An interview

An interview with my thoughts

written by Michael McBane

The following came from a post on Face Book that an individual disagreed with and posted and made one follow up post. I having no idea who reads my posts but I thought perhaps I should enlarge this and clarify my heart. So I interviewed myself.

FB POST: Don't plant a church be relational, make disciples. Live as a witness that reveals and walk in responsibility. Did Jesus plant churches? No He had threes and twelves who reproduced life.

RESPONSE: I have to disagree on that one.

MY RESPONSE:  thats cool not saying there is not a place for that but I am saying it is over used and much more. I am for making disciples and for building the life of Christ in others in relational groups that have accountability and bear fruit.

RESPONSE: You have to have accountability no matter what the venue. I somehow feel you've distanced your self from the church.

MY RESPONSE: I love the church, the people. I will work with the structures across the board. I respect history but in over view and I have traveled far and wide been involved deeply in much I see little but recycling. Accountability is reduced to a board often that has no real ability to form or call one up. Yes at times but this is not the norm. Ministry has been formed around cultural duplication. For instance I have a call so I plant a church and there will be some sort of income. I want to reach so far beyond that. And God has shown me it is there but few really want to walk out that far on the plank.

Accountability to me is a friendship that allows each one to get in the face of the other and say are you kidding me. You really think that God would sanction that you don't see the mixture in that. I want God to define holiness and purity and all else. Therefore we have to be willing to take what we know and listen to Him. So many call for this and that but it is a new way to continue. Some say read a book about Jesus or go hear this guy speak. Does anyone want to go out into the wilderness and spend a month or two with HIm and allow HIm to rewrite your heart for real?

QUESTION: So you really think that the church is the people?

ANSWER: Absolutely. Jesus did not die for anything but the people. He called those who came after Him the church or His Bride. We are told in the Letters that it is the body that is not rightly discerned so it remains sick. Our structures have placed limitations on the function of the body. The models have limitations in the ability to feed the people, spiritually and practically. They have and do serve a purpose. I am not saying throw the baby out with the wash but I am saying there is a way that will duplicate life more fruitfully. My barometer is fruit and that is not how big a church structure is. I think we need to consider the seasons of life. Just as disciples are valid when life is reproduced. 

QUESTION: What do you mean you respect history?

ANSWER: I respect the Church fathers those who have gone before us and dug deep to form the Good News among us. I do not get hung up on “Oh thats Calvin or thats this.” I read the history and say I can glean life from this quote and I don’t develop a doctrine but I a ask for the fragrance of God and allow the Holy Spirit to form a bouquet from the history of those who have paid a price and gone before me. I then expect to build upon those thoughts and those lives. I find here an attachment to the great cloud of witnesses. I hear them calling me forth to go where no man has gone before. I refuse to allow history to form division in my seeking. But I do seek to rightly discern truth. I also respect and honor the great denominations that have formed life and know that God has not fully walked away from such. So I honor many who I meet that find those places to be home. I also have a definition of what I call present history. I want to see life that extends beyond a man who rises to the top because of a marketing trend or buzz words.

QUESTION: You mentioned accountability can you expand your thoughts?

ANSWER: Let me begin in marriage since I am married for almost 4 decades. For me thats were it begins. I do not function outside of my relationship with my wife. We are one, we serve each other in why we do things and how we do things. I honor her and cannot function outside of her because we have made a vow. But the vow was formed in love and it integrates in thought. If I think God is speaking I expect her to hear as well and we then take this and allow the purpose of God to be enlarged. This overflows into the family and into the community around us. We look for the evidence of God and communicate constantly about this. We cultivate life in each other, we prune each other, we encourage each other and we extend each other. But all of this is nurtured in Christ. He is the reason we love and walk as one.

We always took the life of Christ in us and the community that surrounded us and built vision into our children. We turned the soil and taught them truth by example in good and bad. This is why there is fruit here and this is why things are going bad there. We would ask do you see this, do you agree? We did not just throw them into the wind or expect them to trip over Jesus some time. We were watchful and responsible.

We look at the time line of purpose in our life and marriage and constantly test the validity of where we are and where we think we should be. We live within a divine tension that pulls on us. In ways this is a plumb line that is dropped among us and we are adjusted.

We do not live outside of the deposit of purpose in our marriage. We do not live outside of our means. We know we have and will pioneer some things and go out often not knowing where we are going but we are in agreement. We live in the economy of God and not delusionary faith. So how we approach life is also adjusted and constrained by this. We always are looking to see if our history is mere stagnation or a ground bearing fruit. And then we set this before God and allow Him to repoint us, check our foundation and redirect us so we are stepping forward. We share life in good and bad in joy and sorrow. We yearn for more because we know we did not come to Christ for life as it is presently so we press forward with that hope.

These things overflow into our family and how we function as a purposed community. I think that generally the ways of accountability are contained here and should be duplicated in the whole of Christian life. But know we are rather deliberate and  seek to not find our identity in how the world does things or related to one another. So we push away from those inclinations. We are pretty tuff on ourselves because He is worth it. So purity and holiness have costs and we do not always pay it but we seek to be willing.

A man asked or should I say told me once, that he had been married for so many years and was tired of waiting for his wife to  step up. He said, I have laid my life down don’t you think thats enough? I thought, seriously. But answered him thus. So do you believe Christ gave us a template for marriage, He said yes. I continued, does He lay His life down for you once on is it a constant? Constant, he replied. I said, actually both. So do you not think that you have a attitude problem that is seeping into your heart and is totally self motivated. He agreed and made the adjustment. That is accountability one to another.

QUESTION: How did you integrate community into life?

