Dear Michael and all,
Where should I start?
Well, It starts with following Jesus. I make a decision to surrender to whatever He asks. Then I find fellowship with a few others who have decided the same thing. We have fellowship one with another. We encourage one another to obey the Lord. We break bread together every week during a love feast or fellowship meal- whatever you might call it. Our time spent together consists largely of rejoicing in the work of the Lord, receiving admonition from a faithful servant whom we have chosen for our elder, and hearing and telling the brethren of the things that have happened to us through the week in our preaching of the gospel.
This is our simple life. We don't live together, ( though a number of the single brethren do, in and around our meeting place. When we started, we ABANDONED our mold of what we thought our church should look like. We only remained convinced that if we are not obedient to Christ and his apostles teachings, we have nothing.
So, we called ourselves only followers of Jesus - church of Monett. Lightly casting aside even the name anabaptist, because we knew that their story was written already- it was not ours to take for our own. We allow Jesus to build our church while we remain loyal to Him.
...and being loyal to Him includes going into all the world and teaching men to observe all the things He commanded us. So we go out into the highways, byways, and churches and universities in our land and into many foreign countries, wherever there are people, preaching the things Christ taught about how we should live that the churches of today are hiding from people - the cross, the things He taught that bring a cross. And we found that occupying ourselves in that business keeps us fighting real battles instead of fake ones, and needing to stay alive and kicking. Then lo and behold, it results in a unity among brethren that we never quite envisioned before. And that without any written standard, but the standard of our Lord.
We're not bragging, we're in awe. There are people in places here and in Mexico, Columbia, Venezuela, DR, India, and Philippines who hear the Word, take up their cross, (meaning separating from an adulterous marriage, women dressing modestly and covering their heads, stopping the laying up of treasures on earth, giving instead of defending themselves, and forsaking worldly education for the school of obedience to Christ). They become baptized,(often Rebaptized) And then they go right out on the streets and in front of churches and preach it to the world, at the cost of spouse, family, and friends and all they held dear, in esteem for the reproach of Christ. And they become a church. They and a few others who cast their lot with them.
All this makes our lives not so simple anymore, we find ourselves being spent for the kingdom of heaven. Any extra funds that we can spare in our individual labors and savings we voluntarily give to the kingdom whether for trips or another brother in need.
There are weaknesses we see in communal living, we've done it enough to notice the subtle removal of a father's leadership in his own life, home and family-- something we find to be very necessary if a man is to be a strong preacher of the Gospel in this world, or leader in the church.
We've also seen the inability to each lay by in store for the Lords work, or to give individually to him that needeth.
A little experience has also shown that a rule book or standard list apart from the bible where one can resort when questions come along, is a crutch that WEAKENS more than strengthens the feeble knees. Predecided manmade guidelines are prescribed often where the Great Commission is neglected. The world lover among us is admonished, but not spoonfed. He is welcome to leave and eventually does. If he has a heart for the Lord, he makes decisions on his own to separate himself from the world. And with time we find him becoming truely a part of us. Sadly,too, rules often hinder the Sincere from going BEYOND the accepted practice in their desire to be true to Gods word.
I mention these observations to encourage you to abandon, like we did, the particular pattern of church or community in history you would like to emulate, and take the risk of failure while SIMPLY FOLLOWING JESUS, and loving Him enough to obey His Words, cost what it costs.
...and to tell you a little secret... We then pick up the early Christian writings, or the martyrs mirror, the secret of the strength, or any other history of some hated, dispised, but faithful-to-Jesus group, and our hearts quiver with the realization that our spirit bears witness with their spirit, and with God's Spirit; and that we have " mystic, sweet, communion with those whose rest is won." We find that exchanging anabaptism for JESUS results in an uncanny resemblance to that same persecuted group from the past.
Not to say that if you surrender to Jesus' leadership you"ll NOT live in community. Just surrender all your ideas to Him and let His Bride be HIS. Allow Him to be the Founder and Fashioner the whole way! What if he doesn't highly esteem all of our historic practices.
Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. Yeah, to please Him!
By the way, we're here to encourage you in any way we can. I'd like to talk with you on the phone, too. My number is 4174898648 God bless you.
-Marcus and the brethren at Monett
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