A Church of Open Doors on Indianapolis's Northeast Side
Cross & Crown Lutheran Church has stood at the corner of 79th Street and Allisonville Road on Indianapolis's northeast side for more than fifty years, and the congregation has spent those decades doing one thing very deliberately: making itself open to anyone who walks through the door.
The welcome is written into the congregation's own statements of identity. The community of Cross & Crown, members say, "welcomes each and every person with openness, understanding and appreciation. No exceptions." The welcome extends to people who have felt excluded from a spiritual community before, and the list of those explicitly invited is wide: people of every race, age, cultural background, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, physical and mental ability, family structure, and economic standing. As a community Cross & Crown lives into what it calls the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19 - making God's gift available to all people.
That posture shapes everything else. The congregation's stated mission is short enough to memorize: Grow in faith, serve all in need, gather every person to Christ. The guiding principles beneath it are simple: be disciples of Jesus, rely on the authority of Scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit, do everything by prayer, serve out of giftedness, offer genuine hospitality, value innovation and creativity, and deepen relationships to strengthen witness.
Cross & Crown is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), part of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod. Worship, teaching, and service flow from a Lutheran understanding of salvation by grace through faith, lived out in a congregation whose style is at once traditional and creative.
Sunday Mornings at 79th and Allisonville
For most of the year, Sunday morning at Cross & Crown follows a rhythm that has been refined over decades. Christian Education for children, youth, and adults begins at 9:00 am, and the principal Sunday worship service gathers at 10:30 am. During the summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the schedule simplifies a bit: Sunday School pauses and a single 9:30 am worship service takes its place.
Worship at Cross & Crown is described as the congregation's version of "traditional liturgical worship." The word liturgy means "work of the people," and the church takes that meaning seriously. The service is not something the congregation watches; it is something they participate in. Most of the time spent in worship is taken up by hymns or portions of the liturgy drawn from a printed bulletin, and the congregation carries most of the singing. Music is led usually by organ or piano, though contemporary praise is woven in alongside the Lutheran tradition - blending old and new in the same service.
Holy Communion is offered every Sunday at the altar rail. Ushers invite worshippers forward, and the rail fills as space allows. Anyone who prefers to remain in the pew can do so, and communion will be brought to the seat once the rest of the congregation has been served. A post-Communion blessing follows for everyone. The Passing of the Peace allows for both physical greetings - a handshake, a hug, a fist bump - and non-physical ones (a peace sign, a wave), at the comfort of both parties.
Anyone who would like a preview of the service before visiting - or who wants to catch up on a missed Sunday - can listen through the recorded services archive on the church's YouTube channel, where past services and sermons are posted.
The Sanctuary: Sunlight, Stone, and a Hand-Carved Altar
The sanctuary at Cross & Crown is one of the building's quiet strengths. Floor-to-ceiling windows fill the worship space with natural daylight, and a vaulted ceiling lifts the eye toward the front. Twenty pews line the room, ten on either side of a center aisle, with two side aisles flanking the main one. The aisle runs roughly forty-seven feet from the base of the altar stage to the inside of the sanctuary door. Optional pew candles sit on every other pew, five on each side, and flower stands wait near the front for wedding flowers or seasonal arrangements.
At the front of the sanctuary stands a hand-carved circular altar, surrounded by a cushioned kneeling area where Holy Communion is served and blessings are offered. The altar and the sunlight together give the worship space the feel of a working church that takes beauty and reverence seriously without losing warmth.
The building is on the northeast side of Indianapolis, at the corner of 79th Street and Allisonville Road. The front entrance is reached from a roundabout off the parking lot, and the rest of the facility includes a Narthex (lobby), a Fellowship Hall, classrooms for Christian education, the Peter Panda preschool wing, and the chapel where the preschool children gather for Bible storytime.
Christian Education for Every Stage
Christian Education is not an add-on at Cross & Crown; it is part of the rhythm of Sunday morning. Classes for every age meet at 9:00 am during the school year, from Labor Day through Memorial Day, with breaks during holidays and school vacations.
Sunday School is offered for children from age 3 through 4th grade. The curriculum is lectionary-based, meaning the Bible story taught in class each Sunday matches the Scripture the children will hear in worship, so learning and liturgy reinforce one another. Children are divided into age-appropriate groups, and parents and other volunteers rotate through as leaders of the week. Every volunteer working with children is trained by church staff and cleared with a background check before stepping into a classroom.
