Episode #20 "Take 5" Part 1 and 2 with Kevin and Erin Machado from St. Albert, Alberta

In this episode we talk about what missional communities and discipleship could look like in a neighbourhood context. We talk about the importance of "the one" and how life change happens when people are deeply imbedded in community.

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Transcript of Podcast by Multiply Network

 Created to champion church multiplication, provide learning and inspire new disciple- 

making communities across Canada

2019 – Kevin and Erin Machado

Paul Fraser:  I’m so excited to have Kevin and Erin Machado with us this month on our Take 5’s.  This month we’re talking about unique disciple-making communities.  It’s so great you guys took time and opened up your home to us.

Welcome!

Kevin Machado

A.  Thank you.  Thanks for coming.

Q.  Yes.  It’s so good to be here.  So let’s talk about ---

You were an existing church pastor and both of you were highly invested, highly involved, part of a campus, part of a multi-site, but God began to speak to you.  How did this whole process of disciple-making community kind of come up in your hearts?

A.  I think for us we were really involved in an amazing church.  Our church was actually planting campus and it was really great.  For us we were here in our community in St. Albert and we were part of a church downtown and on the south side.  So everyone we would began meet was from around here.  We talked to them about God and about faith and for them church wasn’t really an option.  So our hearts just really began to burn for all of our friends who didn’t know Jesus.  We’ve got stories of friends we met who really pushed us here.  But really at the end of the day it was how can we bring Jesus to these people we are close to and connected to. 

We were able to get sent off from our church.

Q.  So now you work bi-locationally.

A.  Yes.

Q.  You’re back in school, Erin.  Why now?  You’ve got a young family, lots of risk.  You left a full-time job but you felt something deep down inside that ---

You weren’t against the local church.  Right?

A.  Not at all.

Q.  Yes.  This wasn’t ‘we’re going to do it better, we’re going to show you’.

A.  No.  We came from the church.  That’s where I met God through a youth group, through a youth pastor and youth leaders loving me as a punk kid.  And Erin grew up there.  She’s was always the good one!

Q.  Okay.  

A.  I stole one of the good ones!

Q.  Yes, you did.

A.  But yes, that’s not our heart.  We see the church ---

What we do is hopefully another part of the puzzle, hopefully another prong.  We see the church as reaching a great many people.  But we just see the ones.  We see other ones who are there out there, the stragglers.  The ‘ones’ out there; not the ninety-nine, the ones that hopefully we can reach.

Q.  Yes.

A.  The reason why now was ---

Erin, you speak to it too.  But I think we don’t want to get to the end and think what if.  What if?  And why not? 

Q.  What were you feeling in your heart about this?

Erin:

A.  I was like getting really torn up about the ones.  A friend I met that kinda got to walk with years ago when our kids were first starting school, she started reading the Bible.  To me she knew nothing about faith and I asked her one time if you could forget everything that you knew about church, what would church look like for you, a place where you could grow and meet God.  She said, “You know what, I think it would be something like what you guys talk about when people get together in your house and they can just sit and learn.”  

That was like she prophesied over us.  It was totally our heart and stirred us.  That was kind of a big part of it for us.

Q.  So you left pastoral ministry to become….

Kevin: A realtor.

Q: …and you decided to go back to school and you are finishing…?

Erin:

A.  Yes.  I’m working on an after degree in Education.

Q.  Yes.  That’s so great.  So how did you involve the family in this?  Because the kids come along.  You’ve got lots of people coming over to the house.  Maybe friends they had at church.  Was this a family decision?  How did you work that out?

Erin:

A.  Very much.  Our kids are completely used to our house being full of people.  They are used to adults that talk to them like they are real people through this and they are part of it.  It’s messy a lot, having a lot of kids around.  But yes, they are part of it.

Kevin:

A.  And it was part of the process.  I remember we heard other missionaries like the Solomons who went away years and years ago and they talked about how they dedicated their kids to God.  We didn’t just want to do something that was going to be safe just because of our kids.  We didn’t want to just stay in our job at the church just because we wanted our kids to have a safe Christian Education.  We wanted them to bring them along on our crazy journey and experience Jesus along with us.  

So we sat together, we talked together.  We cried.  We prayed together.  They are our little missionaries out there with us.

Q.  Yes.  That’s so great.  So let’s switch gears a little bit because there are people out there who want to know the practical side of what a disciple-making community is in your estimation.

