Joining Every Nation

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What/who is Every Nation (EN)?

Every Nation is a global church “movement” committed to honoring God and making disciples of Jesus Christ in every nation through a focus on church planting, world missions and campus ministry.

2. I thought we were already part of EN; don’t we have an EN campus outreach?

We do have a campus ministry but have not had a formal church connection for many years. The church was originally planted by Every Nation in 1995, but in 2006 it removed its membership during the pastorate of Ray McCollum. We feel now is the right time for a formal “re­joining”.

3. Why are we joining EN? Our church is fine as it is.

Our church is amazing! At the same time, joining a global ministry like this creates more intentional opportunities and moments to cast a worldwide vision; it creates more opportunities for our people and staff to be exposed to a bigger world than a local church alone typically provides; it allows us to contribute our unique strengths within a multicultural, multinational church context; and, it provides ongoing relational connections, staff training opportunities, and mission opportunities as well as exposure to organizational expertise.

To sum it up, we feel like we have a great “recipe” as a local church, but we would like to include a few ingredients we may not have at the present moment!

4. What are the pros and cons?

The pros are mostly what are listed above in number 3. The “cons” are the reality that being connected to anything larger than yourself involves inherent relational risk­ if something goes wrong with the larger ministry, it can sometimes reflect down to the local church (us).

5. Why are we doing this now?

This decision is something that our elder team in particular has been praying through and reflecting about in earnest over the last several years; through much conversation and a long–term seeking of God’s heart and best for our church, we believe now is the best and right time to move forward with this.

a. Things seem to be going well. If this is a good thing, why didn’t we do it sooner? Or why not later?

The book of Ecclesiastes comes to mind­ for everything there is a right season and moment under heaven. Timing is always a crucial and sometimes difficult­ to­ discern part of God’s will. In short, we feel now that the timing is right.

6. Why is Every Nation the best choice to affiliate with for our church?

We feel that a significant, if not the significant, factor with any decision is made from a place of values clarification­ who are we? What are we trying to be and to accomplish? Every Nation’s values are in alignment with ours, and our years of history and connection to them make a re­joining a plausible choice. There are many, many great and wonderful ministries and parts to the body of Christ. The real issue, however, is always­ where is God calling us? We feel that EN is the answer to that question. It’s less of a “best choice” and more of the “right choice”.

7. What does joining Every Nation mean for Mosaic and me as an individual?

As a church, it allows us to both glean from a larger and similarly­ minded church ministry with a number of tools we can leverage to better make disciples in our own context; it also affords us the opportunity to input into and help create the future with other churches, and bring our uniqueness and gifts to the table to help them.

As an individual, it means more consistent and intentional exposure to training and missions opportunities, as well as the important “feeling” of being connected to something larger than ourselves. Every Nation hosts a number of leadership and developmental conferences we will be announcing and encouraging church members to participate in­ as well as potentially hosting these ourselves. In short, we believe it will mean growing “deeper, stronger Christians” who are more equipped to make disciples.

8. Will anything about our local church change? If so, how?

In a sense, nothing will change­ that is, nothing you currently love about Mosaic. Our commitment to making disciples of Jesus through worship, community and mission won’t change, nor will our commitment to being multicultural or multi­generational.

In another sense, though, we hope lots will change! We hope that, over time, as we become more and more intentionally connected, our leadership and staff grow from exposure to excellent thinking and training opportunities, as well as from the chance to contribute into a global ministry. We hope that, over time, we feel more and more focused on contributing towards the Great Commission and that people increasingly understand how they can make a difference around the world.

9. What will we be able to accomplish and do that we aren’t able to today?

We believe we will be able to grow in our ability to participate globally in the Great Commission.

10. Will we still be non­denominational? Is our belief set changing?

We will still be non­denominational, and our belief set is not changing.

11. Will services be different?

From time to time, we may present a video showing Every Nation’s work around the world, or participate in global missions offerings, or present a conference or training opportunity. Apart from info ­oriented things, we do not anticipate any fundamental changes.

12. Will we follow a centrally determined message series, worship, etc.?

That is unlikely but not out of the question. Who knows? It may be exciting to track along with hundreds of churches around the world at the same time. To our knowledge, however, this has never happened within Every Nation.

13. What is the timing, action plan, etc.?

Our plan is to talk about what rejoining means through the fall of 2016 and then formally join in January of 2017.

14. And most importantly: is the name changing AGAIN?

No!

15. Why is joining Every Nation important to the church, and to me?

Our goal, primarily, is to love Jesus, to love our neighbor, and to make disciples of all nations. This happens as we continue to both focus on these things and grow in our understanding of what can help us accomplish those things. Joining Every Nation is a step towards becoming more of who God has already made us to be­ it is a multicultural ministry with a heart for reaching the world and impacting college students­ all things dear to our hearts. In other words, we believe this is important because it will help us become more of who we are supposed to be for Jesus in His Kingdom.

16. How will our official partnership differ from our current connection with Every Nation?

Apart from the consistent ministry, training, missions and conference opportunities, there is a financial commitment to Every Nation, which is 10% of our general operating budget. This goes towards both running EN’s offices (5%) and towards ministry and church development in our “Region”, which is North America (5%).

Additionally, we will be able to not only contribute financially, but culturally and leadership­wise over time.

17. How will this new affiliation change our church governance?

It will not change it. Mosaic will retain its current church governance structure in all its aspects.

a. Will there continue to be parameters in place to ensure accountability for church leadership?

Yes­ through what is called Every Nation’s “General Supervision Article” (GSA), which will be included in our bylaws, and outlines EN’s responsibilities, powers and duties.

18. I trust our church elders and pastors, how do I know I can trust the Every Nation leadership?

In some ways, you likely already do­ many of our guest speakers and ministers over the past years have been from the Every Nation world­ Jim Laffoon, Kevin York, Jim Critcher, and Greg Mitchell, to name a few, are all Every Nation pastors and leaders. Also, your lead pastor, Morgan Stephens, has continued to be a leader within Every Nation during his tenure at Mosaic.

In that sense, we have already had an ongoing EN pastoral presence for many years, but mostly a Mosaic member would be trusting Every Nation leadership based on Mosaic leadership’s example.

19. How does this impact the current board of oversight?

Our current Board of Oversight (BOO) will be replaced by Every Nation’s Board, with virtually identical powers, responsibilities and duties.

20. What type of access will church members have to this “new board”?

We will make public ways to contact and interact with Every Nation’s oversight team, as well as regularly have visits from various members to encourage and strengthen the church, similar to what Jim Laffoon has been doing for many years.