BELIEFS
"The Word of God is infallible, inerrant and totally inspired...
And when He was 12, his parents found him in the temple astounding the religious leaders."
And when He was 12, his parents found him in the temple astounding the religious leaders."
WHAT WE(?) BELIEVE
In most cases, when churches talk about their beliefs, they are doing two things. First, they are trying to articulate their (or their denominations) beliefs in hopes the community will have this common ground. Common beliefs have been a way of aligning people with each other forever. Second, they are communicating what they think everyone who is part of the organization ought to believe.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but the more items you add to the list of beliefs, the more exclusionary the organization becomes. We might be able to agree on a few things as a group, but beyond that, it gets increasingly unlikely that we are going to have full agreement.
At Mosaic, that is ok with us.
We are less concerned with identifying the boundaries of what people need to believe in order to be "in" our group and more concerned with unifying our beliefs around WHO is at the center of our lives.
"I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me."
(John 17:21 NLT)
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but the more items you add to the list of beliefs, the more exclusionary the organization becomes. We might be able to agree on a few things as a group, but beyond that, it gets increasingly unlikely that we are going to have full agreement.
At Mosaic, that is ok with us.
We are less concerned with identifying the boundaries of what people need to believe in order to be "in" our group and more concerned with unifying our beliefs around WHO is at the center of our lives.
"I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me."
(John 17:21 NLT)
CENTRALITY OF JESUS
As Christ-followers, we believe Jesus is at the center of all our beliefs. This is why we have a cross in the center of our gatherings and why we culminate our gatherings with communion every week. We seek to orient our lives around the life and teaching of Jesus.
We believe Jesus is God-incarnate. We believe, as the Nicene Creed declares, that Jesus is "the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father."
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
(John 10:27-30 NLT)
We believe Jesus is God-incarnate. We believe, as the Nicene Creed declares, that Jesus is "the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father."
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
(John 10:27-30 NLT)
THE BIBLE
In the Bible, we read about people who lived a long long time ago in a land far far away. They were way different then we are and had all kinds of strange customs. We read about men and women, kings and musicians, prophets who spoke for God and people who ran from God. We read about natural disaster and natural wonders. We find beautiful poetry and boring lists called genealogies. We find incredible wisdom about how to live and frustrating ideas about life in general. There is longing, love, romance, fights, sadness, joy, mystery, history, fantasy and fact. And, we find story after story about God, and how God was understood and related to the people in the Bible. We also find the story of how God so loved people that God was willing to come to earth and show what God was like.
We seek to interpret the whole Bible through the lens of Jesus' life, teaching and heart.
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."
(John 1:1-5 NLT)
We seek to interpret the whole Bible through the lens of Jesus' life, teaching and heart.
"In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."
(John 1:1-5 NLT)
OUR AFFILIATION
Though we don't put our affiliation out front, we are still very thankful for our broader family, The Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA). Denominations are often very frustrating, but they can also be a great blessing. As we like to say at Mosaic, "denominations aren't all that important until they are needed." We believe in being part of something that is bigger than ourselves, not just by being part of the universal Church, but by also being part of a smaller group like the CRCNA who can provide us with a long history of wisdom and insight that we need. This affiliation informs our beliefs and grounds us in the beautiful mess that is the Christian history.
"I (We) believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen" (from The Apostles Creed)
(*the Christian church of all times and all places)
"I (We) believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen" (from The Apostles Creed)
(*the Christian church of all times and all places)
OUR CREEDS
Mosaic Church of Bellingham and the CRCNA affirm the following creeds:
The Apostles Creed
The Athanasian Creed
The Nicene Creed
The Apostles Creed
The Athanasian Creed
The Nicene Creed