Deliberate Simplicity Quotes

“If the paradigm doesn’t work, executing the paradigm better actually makes things worse.”
― Dave Browning, Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less

“What some churches have created is a remarkably sophisticated, very efficient system dedicated to creating the surface appearance of people-centricity, while in reality remaining as unresponsive, impenetrable, and clueless regarding the real needs of its people as even the most backward car dealer. The emerging culture is looking for something far less slick and produced. People are not looking for someone to speak to them glibly about relationships. They are looking for a friend. They are not looking for someone to talk with them about getting real. They are looking for those who will be open and honest about their lives.”
― Dave Browning, Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less

“Every church starts out saying, “What if …” and the rest of the sentence is about how we could reach out. After a while we start saying, “What if …” and the rest of the sentence is about us. Is it selfishness setting in? I used to think it was a spiritual problem. Now I think it’s the natural progression of an organization’s life cycle. The longer you are together as a group, the more aware you become of each other’s needs, and the more responsive you become to each other’s needs. Slowly the arrows get turned in. It is a natural progression. But a natural progression is not what we want. We want a supernatural progression. We want God to help us so lost people are continually prioritized. It’s time to love the pitcher less and the water more.”
― Dave Browning, Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less

“A big part of a pastor’s job is to keep the church swimming upstream, because the natural current takes us to a place of inward focus.”
― Dave Browning, Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less

“Unless a man is ready to work for the salvation of others, it may be questioned whether or not he himself is saved. He who wants only enough religion to save himself is not likely to have even that much.”
― Dave Browning, Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less