Common Questions
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We’re non-denominational, but we do invite high accountability and encourage being networked with outside leaders and networks.
Our leaders come from various backgrounds, ranging from Baptist, Mega Non-Denom Church, Wesleyan, and Pentecostal. To be clear, we are proud to collaborate with so many disciple-makers from diverse backgrounds, and we feel this embodies our ongoing value of “major in the majors and minor in the minors.”That being said, we strive to be a community that focuses on major issues, not minor ones.
Minor ones might include examples for us such as: spiritual gifts, tribulation/end-times timing, election vs. free will, women in leadership, etc.
Major ones for us would be examples like: Jesus is the only way to salvation, all the teachings of Jesus and the apostles are still authoritative and guiding, the New Testament clearly defines what sin is, and you can’t follow Jesus while living a lifestyle of willful/deliberate sin. See our statement of faith for our definitive list of majors: https://joinmosaicmovement.com/our-beliefs
But to be clear, we are neither crusading Calvinists nor dogmatic Arminians; we hold both stances in tension based on the supporting scriptures of each.
We believe in all the spiritual gifts, but we don’t believe they should be the focus or pursuit, nor do they indicate someone is more spiritual if they do operate in a gift.
Please understand that while we champion innovative approaches to disciple-making and church, this doesn’t mean we desire to be progressive in our theological views.
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Below is our general road map in terms of where people often begin and where they may arrive in terms of our in-house leadership growth:
Unchurched/Unbeliever
Believer/Disciple
Disciple-Maker
Mentor
Leader (Associate, Governing, and then Executive)
We believe every Christian is called to be a disciple who makes disciples, and that we have the high challenge and high invitation to become a mentor or leader.
Keep in mind these outlined stages are not rigid, but just a loose visual of how someone may find themselves going from A to Z in leadership with us.
Hosting a group at your house or disciple-making does not make someone a leader with us.
To become a leader: a review is done of a person’s character, spiritual life, discipleship and disciple-making history, disciple-making competency, and leadership competency in dealing with controversies and heresies. Much prayer is given, and consideration is made of a person’s alignment with our values, beliefs, and cultural fit. We also consider where they are in terms of 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9.
We desire to have many leaders, but leadership roles are appointed through a spiritual discernment process.
See our whitepaper for the full breakdown of the leadership structure.
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We’ve outlined our financial framework on this page here:
https://joinmosaicmovement.com/funding
FAQ
What do you do on Sundays?
The principle of simple gatherings translates into how Sunday gatherings are facilitated. We want to people to view that week’s Scripture as their sermon. In a traditional church, you get a sermon on Sunday, and then you get into small groups to discuss it. For us, we want to devote ourselves to thinking deeply not about the pastor’s words but the inspired word of God – that is how we devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching. We don’t want to draw people to how we explain Scripture. Rather, we double down on the belief that if you have the Spirit of God in you, you are able to read Scripture yourself, and as a body we can wrestle with Scripture together.
Pastors don’t regularly preach a sermon on Sundays. If the pastor feels very strongly about a message that they want to bring to the church, they can teach for 5 to 10 minutes at points. Pastors shouldn’t be the ones to speak for the majority of the time in our gatherings. If they do, it subconsciously teaches people that they don’t have as much to offer. There is a place and time for sermons, but if every single week there is only one person talking about the Bible, instead of the whole church talking about it, we can lose the culture of everyone reading the Bible for themselves. The role of the pastor is to ask really good questions to get their church thinking through Scripture as well as teach throughout the discussion.
We really want to get the body involved in being able to bring something to church gatherings. Make sure each person in your church understands this: If you’ve spent time with the Lord all week, meditating on the Word, you should have something to offer that would be beneficial to the body.
What do you do with children?
Church is not a Sunday morning thing, and therefore we shouldn’t think of training and ministry mostly in terms of Sunday morning programs. Our children get to be in a community of believers who love each other deeply, live life together, support each other, and watch each other’s kids. It is often said that it takes a village to raise a child. We believe the best thing for the discipleship of our children are 1) parents who are discipled well 2) the body of believers who will be the aunts and uncles in the Lord and will love them and model Christ to them in the normal rhythms of life.
Regarding how to incorporate children at your church in your gatherings, pastors have freedom to think through what would work best for your group. A church with a group of kids under 5 will look a lot different from a church that has only 2 teenagers. A guiding principle is that we want to value children. We don’t want to segment people out too much based on age. And we want the whole church to be interacting with each other. Where we can, we’d love to have kids engaged in gatherings. But more than anything, we want them to be engaged relationally. This might mean that when you spend time with other people in the church, discipling them or just sharing life, you have the children around you as well, so that there can be more space for different age groups to live life together and to love one another.