Catechism is a Sunday morning class for youth in 5th through 7th grade, taught by the pastor. High school youth in 9th through 12th grade are integrated into the adult education offerings on Sunday mornings, allowing them to study alongside parents and other adults in the congregation.
Adult Christian Education meets at 9:00 am on a rotating schedule of class topics and book studies. Recent studies have included We Make the Road by Walking, and groups have also gathered for weeknight studies during some seasons.
For families with babies and toddlers, Cross & Crown offers a faith-based curriculum called Splash. A Splash newsletter is mailed directly to homes with children under age 3, full of simple ideas for nurturing faith in the earliest years.
Music Ministry at Cross & Crown
Music is the working heart of Cross & Crown's liturgical worship, and the church makes room for anyone who wants to lend a voice.
The adult choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm from September through May and is open to anyone who enjoys praising God through song. The bell choir rehearses at 11:45 am on Sunday mornings, immediately after worship, and adds a different texture to the music program. Beyond the choirs, lay ministers serve as lectors and Communion assistants, acolytes light the altar candles, cross bearers lead the procession, and ushers and other volunteers fill out the roster of more than 100 people who serve in worship each quarter.
Music Director Gayle Sarber leads the program, supported by a team of AV technicians, hosts who provide coffee and refreshments, Altar Guild members, communion bread bakers, and the lay worship leaders. A small group of communion bread bakers - the recipe is described as easy, and the commitment is one or two times a quarter - provides the bread for Holy Communion each Sunday.
Youth and Family: PULSE, RISE, and Summer Days Together
Cross & Crown does not treat youth and family ministry as a future project. The congregation says plainly, "We don't only believe that youth are the future of the Church, we believe they are the Church now."
PULSE is the middle school ministry for youth in grades 6 through 8. During the school year PULSE meets every Sunday at 9:00 am for confirmation class and gathers through the week for fellowship and service projects. The middle school program focuses on Bible study for spiritual growth, understanding of Scripture and the catechism, building Christian community, and providing opportunities to serve.
RISE is the senior high youth group, for grades 9 through 12. RISE students join adult education on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am and come together through the year for social and service outings, including a Christmas progressive dinner.
Summer Days Together is an annual weeklong daytime gathering in the summer when families meet, eat, work, worship, and have fun together. The week is built around worship, service, fellowship, and family time.
A nursery for infants through pre-K is typically available from 9:00 am until the end of worship on Sundays. The space, however, is on hiatus at present; the church advises families to check in advance if they will need nursery care.
Peter Panda Preschool
Peter Panda is the preschool ministry of Cross & Crown, and it has become a neighborhood institution in its own right. Classes meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from September through May at the church, and the school's goal is to help each child grow in confidence, feel secure in relationships outside the family, and experience the love of adults other than their parents.
Teachers rotate through the program areas of language arts, dramatic play, science, math, physical movement, music, art, manipulative play, health awareness, and personal care. In addition to the regular classroom activities, each class attends music twice a week, motor development every other week, and Bible storytime every other week in the chapel. Peter Panda's staff is led by Director Angie Carroll and Assistant Director Amy Murray, supported by lead teachers for each age group and assistants.
Classes are organized by age: Caterpillars for 12 to 24 months, a two-year-old class, a three-year-old class, and a class for four- and five-year-olds combining Tuesday-Thursday mornings with a longer Wednesday that runs 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. The school's desire is that each child leaves Peter Panda with a favorable attitude toward learning, a good feeling about themselves, and the secure knowledge that they are a child of God.
Outreach: The Sharing Place, SAWs, Second Helpings, and Beyond
Outreach is woven through Cross & Crown's identity. The congregation participates in nearly a dozen ongoing partnerships, and members describe the work as looking "beyond the walls of Cross and Crown to seek opportunities to be Christ's hands and feet."
The Sharing Place, a food pantry operated by Lutheran Child & Family Services of Indiana/Kentucky, provides free food and clothing to families in an eleven-zip-code service area across Marion and Hancock Counties. Cross & Crown volunteers staff the pantry and keeps a donation chest at the church for non-perishables. Stated current needs include non-sugar cereal (corn flakes), toilet paper, pork and beans, egg noodles, and spaghetti with sauce.
SAWs (Servants at Work) is a faith-based nonprofit that builds wheelchair ramps for people with permanent disabilities in low-income households. Cross & Crown members regularly join SAWs build days, providing labor that gives clients freedom, mobility, and re-entry to community life.
