Clayton's review
Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples
by Thom S. Rainer
Clayton's review
Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer
Clayton's review
rating:
bookshelves:
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The big positive of this book is that it cuts through all the crap of activities and programs that a lot of churches are trying to do and says: It doesn't have to be so complicated! Amen.
The cons of this book are 1) it could have been summarized in one chapter, but repeats itself a lot. 2) the reasoning is thoroughly pragmatic, not theological (i.e. "Churches who had simple structures grew a lot. You want a big church, right? Make it simple. It works.") I'm all for a simple church, but I'm not sure that is solid reasoning for it, and I think the kind of simplicity you get via theological reasoning looks a bit different from the models given here.
A good starting place if you have a needlessly complicated church that is pulled around by every wind of ministry model.
The cons of this book are 1) it could have been summarized in one chapter, but repeats itself a lot. 2) the reasoning is thoroughly pragmatic, not theological (i.e. "Churches who had simple structures grew a lot. You want a big church, right? Make it simple. It works.") I'm all for a simple church, but I'm not sure that is solid reasoning for it, and I think the kind of simplicity you get via theological reasoning looks a bit different from the models given here.
A good starting place if you have a needlessly complicated church that is pulled around by every wind of ministry model.
