbers has a loose commitment to generally helping people in the area through their resources. Their mission statement is thus:
"Asking God for 10,000 spirit-filled, baptized believers walking in freedom, and committed to meeting the needs of the poor and the broken, both locally and around the world in the next 10 years" (Cross Timbers, 2012).
2.
Cross Timbers Church has a commitment to social responsibility as a consequence of its religious mandate. As a church, its staff and members feel compelled to do good works as one of the fundamental tenets of their faith - it is explicitly stated in the Bible that good Christians must give of themselves to those who are lacking, and to spread the word of God. Part of their strategy is to convert others to Christianity by providing humanitarian and volunteer works as a way of enhancing their presence and showing the good that Christianity can do. As a church-affiliated organization, its mission statement is to spread the word of God and to serve the community and beyond.
3.
The organization's social initiative deals chiefly with international ministry and volunteer service; they wish to perform humanitarian works both at home and abroad. Specific activities toward that end include partnering with Hope for North Texas to provide volunteer service to communities in their immediate area. Their international ministries span countries like Haiti, Uganda and India, and they perform both humanitarian service and Christian ministry there. As a church, their social initiative takes up the vast majority of their resources and time - in addition to adding and providing religious-based services to the community, they provide practical help through their volunteer arm of the organization. One of their more focused efforts is the Healing Place, which is a specific counseling arm of Cross Timbers, providing counseling and therapy for a variety of people from all walks of life.
4.
The effects of Cross Timber's social initiative are potentially great. Despite the firm's religious affiliation, a great deal of interfaith and practical help is provided to those who need it. The members of the church, which number in the hundreds of volunteers, are on hand to distribute their services and expertise to communities nearby and abroad. The only real limiting factor to this organization is their religious agenda, which they likely provide along with their community service and humanitarian aid. However, provided that they do not make conversion a requirement for their aid (and they do not), there are no ethical or moral compunctions to the church giving needed service to those who require it.
References
Cross Timbers Church. (2012). Retrieved from http://crosstimberschurch.org/.
