Mosaic Vision Talk

After returning from his sabbatical, Matt Hatch reminds us of the vision and goals of Mosaic and how we 'join God's mission to build a community that transforms the world'.

Philippians 1:1-6
The Apostle Paul was keen to encourage the church he founded in Philippi and promote their ‘partnership in the Gospel’. 
The Greek word for partnership is ‘koinonia’ and it conveys a sense of working together, commitment, and investing personally into the community.  If Paul that it was important enough to thank them for it, so we need to foster partnership in Mosaic.
So what did ‘koinonia’ look like and what can we learn?

1) Financial Partnership:
Surprisingly, Paul probably has their financial partnership in mind.  The believers in Philippi were commended for their generosity.  More than once they had sent money to Paul to support him in his apostolic ministry.  Paul encourages them for this partnership, not to get more money out of them but by reminding them what generosity achieves (see Phil 4:15-19).

In the same spirit, Matt thanked the church for their generosity (we are just under budget for this year) but encouraged Mosaic to continue to partner together financially as we keep growing as a church family.  The two big financial challenges we face are:
i) Staffing:  In order to cope with the breadth and size of the church, we need to invest administratively, evangelistically and pastorally in staff at some point.
ii) Venue:  Again, because of growth (particularly families with children) we need to either start a 3rd Sunday service in the morning, move venue or start a service elsewhere in the city.
no decisions have been made but we are very open to God’s leading.  Both of these will mean trusting God for thousands of pounds.  Moving venue will mean hundreds of thousands of pounds! What an incredible chance to grow in faith and generosity!

2) Serving Partnership
Paul is also thinking of the general serving sense in which the church has partnered with him.  Paul uses this word Koinonia six times in the letter to emphasise this.  In 4:14 Paul says the partnership was so strong they shared his suffering with him.  This is a great example for us to serve one another and be involved in each others lives.  Matt encouraged us all to use our gifts and talents to serve one another, especially those who are new.  Every serving team needs volunteers as many people have moved to go church planting or serve other churches in the UK and abroad.

3) Gospel Partnership
Paul was also thinking about how their lives revolved around Jesus.  Proclaiming him, demonstrating his power, and sharing his message.  To partner in the gospel means we must learn how to be a very hospitable, generous, open hearted people prepared to share the life changing message of the Gospel.  Chiefly we do that through our mission groups and Matt encouraged us all to participate in them and for some to pioneer new groups.

Questions:
1) At the beginning of the letter, Paul talks about being ‘in Christ’.  What does that mean and how can it affect the way we live.  What are the consequences of not believing we are first and foremost ‘in Christ’?
2) Paul also talks about Grace and Peace.  Why is it so difficult for us to get grace?  How do you receive more grace?  Why do grace and peace go together?
3) Read Roman 5:5 and pray for each other to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Grace is a gift received from God through the Holy Spirit so it’s vital we spend time accepting the gift!
4) Pray for our church goals ( 5 church plants and 50 mission groups by 2015).  Remember the goals themselves aren’t important, but the values they reflect are biblical and part of the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20).  Pray for God to speak to us as a church about what we should do with our venue challenge.  Are there any prophetic words?
5) Explain the idea of partnership (koinonia).
6) Talk about giving and generosity as a group.  What are the issues?  Why do we give to the local church?  How we grow in generosity in such difficult financial times? Who has the gift of giving in your group? How can they use their gift?
7) Talk about serving each other.  What are peoples gifts?  Do they get to use them during the week, at mission group and when we gather on a Sunday?
8) Talk about gospel partnership.  Pray for everyone in the group to be more effective at sharing the gospel.  What are peoples challenges?  How can they grow in their love for Jesus?