About Worthwhile Adventures

Voiceover
One would be forgiven for thinking that the church is doing fine in Scotland.

For centuries, Christianity's reach spread far and wide throughout the United Kingdom.

In fact, if you were to visit, you'd find you're never too far from a beautiful old church building with an inspiring history.

Andrew
Here in Edinburgh, we joke that churches are kind of like Starbucks where there's one on every corner and sometimes one in the middle, but often in the city center you walk around these churches and they've closed.

And so kind of the joke is, well, that that church is a community center. That church is a skate park. That church is a climbing gym, or that church is a bar.

And sometimes that's meant some people have been very creative about using churches for cafe spaces or art spaces, and still having vibrant worshiping communities in the midst of that.

But others are sadly just closing.

Andrew
In the year 1910, Scotland hosted the World Evangelism Conference, whose tagline was, “To see the evangelization of the whole world in our lifetime.” And so Scotland has in many ways been a leader in evangelism in the global church, with Christianity and planting churches and setting up missionaries.

Andrew
[Animated graphic showing a top-down church view starting with 100 circles and decreasing to 2]

But unfortunately, in the last 100 years or so, you've seen just a steady decline of people who identify as Christian or, maybe who still identify as Christian culturally, but don't reflect it in terms of their lifestyle choices. The estimates now are about 2% of people in the nation of Scotland are regular church attendees.

Andrew
So 2% of the population of any country actually makes that, technically, an “unreached people group.”

Voiceover
In especially affected areas, sectarian and societal divides are the result of religion and politics being both interlocked and set at odds.

Robin
Why Glasgow?

So there's two sides to the city. So on the one hand, it has an incredibly vibrant cultural scene, whether that's music, whether it's the arts, whether it's science. It's in lots of ways a really vibrant, bangin’ place with unbelievable warmth.

Like, if you go on a bus, please expect people to speak to you because they're gonna. They'll talk to you, they'll be interested and they will want to know about you, they’ll want to help you.

But it also has some of the largest social problems anywhere in the UK. So in the area I live in, there are literally abandoned streets. One bent lamppost with one bulb and the whole street, but most of it's desolate anyway and no one lives there.

Just down the hill, there's a set of stairs that literally will take you nowhere. People start them, they go up and they literally just takes you to a stop.

So there are whole landscapes of like deprivation and neglect. And that's, not unusual.

Voiceover
In Scotland, concentrations of poverty in places like Maryhill show a significant life expectancy gap between most and least deprived areas: about 10.5 years for females, and 13.2 years for males.

This is due to inequalities found across income, employment, education, health, access, crime, and housing.

Robin
We're obviously known for crime, as well and things like sectarian problems. Yeah, I would say so. So there's a lot of that as well. And I mean, a lot of that. But there's also a fantastic community spirit where people will band together and they will be a living, breathing presence for something else.

You have a lot of both all in the one city. And I remember a comedian saying, “It's the city where you're most likely to get stabbed, but they're obviously the most likely to get you to an ambulance or put you in a cab as well.”

So, I love Glasgow.

Voiceover
In polarized spaces where many churches double down on old formulas for "doing church," there is a counter current of communities being drawn towards the compelling alternative found in the hope-filled, Jesus-centered faith offered by the Anabaptist Mennonite tradition.

This tradition was once a fringe movement, persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike. Now it has become an avenue of reconciling people with their longing for Jesus and Christian community, despite distrust of organized religion.

Mosaic church, who have found their way into the Anabaptist Mennonite story, embodied this type of presence in Glasgow.

Robin
Who are the people who come? Maybe the rejects? They're the kind of folks who they've either rejected church or church has definitely rejected them for some reason or another, who've looked for a life raft or somewhere where they can do things.

Like they're actually allowed to think, you're actually allowed to question and doubt. You're actually allowed to explore your faith. You're not going to be put in a box or put to a side, or given a label

Viola
I would say we've got probably quite a few people that are neurodiverse, and therefore maybe don't always fit into spaces like where you have to act in a certain way. I think we're quite welcoming to that and we can make allowances for that. Like if somebody is quite noisy, that's maybe less disturbing with us than it is somewhere else.

So we've got those kind of people. And then I would say there are a lot of people who just got really hurt in church before, and some people say that Mosaic is their last chance at church. Like, if that doesn't work out, they wouldn't go anywhere else.

Robin
Well, I didn't plan to be in Mosaic. I had renounced faith at that point and was on the way out. But I had a friend speaking at Mosaic for the first time after the death of his boy about what faith might mean to him now.

I went and the whole meeting was a disaster from top to bottom. We were locked out of the building. The couple who were in charge at that time were having a fight in the street. And I loved all of that because it meant no one was paying any attention to me.

We did end up going to their home, with one of them in a decided huff and one of them victorious. And, yeah they worshipped and something in my heart broke, and I've not left yet. That was 20-something years ago, so...

Viola
I guess we are valuable, but I-- Just on the ground, it feels very messy and very often very frustrating. So, yeah, think of us as something very real and grounded. Not some sort of amazing vision that is perfect. We’re in no way that.

Voiceover
Mosaic isn't excluded from many of the challenges that churches across the UK and Europe face. For one, most ministry work is voluntary or bi-vocational, and the capacity of church leaders is not as great as the needs encountered.

Viola
A lot of us don't have very much time. We're all very busy. People with families have so much going on. In the past, we've had people working with refugees. I think there were quite a few people who had a real heart for homeless people, talking to them and encouraging them and supporting them in some ways.

We don't have a Mosaic charitable activity that we all do together at the moment. We all kind of do our own little things.

Voiceover
That's where we come in.

Tapping into our cross-cultural ministry experience, our family will be a useful, full-time resource that could lend a much-needed helping hand.

Mosaic has invited us to help in several key areas. Areas where God has been shaping and preparing us since our worthwhile adventure began in 2010.

We extend hospitality and facilitate a table ministry, small groups and Bible studies, and we engage the local neighborhood.

We develop and lead creative worship in a way that empowers the community and fosters greater participation.

We grow ministry elements oriented towards children, youth, young adults, and anyone else God puts in our path.

We will enter Glasgow for a season of missional listening. As we lend a hand and build trust, relationships, and resources, we will look for where the Holy Spirit is already at work.

Viola
It would be a bit of a shock if somebody came and suddenly did lots of things to engage us. So it would be really important to just come and be part and get to know and join the things that are already there, and then see what kind of evolves out of that.

Voiceover
In joining what God has already been doing, the desire is to see Mosaic grow in its capacity. That they may shepherd and guide folks who won't set foot in a conventional church building, but are utterly compelled by Jesus.

Andrew
To be in a community, in a place where people are saying, “We really want to think differently about the church and what it means to be the church,” it's fun. It's fun, and it's exciting because we get to use every part of our divine imaginations to just dream about something that's better. Something that represents the love of God and the beauty of God and the justice of God in a way that is new.

These European cities like Glasgow, I mean, this is really a frontier in global mission where we have to think about what it means to be the church in places where the church has come and gone, and now we need to explore what it means to be the church.

Voiceover
None of this can happen without prayer and financial support. We're building a team of partners to support this ministry. Prayer partners and financial partners. A team that sees how God is moving in Scotland and wants to join in.

Being financially supported is how we have a full-time capacity to bring hope and light to our neighbors in Glasgow.

That's where you come in. Would you partner with us on this worthwhile adventure?