CrossWalk serious ‘about being inclusive’

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The Rev. J.F. Wickey leads a CrossWalk United Church of Christ service. The church has been meeting in Enid for about a year with the mission to serve as Jesus served. (Photo provided)

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March 27, 2010

By Bridget Nash Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle The Enid News and Eagle Sat Mar 27, 2010, 09:50 PM CDT

ENID — CrossWalk United Church of Christ has been meeting in Enid for about a year with the mission to serve as Jesus served.

“We have an emphasis on service as opposed to doctrine,” said the Rev. J.F. Wickey. “It’s much more important to feed the hungry than to believe any certain doctrine, doing what Jesus said, not just believing certain things about Jesus.”

The church also believes providing education is an important way to serve. At 7:30 p.m. on the last Sunday of the month, church members — and any community members who want to join them — gather to watch an informational documentary.

“What we do is take a documentary on a topic and show the documentary and then talk about the topic,” said Wickey. “We try and at least bring a faith perspective to it. We’re not going to try to apply scripture in ways that are unfaithful to the scriptures.”

In the past the church has shown various documentaries on topics from water rights to dealing with a suicide. March 28 a video about relationships is scheduled.

“It’s about committed relationships, whether they are same-gendered or opposite-gendered, and how we look at those,” said Wickey, “how we can be faithful, especially in our loving, committed relationships.”

CrossWalk is a church that sanctions lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender lifestyles.

“LGBT folk know that we are serious about being inclusive,” said Wickey. “LGBT folk are not just accepted they are celebrated. We believe that sexuality is a God-given gift and that different expressions of sexuality express God’s love of diversity.”

The church meets each Sunday evening at 5:30 in Faith Lutheran Church, 201 S. Oakwood, and has a congregation between 12 and 20 individuals. The youth group meets at 6 p.m. each Tuesday.

“About once a month we have kind of a social gathering,” said Wickey.

Wickey said the church’s stance on scripture draws many people to the meetings.

“For us scripture is not entirely literal,” said Wickey. “We can stand with the metaphor, we can see scripture as the sacred stories.”

The church also gives away 20 percent of its general fund, said Wickey. Five percent goes to missions in Garfield County, five percent beyond Garfield County and 10 percent to United Church of Christ missions.

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CrossWalk serious ‘about being inclusive’
“We have an emphasis on service as opposed to doctrine. It’s much more important to feed the hungry than to believe any certain doctrine, doing what Jesus said, not just believing certain things about Jesus.” — the Rev. J.F. Wickey

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