How does it look?  How often do you meet?  Just unpack a little bit of that for us.

Kevin:

A.  We get asked these questions a lot of the time and I think for us the biggest thing was hearing what the Holy Spirit was saying.  So what we began to do is we just began to do what we do.  

Q.  Yes.

A.  So essentially we were doing a small group.  What we do and what it looks like for us is we have a meal on the weekends.  So we get together for a breakfast or a brunch, dinner, and everyone is involved.  It is a pot luck style so everyone brings things.  We tie that back into what, a scripture study, but it is also potluck.  Everybody’s got to bring something to contribute.  So we do a meal all together.  Often we do communion.

Q.  Would this be once a week?

A.  Yes.

Q.  And would it be at your house?

Erin:

A.  No.  That was a big part of it.  Actually it started out that way but some advice we had was actually to rotate.  We really felt it was important for everyone to have ownership so we rotate every week.

Q.  Yes.  So what would be the difference between because you mentioned you know how to do a small group.  But it was more than that because this was a place where you invited your neighbours to, to explore faith, so how did it go from a small group to actually a disciple-making community?

A.  I think for us the big differences would be the fact that this is like a primary place where we expect to receive our teaching, we expect to meet community and this is not just a place where we’re coming to study.  It’s not just about I hope today I’m going to learn a little bit extra from Phillipians.  It’s not just a teaching place.  This is an experiential place and it is about community.  It is essentially ---

And we talked about this before.  It is kind of like the church upside down.  Rather than you start with gatherings and then move into groups.  Ours is the opposite where we start with groups and then just see where it goes.  If it grows into something bigger ---

Q.  Yes.  You’re only into this how many years now?

A.  We’re coming up on three years, so coming up to that since we had transitioned out.  That’s kind of how long we’ve been into it now.

Q.  Yes.

A.  Through that there have been some incredible fruit we could share about, but it has been a really good, good experience.

Q.  And maybe Erin, what has been the most rewarding thing for you through this process?  I know you have a tremendous heart for those far from God.

Erin:

A.  For me, the past year or so, I have a good friend who has come to faith.  She is actually a teacher at our kids’ school.  It’s like bringing her ---

You’re asking what is different about what we do now.

But bringing her in and the whole group has been praying for her and bringing her and it was like they all just dropped everything to love her and come around her and disciple her.  And now she’s actually like -–

She’s having dreams, and crazy stuff.  She is inviting people.  It’s been so cool to get to see that fruit.  And to see the people in the group come around and love her.  They would drop everything, still, for her and hopefully we all would for these people.

Kevin:

A.  It is more family.

Erin:

A.  Yes.  It is very much family.

Kevin:

A.  Yes.  We talk about three things.  It is about family.  It is about discipleship and it is about mission.

Q. Yes.

A.  I think also the big thing is it is not about the gathering.  It’s not about that when we come together.  It’s about we’re out there supporting each other, essentially hopefully as missionaries.  That’s the what we try to call each other and see ourselves, as out on our mission.

Q.  Yes.

A.  So people that Erin is reaching out to are all praying for, we’re all involved, we’re trying to figure out how to connect and do barbecues just so we can get to know the people.  So that’s it.  We’re essentially a band of missionaries that come together, have a meal and talk and then we go out again.

Q.  That’s so great.  So just as we’re finishing up, there are people out there who might be going I want more information, resources.  Was there anything that you guys leaned into in terms of resources that helped you kind of solidify the vision and mission?

A.  I think that you have been a great resource pointing us in a lot of good directions, like Alan Hirsch, Jeff Vanderstelt and what they’ve done and his book.  But I think the biggest thing is there is a lot of freedom out there.  There’s different people, there’s Bob Goff who talks about living love and actually living it out.  And I think there’s a big realm out there of people who are experiencing a lot of different things in Christ.  You would be surprised that once you begin to seek it out, who comes out, and the different people.

Q.  Yes.

A.  We’ve met so many people in Edmonton and around our area who are already doing things like this so we just learn from them.

You are obviously a resource and Vanderstelt’s been great

Q.  Yes.

A.  Their materials.  

Q.  Well, great.  I just want to thank you guys for being courageous, people that just go out on mission and try new things.  This is amazing.  We’re going to continue to track with you guys.  Thanks so much for jumping on our video today.

A.  Yes.  Thanks for coming.

Q.  Okay.

A.  All right.

--- End of Recording