So what IS Orange? Most simply, orange is what happens when you mix yellow and red. It’s the combined – and expanded – possibilities of yellow and red alone. Two of the most potentially influential forces in our world are the Church and the family. Think of the Church as yellow – the Church is called to be the LIGHT to the world, to display God’s presence and glory to our world. And think of the family as red – the heart and life-blood of our culture, the foundation of each of our individual journeys. When we think and act Orange, we are expanding the potential of yellow and red – combining the influences produces a new and vibrant approach – Orange.

Moving from theory to the practical, what does that mean for us at Crosswinds? Here’s what we know so far:

• Orange is not a theological or doctrinal position. It is not the only ‘right’ way for a church to work. It is not the final answer to all problems (that answer is still Jesus!).
• It is a STRATEGY approach that we believe makes sense because it reflects the values we have had from the beginning. Values like the Word, the Spirit and Community. And values like simplicity, family, outreach, discipleship, acceptance, and worship.
• Every church (and business and organization and government and even families!) lives out their values with a strategy. Sometimes we are aware of how that is working. Sometimes we are unaware of the strategy that is at work. Regardless of our awareness, there is always a strategy at work. We want to be intentional about the strategy we are using.
• So think of Orange as a basket that holds the values and truths we are committed to. It shapes how we interact with those truths and how we help one another walk them out in our daily lives.
• Orange helps us focus on 2 priorities:
  • The Church (yellow) – the goal of the Church is to be the light the world needs. The Church exists to grow us up to be fully mature followers of Jesus (Eph. 4:11-16). When the Church shifts its attention to other goals – we become distracted and lose our light. Jesus prayed for the Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven (Matt. 6:10). We want to partner with that goal and stay focused on the right thing.
  • Families (red) – the reality is that every person is affected by family. We all came from a family – some of our experiences were positive and some were negative. Some of us are still dealing with negative effects from the way we grew up. Whatever our story is, whatever our circumstances with our family are, God’s plan has always been for redemption. There are NO perfect families – not in the Bible or anywhere else. God invites us to see family from His perspective and to partner with Him right where we are to grow, mature and become more like Jesus.
• Bottom line, our vision for Crosswinds and those we influence is that we would become more like Jesus.

That’s the short version. We invite you to join us for the next few Sundays as we explore this topic more deeply. We are excited about all that God is doing in the lives of His people.