Good for discipleship and Church Growth

books:


	• Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples Thom S. Rainer, Eric Geiger B&H Books, 2006 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 75 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Simple, but could be simpler

I think this book will help many traditional North American churches to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple (to borrow from Neil Cole). But as a former pastor who has recently begun to enjoy the simplicity of a network of microchurches that has no paid staff, no building to maintain or enlarge, and yet enough time to be a small army of disciple-makers, I find Rainer & Geiger more complex than is necessary. If you like simple, you might like simpler even better!

Concise and practical

Well, it would be awfully ironic if the book wasn't easy to understand. Fortunately, the authors do with the book exactly what they are calling leaders to do with their churches. They outline a simple structure for streamlining churches and letting loose the baggage that slows churches down.

The process is...simple (sorry to repeat). Churches should seek clarity, alignment, movement, and focus. Clarity is the singleness of purpose, stated in a single phrase. Movement is making sure there is a process of spiritual development that runs through the ministries of the church that fulfills the purpose. Alignment is the process of making sure that all the ministries of the church cannel people through a similar movement to fulfill the purpose. And focus is the challenging process of saying "no" to everything that distracts the church from its purpose. The authors have decided on this clear process as a saving grace to churches, repeat it fluidly, and walk the reader through all four steps.

The theory is based on a study of a number of churches that were considered thriving and many that were not. The authors say that their data shows highly significant difference between thriving churches that simplified and complex churches that did not.

The only part of this book, or the genre, that ought to give the reader pause is that the authors presume that ministry requires a strategic process through which people are funneled on the way to spiritual growth. While that is the reality of modern, institutional church management, it seems to overrule the fluid and organic (if not disorganized) ministry of Jesus and the disciples while co-opting their names. This is not a major critique of the book, just the observation that business management principles are governing the church whose founder had very little to say about business management.

Nonetheless, for those of us who find ourselves dealing with the necessities of management, this book is an essential read. It's well-written, accessible, and offers the bird's eye view that a lot of churches miss.

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This will change the way you do church.

Rainer and Geiger are not rebuilding the wheel with this book, a lot of it is information that we inherently know but have forgotten in the church. Church has gotten too complicated and they are challenging us to make it more direct and simple. They are challenging the church to make disciples. This book is amazing and I don't know one pastor who has read it that wasn't convicted of some things afterwards.

Good for discipleship and Church Growth

This is an excellent book that tells pastors and church leaders to keep it simple, rather than complex and this book tells you how. The basic premise of this book is that simple sells and that keeping it simple and maintaining focus is the best method of discipleship and church growth. If you have been trying to write long vision statements or missions statement or purpose statement and have come away frustrated, then this book is for you.

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Not a typical church growth book.

I almost passed this book up when I saw the amount of church growth books written by Thom Rainer. My bravery was rewarded with a book that stimulated thought on how ministries within a local church should not only fit together, but work towards the same goal. The goal is making disciples. At the end of each chapter are well thought out discussion questions. I will try to outline the book using as many of the authors' own words as I can.

The authors state that "To have a simple church, you must design a simple discipleship process. This process must be clear. It must move people toward maturity. It must be integrated fully into your church, and you must get rid of the clutter around it." (p.26)

A simple church is defined as "a congregation designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth." (p.60) Later the authors add the following to their definition: "The leadership and the church are clear about the process (clarity) and are committed to executing it. The process flows logically (movement) and is implemented in each area of the church (alignment). The church abandons everything that is not in the process (focus). (p. 68)

The book begins by contrasting two imaginary churches: "First Church" is a complex church - one that has many great programs, but without an overarching focus. It feels disjointed and headed in multiple directions. "Cross Church" is a simple church. There is one overarching theme that ties all its ministries together. It's a short and simple statement - "loving God, loving people, and serving the world." (pp. 33-40)

A majority of the material I found valuable was contained in the first 134 pages. The rest of the book has something to offer, but you wade through more and more church growth language. (The chapter on movement was my least favorite.) I thought the real value in the book was the questions it asked which made me think more deeply about our church and its ministries.

Are people in your church truly being transformed? Are they growing as disciples of Christ? Or is everyone just busy? (Page 7) These are cutting questions. As leaders of a church, there is nothing more important (outside of salvation). Willow Creek recently took a hard look at themselves and realized they were not helping people to grow deep, just busy. The authors of Simple Church put forth a very viable solution: simplify. "Spiritual growth (sanctification) is the process of a believer being transformed into the image of Christ. Simple churches have chosen to align themselves with the way God works...with the discipleship process revealed in Scripture." (p.16) Many churches are "[s]o cluttered that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church (p 19)." "Imagine a church where you, as a leader, can articulate clearly how someone moves from being a new Christian to becoming a mature follower of Christ (p 27)"

If your church's mission is to make disciples, then all the activities and ministries should contribute to that goal. Not only that, but the average attendee should be able to tell how a specific ministry is adding to the process, because the process is simple and easy to understand. If a church has many mission and vision statements spread among its ministries, there is a very good chance that there may be a multiplicity of ministry philosophies, possibly even working against each other or competing with each other.

