A revolution of simplicity is underway, according to authors Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. Simple Church encourages Christian leaders to adopt the Bible’s clear, simple model of discipleship instead of the complex, program-based ministries that have become common in many churches today.
Rainer and Geiger offer four areas that can help churches simplify: Clarity, Movement, Alignment, and Focus. A clear vision should then move people through levels of discipleship with no congestion from competing programs. The church should unite around the vision and discipleship strategy by aligning existing programs according to the greater vision of the church. Finally, the church should focus on the vision by setting aside (or never starting) programs and ministries that do not contribute to the church’s simple process for making disciples.
Three Important Lessons to Remember
Simple Church contains a wealth of thoughtful advice for the pastor seeking to simplify the discipleship process of a local church. Three suggestions stand out as especially important. First, Rainer and Geiger encourage the formulation of a clear vision for the church’s mission and strategy, but they believe this vision is helpful only if the pastor can effectively lead to the its implementation. Secondly, church leaders must avoid putting an undue burden on the active members of their congregations by offering too many programs and expecting a high level of participation at every event. Third, church leaders need to evaluate the different stages of discipleship in order to understand how to move a person from one level to another.
Over the next few days, I will be blogging my way through these three important areas addressed in Simple Church.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
