"Simple Church," Book Review

Basic Overview of “Simple Church”

Simple Church,” by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger is a must read for all “cutting edge” church planters, youth pastors, and senior pastors. The subtitle says it all, “Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples!” The whole idea of the book is to remove the clutter and unnecessary trappings of the church and return back to the simple, yet powerful strategies of Jesus to make disciples.

The book provides great research by contrasting thriving churches and dying churches. They define a thriving church as one that grows a minimum of 5% a year for three years in a row. The comparison churches are either not growing or are losing members. The research is impressive and is included in the book with easy-to-read graphs. The most powerful stat is the overall research that shows 999 out of 1000 churches have a “simple church” strategy (p. 14).

The authors do an impressive job of making the “simple church” strategy, well… simple. They give four steps that define the simple church strategy, they are: Clarity, Movement, Alignment, and Focus. Here is a simple breakdown of each part:

Clarity: a church should have a clear, simple, and concise purpose. This purpose should be made into a short, easily understood statement. For example: Metro Praise’s vision is to “Love God and Love People.” As a result, every ministry, staff member, service, and function must line up to the clear purpose.

Movement: the growing church possesses a simple strategy to “move” people from “a to b.” This movement is to be seen in every aspect of the ministry. For example: Metro Praise’s movement is, “Connect, Mentor, and Send.” Thus, the children, youth, and every adult should know how to move in the church the same way from conversion to mature soul-winning leader.

Alignment: the simple church moves every leader and ministry onto the same path to maximize their efforts. The church should be aligned the same with the children, youth, and adults. For example: Metro Praise aligns every leader through the same discipleship process.

Focus: the simple church has to say “no” to anything that causes division to the unified vision. If the church’s purpose involves small groups, there can never be a function or ministry that takes people away from everyone’s focus on small groups. For example: At Metro Praise a person cannot be in the worship band unless they are faithful to small groups.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: “Simple Church” has the following strengths: (1) It proves through its statistical analysis of over 500 churches that simple is better, (2) The book offers practical ways to become more effective and focused in making disciples, and (3) The authors do not force “one way” of doing church, they give the parameters of what they believe is effective and allow the leader to pray and develop a God-ordained plan.

Weaknesses: Even though the book is great, there are some weaknesses, (1) The authors do not define discipleship and true Christianity enough, therefore, each reader may differ on what they consider a “true disciple,” (2) The book does not address what happens when a “simple church” fails, meaning, “what else” is import to a healthy “simple” church other than being “simple,” (3) There is not enough mention of the Holy Spirit- His gifts, His power, and the moving of His presence in the church, and lastly, (3) The Bible can feel at times to be reduced to more of a “support” to the “proofs” of the research instead of the stats being “support” of the Bible.

My Personal Thoughts

I loved the book because it supports so much of what I feel as a church planter. After my first church plant in New Orleans I have learned the importance of keeping things simple. Some of the best things we have done in our present church are remove mid-week services, eliminate unfruitful outreaches, have a “one-size-fits-all” discipleship process, and focus everyone in small groups. Thus, I am totally in agreement with keeping the movement in the church simple and to the point.

I would love to add a section to this book called, “Anointing: Keep it Simple!” I believe that too many churches make the Holy Ghost out to be the “helper” of their plans, instead of the “power” behind God’s plans. At the same time, there are churches that make the moving of the Spirit so “spooky” that it does not build the church, but it divides. I believe there is a powerful lesson in learning the balance between being wise in God’s eyes and being totally dependant on His plans and the freedom for God to do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, and for whatever reason He wants.

Jesus simplified the Jewish religion by making a mess of the temple, He took longer paths to destinations to make accidental meetings divine appointments, and He turned people’s simple understanding of God into a eternal mystery by coming in the flesh as the “God-Man!”

Simple.

"Natural Church Development," Book Review

Basic Overview of “Natural Church Development”

“Natural Church Development,” by Christian Schwarz is a church growth book based on the massive research of 1000 churches in 32 nations and 4.2 million church members, observing nature, and studying Scripture. The principle is called the “biotic paradigm” and is described in contrast to the “technocratic method” and the “spiritualistic paradigm.” The “technocratic method” is based primarily on techniques and the “spiritualistic method” is based on following the move of God’s Spirit with minimal structure.

