|
Q. |
How
close together do you all live? |
| Judi: |
Most
of us live on one of two streets. |
| George: |
We
all live within about a half-mile area. |
| Neil: |
We'd
like to live closer than we do, so we could walk to anyone's
house in a couple of minutes. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Are
you all originally from the same area? |
| George: |
We're
pretty much from all over! |
| Alison: |
Some
of us are from the Southeast, a couple from up North, a couple
from out West . . . |
| Michael: |
I'm
the only Douglas County native here. We've got folks
from California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas,
and several from Florida! |
|
|
|
Q. |
So
how did you find each other, then? |
| George: |
Most
of us at one time or another came across books by Gene
Edwards about the deeper Christian life. Then there are conferences
every once in a while where folks who are looking for this
kind of thing can find out more about it. |
| Anita: |
And
since there was already a church here when most of us began
seeking this, we had a place to visit where we could see
what life here is like. In time we decided that this was
the place for us to be. |
| Michael: |
I
was already living in the area when one of the brothers in
the church invited me to a meeting. |
|
|
|
Q. |
How
often do you meet together? |
| Mary: |
Two
to three times a week. Sometimes more. Then we
see each other several times a week anyway just because we
live so close. |
| April: |
We
pass each other on the way to work. Sometimes we drop
by and let the kids play together for a while. |
| Jim: |
Our
main meeting is usually on Saturday nights (although we're
about to switch it to Friday nights for a while), and then
we have "brothers' meetings" and "sisters'
meetings" on other days of the week. |
| Anita: |
Then
sometimes we have early morning meetings, maybe with a partner. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Do
you really not ever bring Bibles to your meetings? |
| Neil: |
We
get that a lot. |
| Michael: |
Of
course we do. They're just not the center of who we
are. |
| Cindy: |
Our
focus is on Jesus, and knowing Him. Our Bibles often
help us do that, but we approach things differently than
most Christians do. |
| George: |
The
Lord Jesus lives inside of you. He IS the Word of God. |
| Jim: |
We're
always taking some verse or passage and speaking it to one
another. When we pair up and meet together early in
the morning, it's usually around some scripture. |
| Michael: |
Just
because we don't always have Bibles in hand doesn't mean
we never use them. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Who
leads your meetings? |
| George: |
The
Lord Jesus, we hope! |
| April: |
We
don't have any preacher or worship leader, if that's what
you mean. |
| Anita: |
Responsibility
for our meetings is spread out among all of us. We
all prepare together for our meetings. |
| Mike: |
You'd
be amazed at what the Lord's people will bring. There's plenty
of supply right here. You really don't need a preacher. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Aren't
you worried about drifting into heresy? |
| Alison: |
Nah. [laughter] |
| Cindy: |
Nope. |
| Neil: |
I
think heresy only develops when one person has undue sway
over what everyone else thinks. When everyone shares
that responsibility, there's a check and balance on the off-base
thoughts that folks get from time to time. Think about
it: All the cults and heresies over the years . . .
somebody always was in charge of what everyone else believed. That
doesn't happen here. |
| George: |
That's
right! Hey, if heresies usually come from preachers,
just lose the preachers! [laughter] |
|
|
|
Q. |
Where
do you get your teaching? |
| Michael: |
First
John says, "The anointing you received from him
remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. His
anointing teaches you about all things . . ." We
each have His Spirit here. There's an infinite supply
in that. |
| Alison: |
Besides,
from time to time we read books together, or listen to tapes
together. |
| April: |
And
we do have a church planter, Tim Richey, who comes to stay
with us (usually just for a night or two) and he brings messages. And
he helps us out with things that are pretty practical in
nature. |
| Judi: |
Then
he leaves and it's just us. |
|
|
|
Q. |
How
long has your church been meeting together? |
| Mary: |
Many
of us have been here for about six or seven years, and some
of us got here in the last couple of years. |
| Judi: |
I've
been here for over 15 years! The
church here started out closer to the heart of Atlanta, in
1989. Over time, some people moved on, others helped
start churches elsewhere. And when the neighborhood
there wasn't a good place to live anymore, we moved out here. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Why
did so many folks move on? |
| Alison: |
Everyone
has to follow the leadership of God in their lives. And
we're not going to pressure anyone to go one way or another. We're
free in Him. |
| Neil: |
I
see life here as similar to life on the early American frontier. It's
tough sometimes and folks have to head back to civilization
again. What we're doing here is kind of like pioneering,
and sometimes families have to pack up and leave so that
other ones can come and take up where they left off. That
just comes with the territory. But in time something
greater will develop. Something that will last. It
just takes time. |
|
|
|
Q. |
What
do you do about your kids? |
| April: |
Nothing
structured, at this point. Our kids are just toddlers. They're
still too young to get anything out of our meetings, except
for when we sing. |
| Neil: |
We're
not a program-driven church, so naturally we don't have programs
for the kids, either. They are a part of our lives
and they learn the Lord simply by living with us. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Do
you exercise church discipline? |
| George: |
Well,
Mary and I have a membership at Gold's Gym . . . [laughter] |
| Michael: |
We
don't have any formal process or anything. But living
in a close community like this certainly provides a measure
of accountability. You could call that "church
discipline." |
| Neil: |
The
sisters have to discipline the brothers a good bit! [laughter
again] |
|
|
|
Q. |
Does
your church welcome spiritual gifts? |
| Mary: |
We
prefer cash. [loud laughter] |
| Anita: |
I
don't think we're opposed to them, really . . . |
| George: |
You
know, it never comes up. The thing with most of these
questions is that we don't major on issues like these. So
we don't have one settled view among all of us on any of
these things. If you were to sit each of us down individually
and ask us these questions, you'd get a slightly different
answer from each person. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Do
you speak in tongues? |
| Jim: |
We're
free here. No one can stop you from responding to the
Lord. |
| Alison: |
But
we do try not to do anything that might steal any limelight
from the Lord. |
| Neil: |
In
meetings, it doesn't really happen much, maybe because of
that reason. I imagine it goes on more in private than
in our meetings. And the few times I have heard it
during a meeting, it didn't really affect the rest of the
meeting one way or another. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Do
you exercise the five-fold ministries? |
| Mary: |
[whispers
to George] What's the five-fold ministries? |
| George: |
[whispers
to Mary] Beats me! |
| Michael: |
We
don't really expend much energy trying to label the working
of the Lord in our church. The ministries spoken of
in Ephesians 4 are present in some form or another, but we
don't look for gifts to come from just certain individuals
all the time. That passage says that the body grows
from what every joint supplies. |
| Neil: |
It's
my experience that most people emphasize "five-fold" gifts
with a "top heavy" idea of leadership. The
emphasis is on the work of those "gifted ones" rather
than on the functioning of the whole Body. |
|
|
|
Q. |
Do
you tithe? |
| Jim: |
We
give as the Spirit leads . . . |
| Michael: |
Most
of us see Tithing as an Old Testament concept. It just
doesn't fit into the New Covenant, at least not as tithing,
per se. We give from our hearts, but not from obligation
or law. |
| George: |
The
Lord Jesus did away with the Law when he hung on that cross. He
took that stuff with Him into the grave. |
| |
|
