Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus.

Those are the hallmarks of the Tao(Way) of Simple Church. When I read the book a few months ago, I actually wound up reading in immediately again, because I didn't "get" what was so amazing about the way Geiger and Rainer went about explaining how to "do" church. It seemed so simple.

Now that I'm actually praying and thinking through how to make a good church better, I begin to see that the "Simple Church" process might be harder to achieve for the church that's doing okay than for the one in flames or falling to pieces. When you are doing okay, to do well means you will have to change or eliminate something that's working - sort of - but isn't working toward your foundational goals. I've been looking through some other church's processes as they turned toward a "Simple Church" way. Here's one example.

From CECWORSHIP: It teaches basically to come up with principal areas of ministry and an order of discipleship process. We have heard that before, but the difference with this is taking a look at the church ministries and taking out the ministries that don’t fit into that process.

Our pillars are:

Live For God
We commit to daily give our life and will to God, getting to know Him through prayer and His Word, while seeking to live in a way that would please Him

Grow Together
We commit to a weekly time of fellowship with other believers, where we can grow together, and support each other in our walk with God

Give to Others
We commit to a ministry or other service activity, whether in the Church or the community, through which we can express God’s love working in and through us

Go and Share
We commit to sharing the gospel in word and action, and that when given the opportunity we will invite others to join us on the path of life

Our Church slogan if you will is Together on the Path of Life

The book makes the case that business as usual produces the usual results.

We are talking about people not being transformed. Week after week, year after year, many people are the same. The building project of people’s lives is stalled. Stagnant believers and congested churches go hand in hand.

Sadly, in many churches people are stuck in the same place spiritually. And there is no intentional process to move them.

The Bible paints a different picture of spiritual growth. According to Scripture a believer’s life is to be transformed more and more. People are not supposed to be the same. There is to be progression, movement.

Our churches should be filled with people who are becoming. Becoming more like Christ. Becoming more loving and joyful. Becoming. Being transformed (136).

Exactly. I want to resist the urge though, to treat discipleship as a business model, and people as a product that comes as a result of the application of the model. The Holy Spirit is the One Who produces results as people yield their lives to His instruction, correction, and rebuke - as Christ is formed in them.

People should be changing, morphing into awesome examples of the grace of God inhabiting their lives in the person of the Holy Spirit. Some will. Many won't, choosing instead to become a shadow of what they could have been if they were completely surrendered to Christ.

So we pray for wisdom now Lord. Help us to be clear on what You want from Your people through Your Church.

Are We Making Disciples Or Religiously Educated Consumers?

One of the management "tricks" I was taught years ago was "Management By Walking Around". The idea was if you got out of your office and went where the work was being done, you might pick up some ideas on what was right about what your company/dept/unit was doing, or identify some things to improve.

So I've tried to stay accessible and tried to pay attention to what is happening not just in the church as a whole, but in the units that make it up. Last week I overheard one person say to another "you know the lessons are basically the same. They repeat every so often. And it's not like we are getting any new insights. Besides, it is the discussion that really makes the class."

The person who said it has probably been in Sunday School for 40 years. He leads an important ministry at our church. I have no reason to doubt that he's biblically literate and doctrinally sound.

But for him, Sunday School apparently has become the "same old, same old" routine without merit.

I've been bugged for years that SBC churches give their people too much information to process every week, and see very little of it translate to action. Most SBC churches have two Sunday services, Sunday School and a Wednesday night Bible study. And typically, they are totally unrelated in content. So a person receives 4 "life changing" messages. Which one do they follow?

My deep conviction is this - most SBC members know a tremendous amount about the Bible and do not live lives that correlate with that indoctrination. So what should we do about it?

Geiger and Rainer's "Simple Church" may be where to start. Do away with anything that doesn't support the overall mission directly. Use time and volunteer hours carefully. If I started a church, we'd have no Sunday night service (unless it was for a different crowd), and no Sunday School - at least on Sunday morning. We'd run children's church at the same time as worship, and do our children's Bible activities on Wednesday night. Adult Bible study would be a continuation and exposition of that Sunday morning's lesson. People would go deeper and work through the application in small groups held in their homes.

Yes we have activity. Yes we get a good turnout. But are we making disciples or just adding facts to equip our people to win Bible Trivia Pursuit? I keep hearing "yea, I tell you that not everyone who can fill in the blanks on the sermon outline will inherit the kingdom of God."

Perhaps this is one of the reasons new church plants that meet in theaters or schools get such a boost. They are forced into doing less, and doing small groups in homes. Simplification adds to focus and focus leads to effectiveness.

I'm currently looking for examples of churches - established churches - that act like church plants in this area. Give me a shout out if you know of one with a pastor or education guy who'll let me pick their brains.

David