A simple model used in this book has three stages for spiritual growth: love God (worship service), love others (small groups), and then serve the world (ministry teams). (p.47) A person enters the process at the first stage (worship service) and moves through the other stages as they mature. Not only is the process simple, one can roughly track spiritual growth by the number of people involved at each stage. (The one flaw in this reasoning is that although this holds true for older generations, very often younger generations get involved first by doing, rather than by knowing. They enter in the process at the opposite end (serving), possibly before committing to Christ. Even so, these folks would be connected with a small group and serve in an environment where they would be discipled.)

The rest of the book describes four elements that are necessary in a simple church: clarity, movement, alignment, and focus.

1) Clarity (p. 70-74, 109-134) is "the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people." The authors note that "when there is no direction, people assume a direction or invent one. The church then moves aimlessly and off course." The church needs a clear ministry process to help people grow in Christ. "The culture of the church follows the culture of the leadership. The leaders' understanding and ownership overflow to everyone." If you are a leader, don't expect the congregation to join small groups if you're not in one!

2) Movement (p.72-74, 135-163) is "the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment." This element involves assimilation, how someone is "handed off from one level of commitment to a greater level of commitment." Again, I don't agree that each "level of commitment" is a higher level as I have seen people come in at all levels. However, for those driven to measurement and counting, it's as close as you're going to get to counting something that may indicate spiritual growth. His ways are not our ways, and He uses measures unavailable to us (Proverbs 21:2). The point as my pastor pointed out, is that the authors want people to "move from being church observers to contributors." That's movement.

The task of church leaders "is to place people in the pathway of God's transforming power." An ordered sequence of programs needs to reflect the process. "Simple churches move new believers into the life of the church. They are also purposeful in their treatment of new members." (p.157) The authors offer some insightful comments regarding new members and their importance in this section.

3) Alignment (p.74-76, 165-195) is "the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process." Without alignment, "the church can be a multitude of sub-ministries," or even a group of sub-churches. "It is not enough to unite the church around the same what (purpose), but they also must be aligned on the same how (process). Imagine if you were building a house. If the team of contractors and builders agreed only on what was being built, you would have a problem. They would also need to be unified on the approach, on the plan. Otherwise the contractors and builders would be competing with one another for time, money, and scheduling preference." (p.168). The authors suggest churches recruit pastors and staff "on the process," have each pastor create a Ministry Action Plan (MAP) for each ministry year, and then hold them accountable for results. I believe this can have value, but there is also danger in not doing this correctly (read: Christ-centered). Too much emphasis on numbers could create unintended consequences - pastors missing important God-ordained moments with people in exchange for a shallow activity that build their numbers up. Be careful, Peter Drucker is no Jesus Christ!

"The most challenging aspect of alignment is pulling existing ministries and existing staff in the same direction, especially if they have been moving in opposite directions." (p.187)

4) Focus (p.76-78, 197-226) is "the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process." This is not an easy task. And even if you succeed, there "will be a constant temptation to abandon simplicity, to lose focus, to become cluttered." (p.203)

Five critical elements to focus are 1) "Eliminate programs that do not fit [your] process, even if they are good;" 2) Limit adding new programs. Be very selective. Use "existing weekly programs for special emphasis/initiatives instead of adding new programs." 3) Reduce special events (!!!). Special events should be kept to a minimum so as not to compete with the essential programs that move people through the process. 4) Communication is vital - especially if programs and some special events are cut. The process must be easy to communicate (and remember); 5) Simple to understand: "It is vital that your process be understood because you will be saying no to everything else."

Unfortunately the final chapter starts with the typical church growth scare tactic "change or die." Nevertheless, some good points are made. Complexity in a church is expensive - not only in time and money, but in the unnecessary lack of spiritual maturity in some people. The authors realize the need for church leadership, as shepherds, to move to simple slowly. The move will be painful for some. Ask God for discernment. Keep Christ in the center.

The book ends with a look at Malachi 1 and then recaps the four main steps (Clarity, Movement, Alignment, and Focus) with the emphasis on implementation.

I can't close the review without pointing out a few ideas I strongly disagree with. "Only God is the producer of growth." (p.26) This is a popular idea. If we have large numbers, then God must be doing something. Cults can fill stadiums - is this the result of God blessing them? Satanic lies can be very effective (Matt, 24:23,24; 2 Cor. 4:3, 4). Maybe I'm just over-sensitised by the amount of church growth literature I've read. The authors could just be calling the readers to humility as in 1 Corinthians 3:6.

"And without a point of crisis, it is difficult to change." (p.33) This thinking is directly out of worldly business theory. Many "change agents" will work hard at promoting the perception of a crisis so they can more easily "sell" their ideas for change. The Christian view is that it is impossible to truly change without Christ. This is not splitting hairs - if the Body of Christ is to glorify God we must remain Christ centered, not crisis centered.

A vibrant church is defined as a church that had "grown 5 percent a year for three consecutive years." (p.65) The focus on growth as the indicator of a vibrant church is tiresome. Also the research statistics presented are unimpressive. By the authors' definition the ministry of Jeremiah was a failure, and many churches in hostile areas. I don't think our Lord would agree.

In closing, this book has a lot to offer. I recommend it. It is best if you got some of your church leaders together and went through the discussion questions together. You will be forced to think more critically about the relationship between your ministries/programs and their role in the disciple making process and spiritual growth of your congregation. Just don't expect a one-size-fits-all model.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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