I just want to share a related short comic to everyone, enjoy.
From the category archives:
Church
On June 20th Mosaic will not be gathering in the morning.
Instead our gathering will be held at Rosewood Baptist Church @ 2601 McNicoll Ave
We will be celebrating baptism together, and there will be a shared meal afterwards (If you haven’t registered yet, you can pay $10 at the door).
We’ll begin at 5:30pm
The following is a post by Tim Chester that shares some insights on where our own community might be at
For many Christians church is an event. It is a meeting you attend or a place you enter. Churches may talk about being a family, but most of their resources go into the Sunday morning event. Acquiring a building. Preparing the sermon. Producing the bulletin. Equipping a venue with sound and light. Planning the show. Practicing the band. That’s were their money and their staff time go. We talk about being family and community, but when you look at how we spend our time and money it becomes clear that in practice we view church as an event.
People often ask me about our meetings. ‘When do you meet? Where? What do you do when you meet together?’ But if you ask those questions then you have completely missed the point! We’re not advocating a new way of doing meetings. Actually our meetings are not good! The music is poor and the teaching is nothing you’d go out of your way to hear. What matters to us is our shared life: sharing our lives, doing ordinary life with gospel intentionality.
The church will never out perform TV shows and music videos. But there is nothing like the community life of the church. There is nowhere else where diverse people come together. There is nowhere else were broken people find a home. There is nowhere else when grace is experienced. There is nowhere else where God is present by his Spirit.
Your thoughts?
Jason C Dukes does a great job in “Live Sent” sharing how every one of us ought to be living. We always need new ways of communicating our faith in a changing culture – and this one actually works.
From ‘the bulk mail that is humanity’, to the church gathering as a ‘post office’, to how each of us are called to ‘live sent’, all of us are letters of love from God… and those we encounter whether we know it or not are letters to us as well.
Dukes drills down being ‘missional’ as something in the fabric of our being. It’s not simply doing more ‘mission’ projects or trips (while of course that’s needed as well). Missions is not something to add to your schedule, “it is your schedule” It’s what you’re already doing, but how you convey God within all of that is what truly makes you personally a love letter from God to others.
One of the best concepts in presented in the book I felt was the idea of the church being decentralized. Not simply geographically or in our influence, but that the dreams of our church would not be whatever the leaders are cooking up, but that as leaders we’re here to cultivate YOUR god given dreams. It’s one thing to agree and follow along with a general direction of a church’s leadership, is a completely different thing to be passionately fueled and sent by the unique call God has on your life.
May we all live sent.
A communal response to last week’s message on NEHEMIAH 10: COVENANT.
Apology: I could not read some of your handwritings; therefore, not all comments are printed here.
LOVE GOD … your choices
- His Word – read, reflect, pray and act.
- His world – read, reflect, pray and act.
- Practice the presence of God.
- March on God’s drum beat.
- Learn and practice the telling of God’s story in the world / in your life.
YOUR VOICES:
CHOICE COMMENTS:
1. 10 persons Group ppl (3 pl who are interested regardless of faith journey) to study the scripture, pray, act together. (hopefully the ppl are living in the same neighbourhood /
Be consistent & more disciplined in reading God’s word, praying & acting out. The core is to have a constant longing for God & His presence / Love God by loving His people – Christ followers and non Christ followers – people different from us – neighbours – set example – glorify Him / I haven’t been having much of time on reading God’s word. Right now it’s important to spend time on God’s Word in order to know more God. When knowing God more, we will love God more. Then we can practice love others too / Probably 1, 2 or 5? 5 sounds a lot better, so that one then? / 6 Help the helpless – reachout to un-reach — Chinese Christian Missions & Mon Sheung
2. 4 persons
3. 6 persons Tell the story of God through sharing lives with one another
4. 2 persons Remind each other of what God wants through sharing and reflection, to strengthen one another in the community to be closer to God.
