What is a “church start?”

A “church start” is beginning of a new Christian worshipping community. Every church had its days as a “church start”: perhaps someone started a Bible study in their home and it grew, or maybe several families got together to do Christian education and expanded as they went. We are assembling and inviting any and everyone to join us in the adventure who a) needs a spiritual home where they can grow, heal, learn, and connect with God and with their neighbor; and b) needs a place to share their gifts to serve God and their neighbor.

Why Form Another Church?

The northwest metro area of the Twin Cities has lots of churches already, some say – why a new one?

We do not create new congregations because we believe those around us aren't doing their job – rather, we create new congregations for two reasons: 1)  because God has called us to form a new community to meet new people and address emerging needs, and 2) because of the reality that no one church can meet all the needs of a community as large and diverse as ours is.   We believe each congregation is doing its best to live out God's call – our call is to be community of real and radical welcome, recognizing the goodness of a variety of cultures and embracing others just as God formed them to be.

What kind of worship can I expect – and what should I wear?

Mosaic worship is now, and will always be, a work in progress! This is what we can say so far: you can expect music from a variety of places around the world, you can expect that you will hear different languages pray and read Scripture, you can expect a sermon in English, and you can expect a celebration of Communion (in the Christian tradition, we share bread and wine or grape juice in memory of the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his death and resurrection). Dress can be as casual as you wish. We will take an offering at each worship service, and while you are welcome to give, there is certainly no expectation that visitors will do so.

What time is worship?

During the summer of 2012, Mosaic will serve a meal at 5:00pm and worship begins exactly 5:30pm-ish. Beginning in fall, the open meal will be at 10:30am and worship at 11:00am.

Where are you located?

During the summer we will worship at our current location, 7200 Brooklyn Blvd in Brooklyn Center, MN. This is also where the no-hassles youth food shelf is housed. Both Mosaic and the food shelf will be moving this fall – stay tuned for details!

Details: Mosaic will move worship to the TreeHouse building on 7520 Brunswick Ave N in Brooklyn Park.

What do you believe about God and the Bible?

Brooklyn Mosaic is a United Methodist congregation – this means, in part, that we welcome and expect a diversity of interpretations of Scripture and understandings of who God is in Jesus Christ. We center ourselves in love of God and love of neighbor, the greatest of the commandments (Mathew 22:36-40). Together, we wrestle, struggle, celebrate, and puzzle with the Bible and what it means for our lives today. Finally, we make use of Scripture, our own reason, the traditions of the church, and our lived experience to discern where God is at work and how we ought to respond. For more information about our United Methodist connection, visit www.umc.org. For a more in-depth discussion of our values, check out our “values” tab.

So you're a new church – what sorts of things have you done so far?

You can scan our “news” section for a sense of the action, but a quick list would look like this: two free community Vacation Bible School summer camps in Central Park, Brooklyn Park (2010 and 2011); hosting a storytime at the farmers’ market at Brooklyn Blvd and Noble Ave (2010 and 2011), co-sponsoring the Minnesota Interfaith Open Forum as the Christian organizing partner alongside the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Minnesota and the Hindu Temple of Maple Grove (2009-present); stocking/caring for the no-hassles youth food shelf for youth experiencing homelessness/crises in our community (2011-present); co-sponsoring the 9/11 Memorial Interfaith Blood Drive (September 2011), and partnering with any agency in the area working on the issues affecting young people struggling to find stable housing and shelter for whatever reason. Finally, we hosted a “regular” act of kindness at a local Caribou Coffee shop – buying every customer their first drink between 9am-noon, and gathering for an open community Bible study at 11am during that time (2011-2012).

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