Mosaic Niagara

Quite some time ago, someone asked me the question, “What would you say are the pillars of Mosaic Niagara going to be?”  And to be honest, I didn’t have an answer for this.  But it is something that I have been giving some thought to off and on.  Today, if I were asked a similar question, I think my answer would be something like this.  Mosaic Niagara will be Jesus-centred, welcoming and inclusive, intentionally intercultural, and outward focussed.  I’ll unpack those things a little bit now. Jesus-centred.  Jesus-centred means that we will keep Jesus at the centre of everything.  Jesus at the centre means that Jesus is not just some figurehead of the church or the Christian life. .    Jesus at the centre means that Jesus is to be followed actively and daily. It means that we understand the world, each other, and the Bible through the lens of Jesus.  When we follow Jesus, it changes our lives.  Jesus is not only our Saviour who save...

  ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me! Matthew 25: 37-40 It’s been a long time since I have posted an update on what is going on.  As I have said before, I’m a bad blogger and I get busy with other things and this gets off my radar screen.  But the short answer to what is going on is this:  not much and a lot.  What is that supposed to mean? Well, on the one hand, it feels like not much is going on.  Kim and I are living and working and establishing work/life/family patterns here in Welland.  I am enjoying serving at the Vineland United Mennonite Church as an interim Pastor and driving school bus when I’m not doing that...

Summer is almost over and for many, this marks a time of transition from summer vacations to back to school life.  I hope your summer has been good. Just a quick post to update you on what's been happening with us and Mosaic Niagara.   We continue primarily to simply establish the patterns of our lives in a new city where we know very few people.  This is a season of transition for us also in terms of jobs.  For the past 8 months, I have been working as an interim pastor with Kingsfield-Zurich Mennonite Church which is about 3 hours away from our home here.  I made one trip a week to Zurich for this which minimized the drive time somewhat.  The people there are wonderful, generous and welcoming and it was a wonderful season of ministry but the distance made it unsustainable.  So while the hope at the beginning was to stay there until they had found their next permanent pastor, I had to cut my time short there.  Today is my last official day o...

  Someone might ask us why we are trying to start something like Mosaic Niagara.   Why not a traditional church with a regular Sunday morning gathering and a pastor and a building and cool music and programs etc.   My answer would be a two parter.   Firstly, it is because we believe in the Great Commission that Jesus gave in Matthew 28: 16-20.   In this Great Commission, Jesus said for his followers to “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded.”   Great, you might say.  Lots of people believe that.  I agree.  But the second part of my answer would be that traditional church – with some exceptions – has become far less effective for more and more people.  So, since we take seriously Jesus’ call to make disciples and since we realize that the way we have been doing and being church isn’t working well anymore, we are convinced that we need to add some new...

What if the church had no doors? I want to tell you the story of why Kim and I are following God and trying to create this new way of doing church called Mosaic Niagara.  As I reflect back on my years in ministry, I realize that I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to get people who don’t yet know Jesus in through the door of the church.   In the churches that I have lead, we have done advertising, we have hosted carnivals, breakfasts and all kind of other outreach events to try and get people in through the doors of the church.   I’ve been at many different kind of evangelism training conferences and seminars trying to figure out how to do that and then how to evangelize people once they are in.   We have done all this in the hopes that once we get people in the front door of the church, that they will somehow give their lives to Jesus and find relationship with God.     On occasion, that has worked.   But mostly it hasn’t.   ...

  What is Mosaic Niagara? Mosaic Niagara is the dream of a new way of doing and being God’s church in this place and time in history.  And by “new way”, we mean old way.  But before we get too far into that, maybe you don't know who "we" are.  We are Craig and Kim Frere.  For the past 28 years, we have been a team in ministry together with Craig being the paid pastor and Kim working both in and outside of the home in various ways including teaching in the school system.  While it has been Craig's name on the paycheques at the various churches where they have served, they have always functioned as a family on mission together along with their 3 (now grown up and moved out) children.  Craig and Kim both grew up in the Niagara Region but have been living and working away for most of the past 28 years of ministry.  Lately, however, we have been feeling the need to step out in faith and try doing church differently.  So we have moved back to Nia...