FAQ
Q. Are you connected with a particular denomination?
A. No, Crossroads is a non-denominational Christian ministry. We desire to see children come to know, love, and serve Jesus, and we partner with local churches who share that desire. If you would like to learn more about our specific beliefs, you can view our Statement of Faith by clicking here.
Q. When and how did Crossroads start?
A. Crossroads was founded in 1998, by Bern and Jeanne Bertsche, business owners in Hanover Park, Illinois, who wanted to reach children in Hanover Park with the love and Word of Jesus. Crossroads began as a para-church ministry serving one particular neighborhood. Now, we aim to help churches across America gain access to the nearly 39,000,000 children in approximately 89,000 public elementary schools. You can read more about our history by clicking here.
Q. What age group does Crossroads serve?
A. We offer materials designed to work with the last three years of elementary school. In some communities, this will be grades 4, 5, and 6. In other areas, it may be grades 3, 4, and 5. According to the book, Raising a Modern Day Joseph by Larry Fowler, kids at this stage of development are more open to responding to the gospel than at any other age. As well, kids met at this age can be invited into a church’s existing middle school youth program when they finish with Crossroads. For these reasons, this is a strategic age for evangelistic outreach.
Q. When and where do Crossroads Kids Clubs meet?
A. A traditional Crossroads Kids Club meets for 90 minutes once per week, inside of a public school’s gym or cafeteria. Our program is adaptable though so that the length of a club could be longer or meet on multiple days if you decided to do a sports-based club, for example.
Q. Are you connected with a particular church?
A. Crossroads is a para-church ministry and exists to serve local churches around the nation. We are not a church.
Q. How many kids can be reached through a Crossroads Kids Club?
A. Due to the limitations of a school gym, we have found that approximately 30 students is the maximum number you can have in an individual club program. If you desire to reach more kids in a particular school, you can use multiple rooms or have clubs on multiple days.
Q. What curriculum do you use?
A. Crossroads has developed curriculum that aims to connect the truth of the Bible with children who have little or no biblical knowledge or church experience. In other words, we attempt not to presume any prior Christian experience or knowledge. You can learn more about our curriculum and download a lesson sample by clicking here.
Q. How much does Crossroads charge for its services?
A. Crossroads does not charge churches a set fee for our curriculum, training, legal support, staff screening, or any of the services that we will provide to you. Instead, we desire to partner with local churches to serve children. Nonetheless, in order to provide the services we do, we ask each partner church to make a financial commitment to Crossroads at whatever level they can afford keeping in mind that it will cost Crossroads about $150 per month per church partner. Some churches will choose to support Crossroads as a mission organization, and may give this much or more to fuel the vision of reaching into every public elementary school in America. Other churches may be under-resourced and may have a hard making much of a financial commitment. The bottom line is that we want to help your church get started with school-based ministry whether you can only give $20 per month or whether you give $2,000 per month.
Q. Are there other costs involved in running a Crossroads Kids Club?
A. Yes. The biggest single potential cost is rent that a school district may charge you. School district policies vary widely from place to place. In some locales, the use of space will be completely free. In other cases it may be as high as $75 per week. If your local district charges a rental fee at all, it is likely to be in the range of $12-25 per week. You may also wish to purchase snacks and prizes for the children as well as some supplies for the lessons. We suggest budgeting about $15 per week for these expenses.
Q. How many leaders does it take to run a club?
A. Five people is ideal, but you can lead a club with fewer. Part of the club time is spent in small groups. We have found that a group of 6-8 students with one leader is ideal, so it is good to have at least four leaders. The curriculum provides enough structure that mature high school students are able to lead small groups. We have seen one club that functions well with one adult staff and three high school students.
Q. How do you get into public schools? What about church-state separation issues?
A. Many churches are unaware of the access that they may have to public schools. When a school district opens up its doors to outside groups of any kind, it has created what the law defines as a “limited public forum.” The forum is limited in that a school is able to limit the scope of the public access to particular types of activities, but it is public, which means that a district cannot restrict the free-speech rights of forum participants. So, for example, a district may limit the use of their space by outside groups to exclusively sports programs. In that case, a church could start a sports-based club and openly share Christ as part of that club. The Christian aspect of the club is considered a viewpoint, and the district cannot discriminate against groups based on a viewpoint (whether religious or secular). They can only discriminate based on the type of activity (sports in this example). If you have more specific questions, please feel free to ask us.
Q. Why go into public schools?
A. In short, because that is where the kids are! Our desire at Crossroads is to see every child come to know, love and serve Jesus. In the United States, there are approximately 39,000,000 children enrolled in public elementary schools.