*This brother recently went to be with the Lord after spending some time among the saints in St.Paul, Minnesota.  He will be missed, but the same Lord that he shared with us continues to be our supply.  If you would like to hear this brother reading his letter, click here

"Last summer I met some Christians . . . . They were really unusual. Every one of them had so much fun with each other that it did not feel as if I was with a group of Christians rather than a family. Whenever I have been with a group of Christians before, even for a few minutes, I could always tell who was their leader. Well, with these people, I could not tell them apart as to who were the mature Christians, who were new Christians, who were involved in Christian work, who were the "inner" group –I could go on and on.

"After the picnic, I did not see them for a few months. When I met them again, we had a great time. Then, I went . . . and met with them at one of their meetings. They really have strange meetings. No one had their Bibles. No one opened their meeting in prayer. No one took the leadership. They don’t have a time of prayer requests. They don’t even talk about their problems or needs. They don’t have Bible studies or talk about doctrines or the right way to do things. They spend no time talking about their gifts or where they feel they fit in the body. It is difficult to figure out why they get together other than simply Jesus since there is no expression of individual interests.

"When they sing they don’t sit around like a group of individuals. They stand really close, as if they were a bunch or a tight group. They have their arms around each other and sing like they are one person singing to their Lord. The songs they sing are only about Jesus! They don’t sing about their victories, their beliefs, the things they do for the Lord, their coming to the Lord, and so on. They only sing songs about Jesus. Some of their songs they have written themselves. While they are singing, someone will shout or someone will whisper a statement of their love for the Lord or something about who He is to them. While singing, they often make statement about His greatness, or the greatness of all He has done for them; they often make wonderful statements about the expression of His love.

"It is as if they are more in love with Him than anything else in their lives. I have noticed that sometimes they have pretty empty meetings – just like everyone else’s sometimes get.

"There is no pastor or elders and no actual statement of faith.

"They don’t have a name. They call themselves a church, but they don’t act like any church I have ever been to. I did not know that it was ever possible to have a church without a pastor, elders or leaders. But they have been meeting for three years. They told me that some have come and gone because they did not feel comfortable with their new freedom. I can believe that.

"No one talks about what they do for Him. Apparently, they just don’t talk about the things He does for them, just about Him. They don’t give testimonies about their past. They are very interested in each other, but they don’t care about each other’s past. You would think that their only benefit in being Christians is knowing Him.

"They don’t give testimonies about the victory of their life. If there is any victory in their life, it isn’t worth noticing. But He is worth noticing, and any victory they have is just His victory, not theirs, anyway. They don’t talk about how others should be like them. They talk about Him. They don’t talk down about others who are not like them. They don’t talk about how Christians should be gracious to each other, but they have an atmosphere of grace.

"They don’t get excited about anything that they do. When they talk about their Lord, they have a kind of a twinkle in their eye. They seem to have no expectations of how someone should act, and some act pretty silly sometimes.

"I hope that I have not made them sound pharisaical, because they are the most un-pharisaical Christians I have ever met. Yet, they know the Lord in a way I have not seen before, either. They just seem to be people who love to be around each other. The personalities are such a variety that, if it were not for the Lord, I am sure they would not even know each other. They don’t even use Christian terminology. They don’t talk like other Christians that I have known. They don’t get on each other’s case because something they have said doesn’t sit right.

"In all these months of being with them, I have never heard or understood, any undercurrent. They joke with each other and do a lot of laughing. I have known individuals in churches who got along pretty good, but these people do all things together. They just seem to enjoy each other. It is weird how they obviously love each other dearly and love the Lord dearly; yet, the don’t show it in the way that I am used to. They don’t overtly tell each other about their love for each other, yet it is so obvious that there is no need for them to do that.

"They say they are not interested in getting together to built up relationships, yet they are closer together than most neighbors. I know. It is as if they are not trying to accomplish anything; yet they have everything that I have always heard that other Christians are wanting.

"As a doctrine, I don’t know what they each believe. They don’t have to believe alike. But I love Jesus, and I want to see all that they are interested in . I would be a lot richer.

"No one gets preferential treatment, yet everyone gets preferential treatment. I have never known such non-preferential people, yet there is something that is very special there.

"I know I sound strange, but it is hard to describe something I had never before seen."