UnLearning Church. Mike Slaughter

I am doing a new thing," God says in Isaiah 43. "Do you not perceive it?" (43:19 NIV). The unLearning church will keep its eye on the Holy Spirit, watching where God is moving, where God is taking the church next. As Jesus said, "The wind blows where it chooses. . . . So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). When we follow the Spirit with reckless abandon, we become willing to innovate, recreate, reassess, step out, and risk going wherever God is moving.

      One Church That's UnLearning

      Mosaic, Los Angeles, California

      www.mosaic.org

      ï Quick Description: A community that lives by faith, is known by love, and offers a voice of hope.

      ï History: Southern Baptist; started in Los Angeles in 1953, and now has locations in downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, the Inland Empire, Berkeley, and Whittier, with two more campuses in Hollywood and the South Bay in formation.

      ï Attendance: 3,000 at eight worship celebrations across the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.

      "I'm unLearning the way Jesus touches people through people. We give the small things to Jesus, while bringing our bigger issues to Freud. We've lost confidence in Jesus' ability to heal, transform, and make us whole. Jesus is interested in making whole disciples out of broken people. God specializes in fixing broken relationships. We were created for the purpose of intimate companionship with him. We lack power and credibility if we offer to others a level of relationship we don't know in reality ourselves. We at Mosaic don't focus on growing the church but on connecting people with the kingdom of God through Jesus. We are not about church growth; we're about doing the right things. That attitude costs us a lot of growth. Our front door is the transformed lives of our people. If you get people in the right environments, where Jesus shows up, their lives will change forever."

      —Erwin McManus, lead pastor, has been a part of Mosaic since 1992; age: late forties