MOSAIC Healdsburg

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FAQ

How would you describe the difference between spirituality
and religion?

For a lot of people, religion is an enemy of spirituality. It causes wars; squeezes us into someone else's beliefs. It kills our deeper life. Spirituality, it seems, is a better option. It comes from within. It's unique. It has real energy, power and the ability to inspire.

In the end, though, both fall short. Religion can't change our hearts with rules and rituals. Spirituality can't change our hearts either if its source is our own sinful heart. God knows we need a life transforming relationship with the God of the universe. This God made that relationship possible by sending His Son, Jesus to earth. In a conversation with a woman at a water well, Jesus described what he was offering people as an inner spring: "The water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life." Beyond religion and spirituality Jesus offers himself as the source of life we need, connecting us to the one true God.

Our passion is to see people meet Jesus in a genuine way so they experience first-hand the inner spring of eternal life. We love to see people's hearts transformed by Jesus. We know that this takes time and we welcome people to come, doubt, ask questions, and experience a relationship with people who know this Jesus. We also like to help other's who follow him to know how to introduce their friends to Jesus. Communicating naturally with others about these transformational issues is what we're all about. Religion and "Church" is out at MOSAIC Healdsburg, relationships and authenticity is in!

If you are interested in having a relationship with Jesus or would like help in communicating with others about how to have a relationship with Him, we'd love to meet you! Look around and see if we can serve you.

What do you believe? What is your doctrine?
Do you have a "Statement of Faith"?

This is a question that people who are God followers ask when they are looking for a new community to connect with. Although it's a fair and valid question, the reality is that it's based on the tenant that believing the same things about God builds community.

At MOSAIC Healdsburg we want to focus on who we are, more than what we believe. The absolute best way to understand and learn about any community is to experience it on the relational level. Statements of faith can tell you what a community's beliefs are, but they can’t tell you "who" they are. This can only be learned by interaction. The modern/institutional church has taught us that we learn by "hearing", in actuality we learn by "doing". Interaction is the key to knowing about any community. At MOSAIC Healdsburg we have a doctrinal statement, however we MAJOR on the MAJOR THINGS.

In short, We believe in one God, who is the creator of all things, known and unknown. We believe that God has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation, and that the clearest picture of who God is can be seen in the life and message of Jesus Christ.

In building authentic relationships we have found that many times churches MAJOR ON MINORS by dividing over issues that are not essential to the faith. In other words, some peoples opinions are treated on the same level as God's word to us. This is not the case at MOSAIC. Healthy interaction is the key. If you would like to discover who we are, please come to one of our "gatherings". You can find information like; dates, times and locations by going to our home page at http://www.mosaichealdsburg.com.

If the actual "statement of faith" is what you are still interested in, please contact one of our leadership team members to schedule your attendance to the "Welcome To Mosaic" class, where we cover our core beliefs and values in depth.

Without a public statement of what you believe, how to you function?

We recognize that there are some Firm Issues of Christianity and some Flexible Issues. An example of a Firm issue would be the resurrection of Jesus. The only opinion taught is that there was a physical resurrection of Jesus. An example of a flexible issue would be how often you should take communion. It is an issue about which there is room for more than one opinion. Whether to sing hymns or choruses is a flexible issue while the fact that we only come to God through Jesus is a firm issue.

IN FIRM ISSUES - We Have Unity

"There is one Body and one Spirit,... there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of us all..." Ephesians 4:4-6

IN FLEXIBLE ISSUES - We Have Liberty

"Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stand or falls.., so then each of us will give an account of himself to God... so whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God." Romans 14:1, 12, 22

IN ALL OUR BELIEFS - We Show Love

"...If I hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but also the very secrets of God, and if I have the faith that can move mountains - but have no love, I amount to nothing at all." I Corinthians 13.2 (Pr.)

A healthy church is confident enough in the truth of the Gospel that we don't get nervous if someone doesn't believe even on a Firm issue. Although we will never allow alternative teaching on Firm issues, we do believe in giving people time to realize the truth.

How do you seek out new leadership team members?

Anyone who seeks a position of leadership seeks a good thing. But we currently have a precedent of bringing people into leadership from within. Those are ones who have served in a volunteer capacity at Mosaic Healdsburg and have demonstrated the characteristics of faithfulness, humility and gratitude. We bring people into leadership based on character, not on talent or experience.

Everyone in leadership at Mosaic Healdsburg were all active participants and servants before they were asked to become a part of our Lead Team. Of course, you are always welcome to come to Sonoma County and join in on what God is doing here as a member of our volunteer staff!

I read on your leadership page that you have multiple pastors. How does that work?

From our inception we have decided to work as a pastoral team verses the senior pastor/associate staff model. It's really a matter of giftedness and getting back to God's original design for the church. We believe that having a multitude of Godly and Accountable leaders prevents individuals from leading the church in such a way that is self serving and protects the group from straying into doctrinal error . It appears, from looking at the new testament, that the early church was lead by a plurality of leaders. This is a much harder model to work with, however the benefits far outweigh the hurdles. It really requires every one on our leadership team to have a total commitment to unity. The best way to understand how it works is to come visit and watch how our leaders work together.

Is MOSAIC Healdsburg part of a denomination or association of churches?

Although MOSAIC Healdsburg is a independent/non-denominational church, we are a part of the MOSAIC ALLIANCE. AS a MOSAIC Church we are directly accountable to the alliance and our parent church, MOSAIC Los Angeles. You can find more information on the alliance here http://www.mosaicalliance.com and information on Mosaic Los Angeles here http://www.mosaic.org.

Can I make a "tax-deductible" donation to MOSAIC Healdsburg?

Yes. Our community has been started as a DBA under John Chevalier Ministries, Inc. which is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. This will allows us to legally receive donations and issue tax receipts as we are getting started. This is important because it gives us time to work on our articles of incorporation and pray though the structure of the ministry while the church is functioning. Most churches must have these things in place prior to accepting donations. The goal is, within our first year of operation, that MOSAIC Healdsburg will have it's own 501(c)(3) non-profit status which will continue to allow all donations to be tax-deductible.

Most Churches receive an offering during their service.
Why doesn't MOSAIC Healdsburg do that?

First of all, please understand that giving offerings to God through a spiritual community is not only a good thing, it is necessary for that community to function. We acknowledge that as people mature in their spiritual life they will desire to give back to the Lord a portion of what He gives to us. With that said, we have chosen to have an offering box available for people to place their offering in either as they walk in or as they leave our services. This way we do not communicate the wrong thing to those who have seen offerings in the church used to manipulate people to give. We don't believe in that, we don't like that, we don't tolerate that. We do teach on giving occasionally so that people may make an informed decision between them and the Lord on what and when they should give.