What we've been up to for the past month

We have held all our meetings so far on Sundays, because that is still the day that most people have open. We decided we need to be open to meeting whenever and wherever, so at some point we will meet on different days, but for now it's just been Sunday. I am diggin not having to get up early though :)

Our first meeting was April 6th, in Farmington. The Roberts (that's us) and the Steiners (Chris, Kim and their kids Eben and Caden) went to meet with the Beltons (Doug, Tammy and their kids Devon, Maya and Justice...I am almost certain I spelled at least one of their names wrong) at their home. We planned to meet at 11, and I think we were on time! We ate, sang, prayed, broke the word and laughed all day...we didn't leave until almost 8! Brian was ready to go around supper time, but God was not done yet. So we stayed and had dinner, and then had some more awesome teaching! Maya was able to ask a question and we had a long discussion with the kids about sin and forgiveness. We wouldn't have been able to do that if we had left before dinner, so I am so glad we decided to let God prompt all the discussion and meeting times...it is really refreshing to let Him lead.

We met at our house (in Owatonna) on Resurrection Sunday...that was so great. For the first time in a looonnnggg time, we didn't get dressed up in paisley and pastels and worry more about the meal than the meaning. Brian's mom and step-dad were in town, so that was fun. This change will take some getting used to for a lot of people, including Brian's mom. She and his dad (who died when Brian was 19) raised Brian "in church" and I think she secretly loved that her son grew up to be a pastor. She will realize in time that he is still a preacher, God gave him the gift of preaching and teaching and he will still use it! He certainly did that Sunday, but God also prompted teaching by other people. So fabulous!

April 19 we met at the Steiner's home, again with food! I am lovin this food thing...it's biblical too, read Acts 2:42. The Roberts, Steiners, Beltons and Kim's mom and brother all met together, along with our children of course. Doug brought a message of encouragement and challenge to the parents in the room, and Chris was prompted to lead us in some singing of really old hyms. I didn't know any of the words, but it was cool anyway. I was chastised by the Holy Spirit after the meeting...I felt that we didn't pray enough, and exhortation is one of my gifts, so its on me to be willing to step up if no one else is.

I think as we go along we will need to be careful that we don't miss the Spirit's prompting to sing, pray, praise, edify, preach, listen...whatever he is prompting we must obey. I won't be an idle pew sitter anymore, and I won't be serving in a way that I don't feel Jesus leading me to anymore...I have a responsibility to God, my family and His people to use what He has given me for His Glory, so be it. MR

About a month ago, we quit going to church

To introduce ourselves...My name is Michelle Roberts and my husband's name is Brian. We currently live in Owatonna, MN, but both grew up in Wisconsin. We have two kids, Cameron and Chiara. Brian works for Target and I am a SAHM and also a demonstrator for Uppercase Living. Until we quit church, Brian was a full-time pastor as well as working in retail--fun during the holidays? Not so much.

About a year and a half ago, we started feeling really burned out, tired of spinning our wheels. So we started praying about what we could do to really make an impact on this world for Jesus Christ. We felt like everything we were doing while we "did church" wasn't getting us any closer to "being the church". We decided to really dig in to scripture and see what the disciples did to get closer to Jesus, and what we found was very simple and clear...

Stop Serving...Start Knowing

So here we are. We decided to see what happens when you get rid of everything except Jesus. No programs for evangelism--we do that everyday. No sermons--we know God will always teach what he wants us to learn but no one writes down 3 points and a poem and gives an oration. No children's church--our kids meet with us, see us worshipping and want to do it too. No form, no function. Sound like chaos? Perhaps it is, organized chaos anyway. We meet in homes, but we aren't a "church that meets in homes". We have several leaders, but no one is in charge.

What's the bottom line? I don't know. For now, we are an every member functioning group of believers that meets together to fellowship, pray, praise God, sing, and find ways to show other people the love of Jesus. We are all servant leaders of each other, we hold each other accountable to prayer and bible study, we expect that anyone who meets with us will utilize their spiritual gifts each time we meet no matter what.

So that's it from me today. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but we plan to use it as a chronicle of our journey. We are pretty excited to see what God does. MR