Simple Church

by Thom S. Rainer

The Revolutionary If anyone knows simple, it is Jesus. If anyone is a revolutionary, it is Jesus. He is the original simple revolutionary. He stepped into a complicated and polluted religious scene. It was cluttered with Sadducees, Pharisees, Herodians, Zealots, and Essenes. He did not play by their rules. He could not stand their hypocrisy. He preferred spending time with tax collectors and sinners. The religious leaders had developed a religious system with 613 laws. They chose the number 613 because that was how many separate letters were in the text containing the Ten Commandments. Then they found 613 commandments in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament). They divided the list into affirmative commands (do this) and negative commands (don't do this). There were 248 affirmative commands, one for every part of the human body, as they understood it. There were 365 negative commands, one for each day of the year. They further divided the list into binding commands and nonbinding commands. Then they spent their days debating whether the divisions were accurate and ranking the commands within each division.7 Enter Jesus. Jesus has the ability to take the complex and make it simple. A prime example is Matthew 22:37–40, where Jesus gives what has become known as the Great Commandment. Here is the scene. Jesus has just stumped the Sadducees. Literally. He silenced them by His wisdom (Matt. 22:34). Next up are the Pharisees. Maybe they can do a better job kn...

To have a simple church, leaders must ensure that everything their church does fits together to produce life change. They must design a simple process that pulls everything together, a simple process that moves people toward spiritual maturity.

Simple church leaders are designers. They design opportunities for spiritual growth. Complex church leaders are programmers. They run ministry programs. Church leaders who

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.

On average, 1.8 persons use one parking spot. The church should make plans to provide parking options based on this estimate, so that parking does not become a lid that prevents growth.

Problems are always bigger when everyone is tired.

A plagiarized biblical vision is always a good thing.

Programs were made for man, not man for programs. If the goal is to keep certain things going, the church is in trouble. The end result must always be about people. Programs should only be tools.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary

vision is always visual.

what gets evaluated, gets done.

Max Depree wisely stated, "Leadership is like third grade: it means repeating the significant things."5 The

Please, No More Travel Agents There is a major difference between a travel agent and a tour guide. This difference is seen best in white-water rafting. There are plenty of rafting outfitters from which to choose along a white-water river trail. A travel agent will mail you brochures. A travel agent will suggest a few rafting outfitters and a river to enjoy. But a travel agent's role ends there. A travel agent spouts out intellectual information, hands you some brochures, and smiles. A travel agent tells you to enjoy the journey. "Nice to meet you. Enjoy the trip." A tour guide is different. Along the Ocoee, in the Smoky Mountains, there is a great tour guide named Tripp. The name fits. He literally is a trip. Unlike the travel agent who hands you a brochure, he goes with you on the journey. "Nice to meet you. Get in. Let's go." Tripp knows the Ocoee. He knows each rapid intimately and talks about them with great energy. Double Suck. Moonshot. Flipper. Tripp enjoys each stage in the journey. It is fun to hear him share stories about the different parts of the river. You fall more in love with the river and the scenery because of him. You are inspired by his passion. What makes Tripp a great tour guide is not his information. Even some of the local travel agents have the information. Tripp is great because of his love for the journey and because he takes you with him. He takes you along the journey he has traveled. He does not instruct from a distance. He is with you. He is ...

For each department in your church, there should be one program for each phase of your process. The

Stories of orphans in countries like Romania and Russia have grabbed the hearts of many Americans. Children are placed in large orphanages with hundreds of other children. The number of caretakers in each orphanage is extremely low. The ratio of adults to children is shocking. All the caretaker can do is be sure each child has his or her basic needs met. Food, water, shelter. However, the children are not touched. They are not hugged. They are not nurtured. A decade ago journalists first entered these orphanages. They were shocked at what they did not see or hear. There was no laughter. No tears. Three-year-olds could not speak or cry.

Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" That is perhaps the most famous call in sports broadcasting history. Announcer Al Michaels yelled it as the United States' hockey team pulled off one of the greatest upsets of all time. Their epic defeat of the Soviet hockey team is referred to as "the miracle on ice." The movie Miracle tells the story of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team that shocked the world. Two days after beating the Russians, the U.S. team defeated Finland and won the gold medal. Why was it considered a miracle? The Soviet team had held the gold medal for the previous twenty years. They were by far the most dominant hockey team in the world. They had recently destroyed an all-star team of professional players from the National Hockey League. The U.S. Olympic team was all amateurs, mostly college kids. They were seeded twelve in the tournament. No one but themselves believed they could win. Herb Brooks was charged with assembling and coaching the group of amateurs. Before the dream of gold could become a reality, he had to align the team around the same approach to hockey. He had to maximize everyone's energy. It was a daunting task. The guys came from different backgrounds, colleges, and parts of the country. They came with their own approaches and styles of play. Unity did not come easily. They were a group of individuals, not a team aligned on the same agenda. Each player identified with his former team, not the Olympic team. Miracle depicts Brooks during ...

Herb Brooks carefully selected players to be on the team. He looked for players who would be more committed to the name on the front of the jersey (USA) than the name on the back. After he chose his team, some insisted that the best players were missing. His response, as depicted in Miracle, is a classic line. He said, "I am not looking for the best players. I am looking for the right ones."

According to research, pack rats most likely suffered a brain lesion that damaged the part of the brain that keeps pack-ratting behavior in check. A study done at the University of Iowa on eighty-six pack rats discovered that each person had suffered some type of brain injury.1 In other words, elimination is neurologically challenging for a pack rat.

It has been estimated that the world produced five exabytes of information in 2002. That is the same amount of information produced from the beginning of time through the year 2000.

A recent medical study reveals just how difficult change is for people. Roughly 600,000 people have heart bypasses a year in America. These people are told after their bypasses that they must change their lifestyle. The heart bypass is a temporary fix. They must change their diet. They must quit smoking and drinking. They must exercise and reduce stress. In essence, the doctors say, "Change or die." You would think that a near-death experience would forever grab the attention of the patients. You would think they would vote for change. You would think the argument for change is so compelling that the patients would make the appropriate lifestyle alterations. Sadly that is not the case. Ninety percent of the heart patients do not change. They remain the same, living the status quo. Study after study indicates that two years after heart surgery, the patients have not altered their behavior. Instead of making changes for life, they choose death.2

Leadership expert Tom Peters once commented, "It is easier to kill an organization than it is to change it."3

Complexity is often synonymous with mediocrity.

Mediocrity bothers God because it violates His nature and behavior. God is an excellent God. His character is flawless. Excellence flows from the nature of who God is. Everything God has ever done has been excellent. Creation, the sunset, the ocean, and His resurrection point to His excellent nature.

The word "Pharisee" literally means "separated ones."

Research shows that when you receive frequent interruptions while working on a task, your performance drops the equivalent of ten IQ points. In other words, when you multi-task you are ten points dumber on the core task than you are if you just focused on the core task. Some of us cannot afford to multi-task.1 Compare the effects of multi-tasking to smoking weed. Smoking pot drops your performance the equivalent of four IQ points. We are not suggesting you smoke weed. We are suggesting you realize the adverse implications of multi-tasking.

We have often equated discipleship with information. Discipleship is not about information. It is about transformation. The end result of discipleship is not knowledge but obedience.

John Kotter of Harvard Business School wrote, "Behavior from important people in the organization that is contrary to the vision overwhelms all other forms of communication."2