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CrossRose Friends Internet Outreach grew out of the website first created by
Sheila to share some of her Christian poetry, essays, short stories, and a
few Bible studies with the internet community. While the name of the site
remains the same and those writings appear in the "Pastor's Pages" of this
site, the site has grown to include Bible studies by Sheila, other members of
the CrossRose Friends Internet Outreach (CFIO) staff, and friends. The URL
may seem long and to have nothing to do with CFIO, but we've decided to keep
the site at the same domain and sub-site, at least for now, because people
know where to find that old site. In the future, we may obtain a URL, one
easier to remember, just for the outreach and link that URL to this
site.
The CrossRose Friends Church (CFC) began as a small
seed planted by our good friend Tom Kent. The first idea was to form the
church as an "outreach" or "subsidiary" of the Starland Friends Center (SFC)
based in Palm Springs, California. While all churches under the banner of the
Society of Friends (Quakers) are autonomous, as is CFC, we still consider
ourselves a part of SFC in so far as the lead pastor, Tom Kent, serves as our
advisor in matters of Quaker teachings and doctrine. We plan on continuing
our tie with the Center and working together on various projects, ministries,
and outreaches.
The main idea for this outreach grew from a discussion
with some friends about what the newly formed church could do to better
accomplish our set mission of spreading the Gospel and God's truth to a
larger community. The answer was simple ... build a website where we could
post studies and offer people email links so they may have their questions
answered. While "surfing the web", we've come across many sites that present
alternate truths (other religions), self-proclaimed Christian sites (some run
by organizations using well-known denominational names) that teach a false
Gospel, and sites run by churches claiming to be part of the Society of
Friends (Quakers) but are not following the original teachings of the
Quakers. If you already profess to be Christian, you'll know other religions
are not based on God's truth. If you're not a Christian, we hope to shine a
light on that truth. For all our visitors, we hope to teach the difference
between a false Gospel and what it really means to be saved and how to accept
God's free gift of salvation. And finally, we want to make it clear that not
all groups claiming to be Quakers or part of the Society of Friends are what
they claim. If you've seen other "Quaker" sites and have labeled the Quakers
as a cult, please contact us for the true and original beliefs of the Society
of Friends.
Serving the Lord is never a static situation. As we
grow and mature in the ways of God, we may be called to a further expansion
of our church, ministries, and outreach or even decrease our scope to more
fully focus on the job at hand. We have agreed to go where the Lord leads.
Our greatest hope is that we may serve God as he wants to use us and be
willing tools in his hands. |
