What kind of church are we?

Is Mosaic Baptist traditional or contemporary? Evangelical or Fundamentalist? Liberal or Conservative? Pre-Modern, Modern or Post-Modern? Mono-ethnic or Multi- ethnic?

The following is a start to understand Mosaic Baptist.

1. Mosaic Baptist is a Christ following church.
   This is another way of saying that we are a Christian church. It means that we are holding to the essential teaching and historic beliefs which all Christians share. We seek to follow the teaching and example of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Bible is God’s authoritative words to us in knowing of his plan of restoring a right relationship with him and his way for us to live life in this world. We seek to understand it and let it be the guide of our lives. We believe the good news of Jesus is the best news and the way of Jesus is the best way to life on earth.
2. Mosaic Baptist is a Baptist church.
   This means that we subscribe to the view of believer’s baptism and we do not practice infant baptism. Different churches have different views about baptism. At Mosaic Baptist, we compare baptism to the wedding ceremony. At a wedding ceremony, a couple stands before a group of witnesses and exchange rings. The rings are symbols of the ending to their lives as single people, and the beginning of their new life in a lifelong commitment. Similarly, in baptism, a new Christ follower stands before others and is immersed in water. The ceremony doesn’t make the person a Christ follower any more than a ring makes a person in love. Rather, the ceremony is an outward symbol full of meaning – making a milestone in a person’s spiritual journey that has led him or her to sincere faith and commitment in Jesus Christ. It also means that we do not belong to any umbrella organization that exerts control over our ministry. However, it does not mean we are isolated from other churches. We participate in fellowship with other Baptist churches which allow for support and sharing of ideas and resources, etc.
3. Mosaic Baptist is a “missional church”.
   This means that we see the Jesus mission as being at the heart of all we are, say, and do. This mission is a call to love God with all our being, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This mission of love for God and our neighbors directs and drives us into our world with the compassion, hope, sacrifice, and good news of Jesus Christ. This means that we seek to be an outward-focused church, rather than inward-focused. It means that we seek to help and heal our world rather than to condemn it. It means that we seek to help people grow as Christ followers, we challenge them to become positive difference- makers in their circles of influences, and ultimately, in the world at large. It means that for us, faith isn’t a negative list of “don’t” but rather an exciting challenge to become all God intends us to be.

In a nutshell, we hold ourselves together to carry out:
1. Having a High Threshold for Membership.
2. Being Real, Not Real Religious.
3. Teaching to Obey Rather Than to Know.
4. Rewriting Worship Every Week.
5. Living Apostolically.
6. Expecting to Change the World.
7. Ordering Actions According to Purpose.
8. Measuring Growth by Capacity to Release, Not Retain.
9. Placing Kingdom Concerns First

Taken from:
Shaped By God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches
By Milfred Minatrea

Watch also: Thinking Missionally

4. Mosaic Baptist is a welcoming church.
   This means that we have a special concern for unchurched people – both those who have no religious background and those who have dropped out of church. We seek to make the good news of Jesus understandable to them through our practices and language. We also believe that God loves everyone – the irreligious every bit as much as the religious – and so we keep our doors and hearts wide open to people, wherever they are on their spiritual journey. We seek to promote understanding and acceptance of people from all ethnic and social economical backgrounds.
   We hope that you will feel welcome here, and we hope that you will choose to do more than attending. We hope that you can join with us on an adventure that God has called the Mosaic Baptist community to experience.
5. In summary, Mosaic Baptist seeks to be a community of believers, intimately connected with God and with one another, who lives intentionally in every aspect of our lives, passionately worshipping God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind to reflect the true character of Christ, and working innovatively to lead the communities around us to authentically live out God’s story. We dream that we are a community where:
   • The story of God is told and lived in a joyful, fun and exciting way
   • The kingdom of God is increased in real ways in the world through us
   • God’s Spirit takes precedence over all structures and systems

Affiliations:
1. Fellowship Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada
2. The Willow Creek Association Canada