The book outlines the weakness of the “technocratic method” being too focused on institutions, programs, and methods. Also, “spiritualistic methods” are described flawed because they do not rely enough on structure and strategies. However, the “biotic paradigm” is described as being the best of what both the technical and spiritual methods offer. Thus, the biotic method has a good balance between methods and the moving of the Spirit. The end result of having the best of both methods is a natural growing healthy church, which is both successful in qualitative and quantitative growth (quality/quantity).

The Biblical representation of the model is rooted in the parable of Jesus concerning the seed and its growth in Mark 4:26-29. Jesus says the man plants the seed, then sleeps, and the earth produces the crop “by itself” and he does not know how. However, he will harvest the crop when it is ready. Therefore, the “by itself” process describes the natural development of the church because man should do all he can do to have a harvest and then trust in God for the growth.

The primary research presented in the book comes from surveying churches in the following eight characteristics: (1) Empowering Leadership, (2) Gift-oriented Ministry, (3) Passionate Spirituality, (4) Functional Structures, (5) Inspiring Worship Services, (6) Holistic Small Groups, (7) Need-oriented Evangelism, and (8) Loving Relationships.

The research showed that on average growing churches scored higher in developing each of the eight characteristics than non-growing churches. What was even more impressive is that every church that had a score of “65” or higher in each area was always a growing church. Therefore, the research in the book helps prove what are the main principles to church growth.

The book also showed that “megachurch” growth is not so “mega.” The research showed that churches under 100 members grew in average of 32% per five years, but the churches over 1,000 only grew 4% over the same time. Plus, the research showed that the “less than 100 member” churches had an average of 31% member involvement in ministry compared to the shocking 17% in churches of 1000 members or more! This research helped show that a church can be “mini” and be “mega” in quality and quantity.

The book gives “six biotic principles” that every natural growing church has, (1) Interdependence: the ministries in the church work together towards common goals, (2) Multiplication: growing churches multiply their disciples, (3) Energy Transformation: the passion and vision is contagious, (4) Multi-usage: ministries help grow other ministries, (5) Symbiosis: freedom for each believer to find their own unique gifted ministry, and (6) Functionality: every ministry and disciple is in a well-working ministry.

The book concludes by giving ten helpful steps to transform a church into a natural developing church. The steps are mostly obvious and easily seen by reading the book. The book ends much the same way it began by proving the best way to grow churches is by having a natural use of both strategies and “free-flowing” spiritual experiences.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: “Natural Church Development” has the following strengths: (1) The book does a great job of presenting well documented research, (2) It gives sound characteristics of a “quality church,” (3) The use of illustrations in nature are very helpful and sound, (4) The book dispels many church growth myths, and (5) it gives clear graphs and sub-points to make the main points easy to follow.

Weaknesses: Here are some of its weaknesses, (1) Like with all books in this genre it does not spend enough time discussing the spiritual principles behind genuine quality church growth, (2) it does not contain all the survey questions asked to the members, and (3) the book does help the reader deal with problems along the path that may arise from implementing the principles.

My Personal Thoughts

First, I personally think that “Natural Church Development” presented the best research for church growth that I have read. I really enjoyed reading the eight characteristics section and seeing how the research backed up every point. I believe the eight characteristics sum up what makes a healthy church very well.

Second, I liked how the book described the differences between the technocratic, spiritualistic, and biotic paradigms. I was in total agreement on how most churches fall somewhere in those three categories and that both the “left and right” are unhealthy but a sound middle balance with simple principles brings out the best in church growth!

Lastly, I really enjoyed the simplicity of the principles given to grow a church naturally. A healthy church will always have quality and quantity. The book did a great job of encouraging the smaller churches and challenging the larger churches to stay natural and healthy!

"The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Group Ministry," Book Review

Overview

“The Seven Deadly Sins of a Small Group” by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson is about teaching churches and small group leaders how to have a successful small group ministry. The book is based on the experiences of the Willow Creek Association of Churches and specifically Willow Creek Church in Chicago. The authors both work for Willow Creek Church and have a passion to reach other churches with their knowledge and experience in small group leadership.

The information found in the book is neither new nor inventive, however, it is concise and to the point. The authors use everyday examples to help the reader understand the points and grasp their importance. The book is not deep in theology or spiritual principles and is far from being “power packed.” Therefore, it sometimes was very boring to read and not very “cutting edge.” On the other hand it does a good job of presenting the seven mistakes common to small groups and teaches how to avoid them.

