Simple Church

Today I finished the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. It was definitely one of the best books on church ministry I've read. The premise is basic, but powerful. It argues for simplicity against complexity in church ministry. The book is based on extensive research of vibrant, growing churches and stagnant, declining churches.

The book's goal is to help churches develop a simple strategy to make disciples. Amid case studies and stats the book presents several helpful steps in creating a simple church. It argues that so often churches mistake complexity and activity for effectiveness. The truth is, some churches have no discipleship strategy or process that they lead people through. More and more myriads of ministries are added the calendar becomes increasingly full. The result is divided focus, divided resources, and burned out people.

The book proposes 4 concepts to be embraced. They are:

Clarity
Movement
Alignment
Focus

Clarity means having an easily definable spiritual growth process. It is something that is easy to understand and communicate. This is the overarching ministry process that the church has embraced in order to create disciples.

Movement is about helping people to keep progressing. The stages of the process are leading people to increased commitment and maturity. Movement helps to keep people from stagnating or stalling in their spiritual growth.

Alignment is making sure that every program in the church contributes specifically to the spiritual growth process. It is also making sure that every ministry also models the spiritual growth process.

Focus is the ability to stay on target and not follow diversions from the spiritual growth process God has called the church to embrace.

That's a very brief rundown of the book. It is very good. I highly recommend it to pastors and church leaders.