Second Helpings, Indianapolis's food-rescue kitchen, receives Cross & Crown volunteers quarterly to prepare meals for the food-insecure. Volunteers must be at least sixteen and follow Second Helpings' dress code: long pants, closed-toe shoes, and a hat.
Outreach Indiana provides food, clothing, and personal care items for young people between ages 14 and 26 who are homeless, couch-surfing, or in unstable housing. Cross & Crown maintains a barrel in the Narthex for clothing, new underwear, sports bras, hygiene products, laundry supplies, snacks, and bottled water.
ELCA Disaster Relief receives Cross & Crown support when communities are overwhelmed by tornadoes, flooding, or destructive winds. The congregation also participates in a pop tab collection for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Indiana, supporting families of patients at Riley Hospital for Children. Drop-off bins for tabs sit in the Narthex.
Cross & Crown at the Movies, a quarterly film-and-theology gathering in the Fellowship Hall, treats participants to popcorn, lemonade, and conversation about big questions through film. CASA (Child Advocates), a Court Appointed Special Advocate program that walks alongside children in abuse and neglect cases, is supported by Cross & Crown volunteers, and the congregation occasionally provides meals to Grace Unlimited, the ELCA campus ministry at Butler University.
The Shalom Zone is a regional partnership of five congregations - Cross & Crown, Allisonville Christian Church, Epworth United Methodist Church, First Friends Quaker Meeting, and St. Pius X Catholic Church - that takes on outreach projects too large for a single church to handle.
Stephen Ministry and Congregational Care
Stephen Ministry is one of the quieter but deeper commitments at Cross & Crown. Stephen Ministers are trained laypeople from the congregation who provide confidential, one-on-one care to people going through grief, divorce, a medical crisis, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, relocation, and other hard times. Each care receiver is paired with a Stephen Minister by the pastor or Stephen Leader, and the identity of the care receiver is shared only with that pair. Nothing else about the relationship is known by the congregation at large.
Pastor Ed Strietelmeier oversees Stephen Ministry along with Stephen Leader Ron Hanson. The ministry is grounded in James 5:16 - "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" - and pairs the listening presence of a trained caregiver with the conviction that God is at work in every conversation.
Other Congregational Care ministries include Prayer Shawls, in which knitters make shawls and lap robes while praying for the recipient; a Card Ministry that sends greetings to members; the Joy Ministry, a designated fund that helps members through unexpected non-recurring expenses; and Meals That Heal, which delivers meals to members recovering from surgery or illness. GUTS (a service group with an unprintable acronym) lends volunteer labor to elderly or disabled members and friends for one-time household tasks such as yard work, painting, and gutter cleaning. The Green Team promotes earth-friendly practices through activities like a Lenten Carbon Fast and an Eco Film Series.
Weddings at Cross & Crown
Cross & Crown welcomes weddings in its sanctuary, which seats about 300. Aisle length runs roughly forty-seven feet, and the church recommends any aisle runner be fifty-five to sixty feet long. The wedding fee of $700 covers use of the sanctuary, rehearsal, preparation time, dressing rooms, the Narthex, pew candles, sound system, wedding banners, contract cleaning, and the assistance of Wedding Coordinator Pam Burchett.
The church does not allow weddings during the Lenten season, on Easter weekend, on Christmas Eve, or on Christmas Day. Alcohol is not permitted anywhere on the property, the building is smoke-free, the Fellowship Hall is not available for receptions, and rice, birdseed, and large flower petals cannot be thrown. Couples who want Holy Communion as part of the ceremony simply let the Wedding Coordinator and the pastor know in advance.
Supporting the Mission
The work Cross & Crown does is funded by the offerings of its members and friends. People can give by cash or check at Sunday services or by mail, sign up for electronic giving through automated withdrawals, or donate online through the church's secure Tithe.ly page. A designated Joy Fund within the congregation helps members through unexpected non-recurring expenses.
Visitors, newcomers, and those curious about membership are warmly received. Anyone interested in learning more about becoming a member of Cross & Crown can contact Parish Administrator Chris Lantz in the church office. Prayer requests are welcomed by email or phone and are circulated through a prayer chain. The weekly Cross & Crown Connection e-newsletter keeps readers current on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and the congregation's pastoral life.
Cross & Crown invites everyone to participate - in worship, in education, in music, in service, and in the everyday rhythms of church life that hold the rest together.