5. 6 persons More communal blogging / sharing / practice this by meeting people with or without the same faith. Sharing faith with them how God has been there for myself through pain and suffering as an encouragement to them / Sharing your experiences and bring accountable to your brothers & sisters regarding your responses / it would be important the first understand the true meaning of God’s word
6. Be attentive to God’s need / helping people without thinking of rewards / open your eyes and see what God has created for us. Appreciate God’s creations.
LOVE OTHERS … your choices
- Pray and care for someone inside / outside the community of faith
- Practice the “one another” sayings from the Bible
- Meet up consistently with a group of Christ followers
- Tend to your health (emotional / physical / spiritual …)
YOUR VOICES:
CHOICE COMMENTS:
1. 11 persons
2 2 persons
3 4 persons same as “Love God” #1.
4 5 persons We need to care ourselves first & love ourselves before care for others. When people see us emotional / physical / spiritual healthy, they’ll want know why. That’s will give you the opportunity to show them * share the with God
5 Learn to take care for the needy ones in community / pray and care for those who are inside / outside of your community / individuals of old age family / help the needy ones and yourselves / always listen to others / pray & care for one another & others outside the community, emotionally, spiritually & physically , etc.
SERVE HUMANITY … your choices
- Adopt: Water Ambassador / Ratanak / Wycliffe / missionary / …
- Volunteering in your community / context
- Practice “simple living”
- Read and research
YOUR VOICES:
CHOICE COMMENTS:
1 4 persons Adopt an organization that actively serves humanity i.e. water ambassador / help when need
2 10 persons
3 13 persons So that we can save time & money to serve others & serve humanity / practice simple living and share & encourage friends to practice the same – from where we buy food & goods, from where we eat. How we don’t buy …
4 0 person
5 Pray , care and be accountable to someone inside / outside the community / be a helping hand to those you see. As simple as giving some loose changes to the poor / homeless, volunteer and really just help anyone / volunteering in your community & context as well as collaboration with others in the community also twittering & sharing about it in the community
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR INPUT
Happy New Year Mosaic! Let us review the past ten years and give thanks to God for what He has done on us. I hope that we can share it on the blog. I have NEWSWEEK 20/10 marks the first 10 years of the new century, and the link is http://2010.newsweek.com/essay/one-dazing-decade.html. May it bring you back some memory of what happened in the world and remind your journey of faith at that time. Let’s share our life in Christ and be the church.
At Mosaic, no matter who you are, or where you’re from, you are welcome with us. Our hope is that we can create a radically inclusive space where even those who may often feel most on the fringe can also feel a deep sense of belonging.
While technically we do offer ‘memberships’, if you’re not a member, we want to re-iterate that there is nothing you need to do for us to love you or accept you. Our membership provides no benefits or privileges other than additional opportunities to give and to serve.
We try to stress that members at Mosaic are in fact ‘partners’ because they are committed to joining God and participating in actively living a life of faith, love, and hope for the good of the world.
If you’d like to join us as a member and partner, we’d love to have you on board. Feel free to speak to us personally about doing so. You can also find an application form here.
If you’ve already been partnering with us this past year, we want to say a collective Thank You for being a part of this great adventure and taking us thus far! We don’t keep an unending ‘membership roll’ as we understand that people transition to different life stages and communities. We ask that you reflect and recommit to Mosaic as an active Christ-following partner in the community each year. Annual Renewal Form.
We’re currently also making an open invitation for nominations to our leadership team. This entails being an active partner as well as spiritually and strategically guiding our community. Nomination Form
All these forms and more can be found on our partners page. If you need the password or have any questions feel free to leave a comment or contact us.
In celebrating the birth of Christ this year, we will be shifting our Sunday morning Gathering on December 20th to arrange for a special time of worship and feasting together.
Christmas Serving – Christmas can be a time of immense joy for many, but also incredible loneliness for others. We’re looking for volunteers to join us as we serve in two seniors homes on Dec. 19th/20th. See Details.
Christmas worship
Dec 20, 4:30 pm at Monte Carlo Inn
Christmas Dinner
Dec 20, 6:30 pm at China Buffet King , 9737 Yonge St Richmond Hill, (905) 737-9933
Everyone and friends are welcome to come.
Contact Eleanor or drop a comment if you’d like to join us!
