How can one church Contribute?

That's not a completely rhetorical question. As Mosaic settles in and becomes the church, the people who take meals to each other after a baby is born, we are now faced with what the details of that look like.

Mosaic is committed to Celebrate, Connect, and Contribute.For the past month we've been celebrating who God is and His awesome gift of Jesus each Sunday morning. Now we add the Connect piece to the mosaic. This Saturday we're having our first church picnic to get to know each other, and next week we start our Growth Groups to dive in and start doing life together.

But the question remains, how will we contribute to our community, and the world? For years I've envied the directors of service and missions at Southeast Christian Church. What could be more fun than to organize and serve with all of your time, instead of just your time off work? Now holding this position for Mosaic I see the hardships. For instance, on Monday preparing desserts at Our Daily Bread, Maryland's largest soup kitchen, I couldn't lick the icing off my fingers because it would be unsanitary. But seriously, there is a huge amount of discernment needed to wade through the opportunities. Should we serve the urban poor through the Maryland Food Bank, Our Daily Bread (ODB), or the West Side Homeless Shelter? Should we serve the prostitutes with the HOPE ministry? The underprivileged or abused children through The Samaritan Women's House, the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents, or the public school system? The sick through the Ronald McDonald House? Or the affluent by gift wrapping their Christmas presents at the mall?

As you can probably guess my answer to all of these is an emphatic "yes!" From the beginning Mosaic has strived to have serving in its DNA, now we hope to perfect that model through intentional partnerships that use serving as a way to share Christ's love. There are many physical needs to be met in the greater Baltimore area but the greatest of these is the need for Jesus.

My uncle was visiting the day I served lunch at ODB, and as I was touring him around Baltimore that evening I shared some of our plans for Mosaic. He said, "I think what you're doing is great, but the problem is just too big, the church can't do it all." Our political views vary in his opinion that the government should have a greater hand in solving these problems. But that's also where our faith in God's church diverges. The church is big enough! Now let's just get out of the pews and start doing something about it. It's always nice to prove Kenny wrong.