Shouldn't Church Be Simpler?

When people ask, “What kind of church are you planting?”, one way to answer that question is, “A simple church.”

I love church. The family I grew up in didn’t go to church much when I was a kid. But after the Lord opened my eyes as a teenager to the goodness of the gospel, I couldn’t get enough of church.  

Our church was growing quickly, and so were the events on the church calendar. Sunday School at 9:30, Worship at 11 am, Youth Choir practice at 4:30 pm, Discipleship Training at 6:00 pm, Worship at 7 pm. When our church started a second Sunday morning service at 8 am, I didn’t want to miss out, so I went to both services! 

Two days later, on Tuesday night, I went back to church along with 250 others to receive our visitation assignments. Yes, back in the day we went out as teams showing up unannounced at the homes of unsuspecting people who had visited our church the week before to ask the question, “If you died today, and stood before God and he asked you why should I let you into heaven, what would you say?” Our hope was that when we returned to the church at 9 pm, we would often happily report that several people had responded to the gospel in faith and repentance.

The next night, I went back to church for the Wednesday night programming—5 pm church supper, 6 pm Sunday School planning meeting, 7 pm Youth Group, 8:30 open gym.

Thursday night involved church softball or church volleyball, depending on the season. Many Saturdays had a youth group activity–unless it was summer, which filled the weekdays with Vacation Bible School, youth camp, and mission trips. 

Before I knew, it was Sunday again. And I loved it–until I crashed. 

I vividly remember one Tuesday night after receiving my visitation assignments, instead of going out to present the gospel, I went home, plopped in my dad's La-Z-Boy, turned on an episode of Moonlighting, and wished my life was more like Bruce Willis’ (who was cool in 1985).

I felt so guilty. But something inside me said, “I think loving church is supposed to be simpler than this.” Now that I’ve led one, I know it is. 

One of the most influential books I’ve read on how churches should be led is Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. It’s a simple book that outlines four qualities of churches that most effectively make disciples: clarity, movement, alignment, and focus. 

Simple churches aren’t easy churches. It’s hard to be a simple church. Making complex things like doctrine and discipleship, and dying to self, isn’t easy. Simple churches aren’t soft or shallow churches. They don’t require less of you. They require more. Simple churches believe what effective business and marketing strategists know. Less is more! 

With all due respect to The Cheesecake Factory, fewer menu items allow a restaurant to focus on the quality of its meals rather than the quantity of options. Simple churches are more concerned with depth than breadth. Simple churches focus on the quality of their discipleship rather than the quantity of disciples. Yet, simple churches seem to produce a growing quantity of quality disciples. 

Simple churches clarify next steps for followers of Jesus. They create clear pathways for pre-believers to receive Christ, get baptized, become members of the church, serve, lead, and live sent. Simple churches equip the saints to live missionally where they live, work, and play. Instead of expecting church people to spend all of their available time at the church with each other, simple churches empower their people to live and share the gospel where they already spend their time in their circle of influence. 

Simple churches say no to good things to focus on the main thing. They don’t fill the calendar of the church or the staff with everything that could possibly be done. If they do, they will do them poorly. Simple churches choose to focus on the best things and do them with excellence and effectiveness. 

When Jesus visited the home of Mary and Martha, he found himself immersed in a flurry of complexity and busyness. Jesus prescribed the cure for Martha’s busy anxiety: simplicity.  'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.'" (Luke 10:41–42) 

The one thing necessary in church (worshiping Jesus) is too often in competition with an overcrowded church calendar. Simple churches keep the main thing the main thing and ruthlessly guard the church calendar to stay on mission. Simple churches prioritize worship of Jesus over activity for Jesus. And when Jesus is prioritized, he finds a way for his church to be actively on mission with him and for him.