Simple Church

        I just finished reading my copy of Simple Church written by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger (a Christmas gift from a wonderful friend!!).  Rainer, of course, is the CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources and previously to that, he was Dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism on the campus of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Dr. Rainer probably is poised to lead Lifeway in booting George Barna out of the number one spot for religious pollstering, given his niche for such research.  Geiger serves as executive pastor for Christ Fellowship, a large multiethnic congregation in Miami, FL. >>>

The book possesses a profound thought:  Doing Church should be simple, not complicated...basic, not overbearing...clear, not fuzzy.  focused, not ADHD.  Indeed one does not have to read but the first page in the acknowledgement section to glean the gist of the book:  “...the healthiest churches in America [tend] to have a simple process for making disciples.  They had clarity about the process.  They moved Christians intentionally through the process.  They were focused on the elements of the process.  And they aligned the entire congregation to this process.” (IX).  The remainder of the book teases out this statement.

It won’t be until chapter three, however, until one gets a precise definition of exactly what the authors believe a church is.  There they define a simple church as “a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.” (p.60).  If this is unpacked, it looks something like this.  In order to have a simple church, the church must intentionally be designed as simple.  It is not haphazardly thrown together.  That is, one must plan simplicity. 

Furthermore, the design must be anchored down to a straight-forward, strategic process.  For the authors, process is their key thought.  Rick Warren gave us the “Purpose-Driven” paradigm.  It would not be too much to say that Rainer and Geiger want us to embrace the “Process-Driven” paradigm.  Simply put, since Churches exists to move people through spiritual growth stages, we must be process-driven to make this happen.  And for them, four elements are necessary for process to take place.

First, the process must possess clarity.  Clarity is the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people (p.70).  It’s easily communicated, easily remembered, easily passed around.  In some of the churches the authors interviewed, they could not find out either from the Pastor or staff members what their church was about.  Every one had a different understanding of who and what they were.  On the other hand, the “simple churches” possessed simple, clear focus.  One church the authors named offered this as both their purpose and their process (another way to simplify--purpose is identical to process):  “We exist to move people to love God, love others and serve the world.”   

The second necessary element to forge the simple process is movement, which, according to the authors is the “sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment”(p.72).  In the church’s statement above, the key there is “move people to.”  All of their energy is spent moving people toward the inner layers of their focus.  Loving God is first and foremost.  But simple churches move people from loving God to also loving others and, finally serving the world.  Movement is everything.  In fact, simple churches, according to the authors, forget about numbers of people in the total overall picture.  Simple churches do not care so much about how many people show up on Sunday as they care about how many people are moving from loving God to loving others also.  And, from loving others to serving the world.  Their goal is to keep the sheep moving.

The third element is alignment (p.74).  In other words, all the ministries and staff must be aligned around the same simple process.  Thus whether it is the Children’s Ministry, the Student Ministry, Singles, etc, all have the very same process--loving God, loving others, serving the world, to keep the same example.  Alignment insures the Body moves together not is different ways or in different pieces.  Without such alignment, the church is little more than a collage of sub-ministries doing their own thing.

The final element that secures simple process which leads toward a simple church culture is focus.  Here, the authors state, is  the “most difficult element to implement.  It takes deep conviction and guts.  Focus does not make church leaders popular.”(p.76).   Focus means say “no” to everything that does not fit the process.  Simple churches, the authors are convinced, abandon  all that is outside of the simple because it threatens to steal attention and energy from what has been determined as necessary.  Without focus, the church becomes cluttered with needless activities, programming, calendaring that undermines the simple church strategy. 

As I read this book, two things struck me.  First, if we could only do it.  If we could only be simple...just make disciples as our Lord said.  I think this is, in the end, profound.  Our difficulty is, it seems to me, both a blessing and a curse.  It’s our heritage. 

Take for example, the innumerable rural churches that has for generations possessed a fixed programming which has served them and their community well for years.  For me, their is something to be said honorable and keen and wonderful toward such heritage. That is not to say that some things could not be improved or made better or that other things could be added.  It is to say that if a young Pastor comes to this situation with his mind made up to change this church to a “simple church,” then know for sure it will cause conflict. 

To the authors credit, they are aware of this and address it.  They write: “Do not kill your church.  We have seen this happen.  It is horrible.  Do not treat moving toward simple as a corporate restructuring or downsizing initiative.  The church is a body of believers, filled with real people...you must move to simple slowly” (p.236).  Indeed it could be said, given this, that simple church is better church planting philosophy that a restructuring philosophy.

Secondly, simple church is a great reminder than being great is not connected to bigger crowds, bigger buildings, bigger budgets, bigger ministries.  Simple church is doing the best things well.  Make disciples.

With that, I am...

Peter

Comments

[Tim Cook]

Too true, too true. We are going through a transition time at my church, and the biggest challenge for me as the education minister has been to try and get all the sunday school teachers to act like they are on a team, and working towards one goal. Of course, if I could get all of my teachers to just show up for a meeting, we could begin to talk about getting on the same page with the same focus...sigh. He's right; it is slow going. And I am probably moving faster than some.

In Christ,
Tim Cook

[perry mccall]

You speak of the challenges of transition and change in the small and/or rural Church (i.e. the average and typical SB church) and the potential for conflict in implementing a simple church process. I agree that any type of process change is challenging in the local church. The thing I like about this basic premise is that it is about process. I was already committed to the idea of simple church long before the book. the key is in understanding that "aligning" the process and even simplifiing the process can be done without radical changes to programing. You do not have to change from traditional to contemporary to become a simple Church. Of course, many will read this book and will try to transition needlessly from a traditional to a contemporary Church in a small or rural setting and "Simple Church" will become the new "Warrenism" that is destroying our Churches. This is why I stated in the other post that often the problem in Church division is pastoral leadership rather any particular doctrine that a pastor holds to.

Oh, did I say great book?

[selahV]

Peter: didn't realize how many simple churches the Lord had blessed us with till lately.

Funny how when ya first get out of school and think God is in charge of your life, and you proceed to apply Hiw authority and wisdom to churches, how quickly they'll let ya know that they didn't get that message from God. Whew! The lessons we learned in our early ministries. selahV

[peter]

Tim,

Thanks for stopping by. I know precisely what you mean. Somestimes it is snail's pace but worth the wait. Eric--the author of Simple Church sent to me an email tanking me for profiling his book and encouraged me to make sure all understand the lst chapter which is about the "slow going"

Grace. With that, I am...

Peter

[peter]

Perry,

I agree. Some unfortunately feel that only contemporary churches are effective. To the contrary, Rainer wrote in another book that his research demonstrates that most any "style" can be both effective and great.

With that, I am...

peter

[peter]

SelahV,

I do remeber the days! And, though hard, satisfying.

Grace,SelahV. With that, I am...

Peter

[Joe]

This Simple Church philosophy may indeed by why most of the growing, and disciple making churches are church plants. They only focus on the nuts and bolts of ministry and church. It is so much easier to keep church simple from the ground up, instead of attempting to downsize a 100 year old church.

Our Pastor has asked that we read Simple Church, and will actually be leading a study with the staff and deacons soon.

[selahV]

Joe: "attempting to downsize a 100-year-old church"? What do you mean?

Peter: Slow-going doesn't necessarily mean slow-growing, though does it?