Core values

Beliefs

Mosaic’s beliefs are drawn from the Bible and are described in the Apostles’, Nicene, and Chalcedonian Creeds and the The Lausanne Covenant. We also subscribe to the Narrative Theology developed by Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan.

We share these beliefs with millions of churches throughout the world.

Distinctive values

As we live out our beliefs, we weave in other, more specific values. These are not ours alone, but they help to define Mosaic’s distinct mission within the local and world-wide Christian communities:

• The centrality of community in mentoring, healing, and discovering God-given gifts, calling, and hope
• Hospitality to spiritual travelers—safety, community, and resources for people investigating Christianity
• Affirmation and pursuit of quality creative arts and expression

Practice

Here are a few key ways that we practice our beliefs and values:

Worship and prayer

Mosaic honors God through worship and prayer that are fresh, honest, and creative, expressed in ways that are both individually free and sensitive to others. They extend beyond our gatherings into our work, our art, our studies—our lives. And they are focused on relationship with God and with each other.

Outreach

Mosaic seeks to serve our world by pursuing the principles of the Kingdom of God, as described in the Bible, especially by Jesus and his followers: life over death, freedom over oppression, servanthood over power, and love over all. We do this through storytelling, mentoring, service, and teaching. And we seek to serve beyond our regional, national, and cultural borders.

Community

Mosaic aspires to offer a fresh and open community, a safe connection place for people who long for acceptance and meaningful, affirming friendship. We believe this opens the door for spiritual exploration, allowing people to experience Jesus—and those Kingdom-of-God ideals—through relationships with his followers.

The arts

Since its inception, Mosaic has been a haven for artists who are unwilling to let art and faith diminish each other. This includes musicians, painters, dancers, writers, photographers, illustrators, designers, teachers, programmers, urban planners, and many others who have found a home here, and who have woven their art into our community, its expression, and its mission.

Mentoring

At Mosaic, we hope each person will feel that they belong, have a purpose, and can make a difference. To that end, we look for opportunities to mentor and to be mentored—to explore and experience who God is, who we are in him, and how he has gifted us. This affects every aspect of our lives and health: spiritual, emotional, physical, relational, and intellectual. And it requires a long-range view—toward a lifetime of knowing Jesus better, becoming more like him, and helping to launch future generations.

Success and failure

We say we “aspire,” “hope,” and “seek” to live out our beliefs and values, because we expect to both meet and fall short of them in different ways. Mosaic’s history is a story of both great success and heart-wrenching failure.

At the core of our beliefs is the idea that humans are damaged and that all our efforts are flawed as a result. But we also believe that through Jesus, we can find both forgiveness and power to overcome our weakness.

We have tried to build Mosaic around that idea—extending grace, mercy, and acceptance to all who come looking for it. We hope you will find them here. And we hope you will extend them back to us when we fall short.