ANSWER: We never categorized or compartmentalized life. We saw every aspect of life as church or being under the influence of God. We lived with that expectation and anticipation. We considered all of life an act of worship so therefore we could not simply go to church we lived as church. We have been graced to think that way forever it seems. We never saw ourselves in a lofty way and opened our home to all. Hospitality has been the backbone of our life and we have always had people over and fill barren when we don’t. So we saw “church” happen at the table and in the living room. It was the flow of life. 

I never worked to just work. I knew that since I was a Christian my works primary purpose was to be there because I was sent there. So that was my approach. I have never been “religious” so I did not spout scriptures when I was in the market place. But I always was graced to infect the place where I worked and duplicated life. 

I have never been afraid to die for my faith.Though I have never wanted to die prematurely. So I have a courage that is not boisterous or ambitious but confident.

QUESTION: Do you have a problem with authority?

ANSWER: No. I was taught by my parents to honor adults and our family growing up had a flow of life in and out of our home that allowed us to honor adults but to learn from them in joyous life. I knew authority figures and learned how to communicate with them without a subservient heart.

In my church life I have always either been very close to leadership or part of the leadership team. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. I have watched abuse and been abused by those I least expected it from. I limped for a season. But I learned about bitterness and its destructive purpose. I was so filled with grace and mercy and my heart is so grateful. Because of this I can see from a vantage point that few do. I learned to treat all men and women with honor even when I disagree. I have learned to understand when I should speak up and when I should walk away. But I will always seek to watch over the hearts of others.

I will not lift a man up but I will give room to the authority he or she carries unless it is man made or destructive. But I believe the most unexpected person in the room could carry the greatest authority with God and that is where I want to be. So I seek to watch and listen to the Lord where ever I am. I then allow the Holy Spirit to guide my ears and my actions or inactions.

To honor God given authority you can still walk in friendship. This breaks walls down and dissolves the false superiority that men adapt to. I adapt to how God wishes me to treat a man not how it is expected.

I do think a lot of men walk in places that they have built up and the authority is smoke and mirrors and it is destructive because it does not form life nor lead people out of and into but disables them from hearing God as freely as they must.

So primarily I am about seeing the individual person come into maturity in Christ Jesus. I want to see people loved by Jesus and to cultivate a nurturing spirit that receives the love God is giving. Here and only here will we cast the shadow of God over humanity. He makes all things new, period. I therefore want to reach for that understanding and discernment.

We are told a wise man wins souls. We are also told that wisdom begins in the fear of God. I think it is fascinating that wisdom is contained in both statements and think them to be woven in thought and purpose. We seek and pray for wisdom but perhaps it is found when we allow the purpose of God to reproduce life in each other. Then the Christ in me and in you will blossom and wisdom will reveal itself.

So am I disenfranchised with church? NO I want to live life in Christ fully and partake of the life of Christ in you. And the Holy Spirit usually has not been given that liberty where most gather under the structure of church. Many say God is in charge but most constrain Him. Accountability is fruitful not a mere platitude to appease. I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.

QUESTION: Some would say you are forsaking the assembling of the brethren with this train of thought and lifestyle. Do you agree?

ANSWER: No I do not agree. Primarily because they bring this conclusion because they refer to a structure not a relational formation of life. Meeting people once or twice a week in passing or sitting in a room listening to a message or what ever else may come under this umbrella is not a formation that fosters a life that cultivates the fullness of Christ.

I think that what we do must always live in the present moment but also give hope and vision and provision for tomorrow. Therefore one must recognize where we are in the seasons of God. You do not press towards a hopeless vision but one that has understanding that you are relationally incorporated into a life that is proven.

When we sit in a gathering of believers who hold life in common the Holy Spirit will dwell among us and will accomplish the will of God among us. We must also look for the will of God for any particular moment we are together and give God the freedom to do as He pleases.

When we gather we should come with the heart of God. We carry Christ and if we are so self absorbed that we do not come prepared as the good news we are aborting God among us.

We should live with great anticipation when we come together. 

QUESTION: Do you think life has been denied to the church at large because we have not prepared?

ANSWER: Yes. We are told to prepare the way of the Lord. To bring the good news. Many have forgotten to live with Christ as the “good news” so are we not living limited. Many do not accept the full gospel or choose to live by ignoring some parts because some truth challenges the structures they choose to live within that they call church or the way they conduct themselves at work or relationally or in giving.

I often ask why would you choose not to speak in tongues when Paul clearly speaks to us of how he was so empowered and how the Holy Spirit prays in ways that we could not begin to comprehend or apprehend. Why would we choose to live purposely handicapped?

We fear being forth right in truth in many gatherings. We accommodate things that do not provoke one to Godliness but accommodate ungodliness and support trains of thought that are formed out of the incubators of worldly purpose. Wisdom does come in many containers but I say we have not labored to discover the possibility that God would bring to us something far beyond the wisdom of this world. 

Jesus told those who he called to forsake all. Most would not even allow that to darken the halls of their heart as possibility. So we have trust and faith issues that must be challenged and this must be done in word and example.

Times are challenging, and they will not necessarily improve as we might wish. I am inclined that the world will increasingly be challenged and economics will bring a shattering soon that will severely rearrange much. God has spoken for decades for us to prepare by getting out of debt and shifting in lifestyle so that we can live large by giving and allowing others to build to prepare for the coming days. Largely this has been ignored and if it has been considered it has not been to prepare a larger place for others but to hoard.

Acts reveals to us wisdom that shows how the body provided for others . This is not a fairy tell. We have not served the greater body in the church thus far.

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