Simply Simple

As I search the internet, I realize that there so many articles & ideas on how to “grow” your church, how to have effective “leaders”, how to get a “Staff” for your church, how to do this, and how to do that … and so on!

As I reflect on this, I think about Paul and the disciples. They didn’t have any gimmicks, programs, events or big buildings. They SIMPLY gathered together spending time with each other talking about Jesus, praying for one another, sharing meals together and went out bringing the Gospel to wherever they went.

Yes I know that we are in a different time and age. But the church should consider leaving a good thing alone, and not fixing something that was never broke in the first place. It seems that the American church has adopted the secular belief that bigger is better and more is more effective. But as I think about it, its not so much the size of the building itself but about all the “clutteredness”, the “busyness”, the constant “hustle & bustle”, the complexity and difficulty that the church has placed on OURSELVES that was never meant to be!

I truly believe if the Church would go Back to Simplicity and do church the way it was meant to be – SIMPLE … Simply: fellowshiping together, reading/studying the word together, praying together, going OUT into the community together to share Christ and TRUSTING & RELYING ON Christ & the Holy Spirit alone to do the harvesting and growing of the church and NOT us, the Church will be a Church after Christ’s heart! (Acts 2:42-47)

I am NOT against meeting in a church building, in Acts 2 it says they met in the Temple (church building) daily, but I truly do NOT believe that Christ meant the assembling together (Church) to have thousands in one place on a weekly basis only, but also meant for us to meet in small gatherings. I believe that they met in the Temple (church) to worship together, but I believe that true relationships, fellowship, spiritual growth in the believer, loving one another, etc; happens in the small gathering that is free of programs, gimmicks, busyness and so on. I believe you lose so much true fellowship with to many believers in one place. I have a saying –  ”being in a big church is like passing strangers in a mall.” I believe there is so many things about small gatherings that the big church loses!

There also comes with big churches … a need to perform,  a need to create bigger & better programs then last year, a need to have many events, stress on the Pastors to come up with “dynamic” teachings and so much busyness and an overload of “things” to create and do to please everyone so that people will come to the church.

With today’s American churches I see there is a need to be fancy and complicated. I don’t recall seeing anything fancy or complicated about the method that the Gospel was furthered by the disciples and others after them. They SIMPLY focused on going OUT and making disciples by their WORDS and their LOVE, not by building big buildings, complicated gimmicks and “staff” that cost millions.

There was never “directors” of this, “directors” of that, “staff” of this, “staff” of that. There are way to many titles in the church today. We need to SIMPLY go back to Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers (Ephesians 4:11) and remove the new titles, fancy gimmicks, fancy programs and fancy events in the efforts to win some. All of this brings so much unnecessary stress and distractions from what the church really needs to be doing ….. living simply, learning simply, loving simply and sharing simply … all without stress, headaches, busyness or spending millions to keep it going. The disciples furthered the Kingdom WITHOUT “fanciness” and they went from place to place staying with whoever would have them stay and eat with those who would give them food.

Today’s American church rely’s on the millions to come in to pay for all the staff, gimmicks, props, advertising, etc; and if the money would ever stop coming in, people will lose their jobs and the church would fall.

The point of this post is to cast out a Call to go Back to Simplicity …… We the church (the body of believers) are called to Live Simple, Have Faith, Make Disciples and Endure to the end. We have become so caught up in bigger buildings, more programs, “busyness of ministry” and what I call “fluff & stuff” that many have lost their relationship with Jesus, lost the love for our brothers & sisters, lost the true meaning of fellowshiping with one another and are stagnant in  growing in our walk with the Lord  because we went from SIMPLE to Loud, Big, Busy, Complicated and Difficult. Imagine how much money we would save and have to bless & help others, how much stress that would be gone, how much more Peace we would have if we ALL went SIMPLY back to SIMPLE! 

If we keep the Church (the gathering of believers) SIMPLE, keep it duplicatable, and have no money obstacles, we can and will see a growth in church planting of SIMPLE churches reaching so many more with the SIMPLE Word & Love of the Lord without the stress of doing church in a complicated and costly way.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Why is it that the church in Africa, India, Pakistan and other low income areas internationally are growing at a faster rate even though they do not have the money, programs, gimmicks, busyness, that we have?

So don’t strive to be big, strive to be SIMPLE, to preach the Truth and leave the growth (or not) of the church up to the Lord!

SIMPLY FOLLOW JESUS!

We Love You !!!

Here’s a great post: Why you need to shrink your church

Do you agree or disagree?
Do you plan on going back to simplicity, if so, HOW?