The Seven Deadly Sins

Here are the “deadly” seven sins of a small group: 

(1) Unclear Ministry Objectives: not having a clear vision for small groups and their multiplication 

(2) Lack of Point Leadership: unable to place the right person over a small group

(3) Poor Coaching Skills: lacking in training of new small group leaders

(4) Neglect of Ongoing Leadership Development: not continuing the process of growth in the leader’s life

(5) Closed Group Mind-Set: not open to new people

(6) Narrow Definition of a Small Group: making all the small groups the same

(7) Neglect of the Assimilation Process: dropping the ball in connecting new visitors to the group.

The Seven Deadly Sins Remedies

After each “sin” that is listed the authors take the time to give helpful instruction to avoid the pitfalls mentioned. The instructions are clear and tested, thus they serve as good “cures” for the above “sins.” Here is a brief summary of the cures:

(1) Unclear Ministry Objectives: decide how your church will use small groups, make a plan to multiply, and remain faithful

(2) Lack of Point Leadership: spend the majority of the time choosing the right people and then train them effectively

(3) Poor Coaching Skills: develop relationships with the small group leaders

(4) Neglect of Ongoing Leadership Development: continue to give the small group leaders materials, retreats, and conferences

(5) Closed Group Mind-Set: teach the small group to “fill the empty chair” every week

(6) Narrow Definition of a Small Group: develop small groups according to people’s spiritual and real-life needs

(7) Neglect of the Assimilation Process: have a simple and clear process to follow with every visitor so they can easily get connected with a small group.

How it Made Me Feel

While reading this book I was reminded of my beginnings with small groups in my first pastorate. I was still a student in Bible College and was co-leading an inner city ministry in New Orleans called, “When Warriors Dream.” We were instructed on the importance of small groups and were even given examples of the type of materials we were to make. The ministry was very effective at getting the young urban youths to attend the outreaches, but we could not get them to gather during the week.

I then began to develop a strategy to get the youths to come, “free food!” This solved our problem with numbers, but made many more problems in its place. First, we suffered from “unclear ministry objectives” because we did not have a plan; we were just going with the “flow.” We simply had another “large group” on a different day.

Secondly, we suffered from “lack of point leadership.” When we finally enough leaders to make the break out groups smaller we soon realized they were unqualified to manage their group effectively. And lastly, we had no “assimilation process” in place, we just were happy if at the end of the day everyone was safe and still alive! We had no way of keep track of the new people.

In contrast, when I started the church I know pastor here in Chicago with a small group I did things much differently. I made sure I had a clear goal to the small group, which was the vision of the church. My wife and I were the leaders so we made sure everything we did was well planned. And lastly, we had a “follow-up” process from the start that involved phone calls, letters, emails, and coffee talks.

As a result, the outcome was a successful church plant. Today we have seven adult small groups and three youth small groups. My wife and I also lead an elders small group once a month and our discipleship process is based on small group principles. Therefore, I believe this book can keep our church on track and help us not make the same mistakes I once made.

Personal Reflection

I liked this book for its main points and applications, but I disliked it because of its lack of passion and anointing. I pray that more people like the authors will realize that the church is just not a business. I know they believe this in “theory,” but how they “practice it” is very lacking. For example, the author makes mention of a time at a leadership retreat when guest singer Alvin Slaughter came and God moved in a special way. He noted to Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek, that this never happens in Willow Creek services. I was shocked to hear this! Why not?

How can we as Christian leaders really desire to follow pastors that do not have a strong presence of God in their services? How is this acceptable? I believe if the services are weak, how much “weaker” are the small groups. I know people will say, “We get ‘deeper’ in the smaller meetings.” But what is the point if you cannot express it in the larger meetings? How can a church really grow disciples if they have to adjust to two different types of services? This is not true to the Bible; Jesus was Jesus wherever He was. Jesus always loved being with the Father, both in small and large groups. I sincerely hope that more people get tired of just having “clubs” and start getting closer to God by the Holy Spirit!

Personal Application

Here are some of the things I learned from this book that can be applied to Metro Praise Church in Chicago:

(1) Become a small group church, not just a church with small groups
(2) Promote small groups from the pulpit and at every announcements in both adult and youth services
(3) Make small attendance a must for all leadership positions
(4) Take time in choosing the right leaders and do not rush the process of appoint leadership
(5) Develop simple yet powerful training materials for leaders and apprentices
(6) Activate the same follow up process in all small groups
(7) Coach small group leaders, keep them accountable, and have continued leadership training
(8) Set a goal for every small group to multiply every six months!