Master 216: Simple Church?

I recently began reading, with a group of leaders at my church, through a book by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, titled Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2006.) The book has raised a number of questions for me about how best to approach discipleship and church administration. I've only read through the first three chapters, but here I will describe some of my initial reactions and make some comments that, I hope, will be helpful for those are interested in these topics but have not read the book.

Rainer and Geiger begin chapter one by emphasizing that they are not recommending a new program or church model. Behind this is the thought that church leaders are already too inundated with programs, models, and formulas for church development and growth. So what is the goal of this book? "This book will help you design a simple process of discipleship in your church. It will help you implement the model you have chosen. It will help you simplify." (3) They are not advocating for any particular program, method, or initiative. Rather, their goal is to help many different kinds of churches by helping them all to become more simple.

They describe what they call the "simple revolution." "Simple is in. Complexity is out." (8) They draw examples from technology, business, marketing, and interior design to illustrate how simplicity translates into greater effectiveness and success in these various areas. Based on the research that they've conducted (and are presenting in this book) simple churches are also experiencing this.

"[I]n general, simple churches are growing and vibrant. Churches with a simple process for reaching and maturing people are expanding the kingdom. Church leaders who have designed a simple biblical process to make disciples are effectively advancing the movement of the gospel. Simple churches are making a big impact. / Conversely, complex churches are struggling and anemic. Churches without a process or with a complicated process for making disciples are floundering. As a whole, cluttered and complex churches are not alive. Our research shows that these churches are not growing. Unfortunately, the overprogrammed and busy church is the norm." (14)

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Let me step away, for a moment, from summarizing what they are saying to draw your attention to an important aspect of their message. Rainer and Geiger have recognized what many people have recognized about many American churches: they are not healthy or growing. Rainer and Geiger have diagnosed the problem. The problem is complexity. They are offering a solution. The solution is simplicity.

Now, the question that I want to ask: Is it really the case that complexity and overprogramming are the real problems that stands behind the ineffectiveness of so many churches? Is it truly the root of the problem, or is it just another (albeit significant) symptom?

I'll expand on this point later, but to state it briefly: I think that the more basic problem that faces ineffective churches is a basic unclarity about what the purpose of the church is and what the goal of discipleship and life in Christ are. This basic unclarity leads both to complexity and overprogramming. It also leads to generally ineffective churches.

Now, if I am right in my diagnosis--if I am right in thinking that complexity is not the fundamental problem and simplicity is not the fundamental solution for our churches--does that mean that Rainer and Geiger's book and research are worthless? Actually, no. They have identified a real correlation that exists between complexity and ineffectiveness, between simplicity and growth/vibrancy. Their recommendations should be carefully considered and taken very seriously. However, one should also keep in mind that they have captured, at best, only part of the solution.

They have set their book up in such a way that they do not advocate for one program rather than another, for one method rather than another. Their point is just that whatever method or program your church uses, it can benefit from becoming more simple and streamlined. They have set their book up to work with lots of different programs. But notice that, as a consequence, their book offers no help in assessing whether your church's method or program is good or bad. If your church has a good program, their book will help to make it simpler and, so, more effective. If your church has a bad program, their book will help to make it simpler and, so, in some sense, more effective.

People who are thinking of using this book, then, must keep this important point in mind. Rainer and Geiger's book leaves a lot of important questions unanswered. Only if a church answers those questions well, can it use Rainer and Geiger's insights to full advantage.

Okay, that detour took more than a moment, but now let's return to summarizing chapter one.

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In advocating for simpler church designs, Rainer and Geiger not only appeal to examples of effective simplicity in our own day. They also point to the example of Jesus. They point out that the Jewish religious scene was extremely cluttered and complicated. As an example, they point out that the religious leaders in the first century had developed a system of 613 laws that stood in extremely complicated relationships to one another and to the people who tried to apply them. But Jesus, in Matthew 22:37-40, summed up the entire law, capturing its spirit and essence, in just two commands.

They point out that Jesus, like all rabbis, had what (in that culture) was referred to as a "yoke" of teaching. "His yoke was His instructions, His content, and His message. Many rabbis put yokes of teaching on the people that were impossible and legalistic. ... Jesus stepped onto the scene and said to a crowd one day: 'Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.' (Matthew 11:28-30)" (18)

Rainer and Geiger then make reference to Mark 11 where Jesus cleanses the temple. They remark, "His behavior in the temple gives us amazing insight into the heart of God. Jesus is adamantly opposed to anything that gets in the way of people encountering Him. He quoted from Isaiah that day saying, "Is it not written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of thieves'!" (Mark 11:17) / Many of our churches have become cluttered. So cluttered that people have a difficult time encountering the simple and powerful message of Christ. So cluttered that many people are busy doing church instead of being the church. / What about your church?" (19)

Rainer and Geiger close the first chapter by emphasizing that, in order to be effective, pastors and church leaders need to stay focused on the big picture. Failing to keep the big picture in view leads to the multiplication of projects and activities that are moving in all sorts of different directions, conflicting with each other, and not coordinated by a unifying purpose. "To have a simple church, leaders must ensure that everything their church does fits together to produce life change. They must design a simple process that pulls everything together, a simple process that moves people towards spiritual maturity." (26)

Simple church leaders, they say, are designers. "To have a simple church, you must design a simple discipleship process. This process must be clear. It must move people toward maturity. It must be integrated fully into your church, and you must get rid of the clutter around it." (26)

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Now I do worry that my critical remarks will convey the impression that I do not like this book or think that it is fundamentally misguided. That is not actually the case. But the book (intentionally) does not address itself to a number of important points that any church, seeking to apply its insights, must take up on their own. These important points, because they are what I am most interested, will be what I focus on here.

One more remark along these lines. I have emphasized that the authors intentionally avoid answering certain key questions about discipleship and the purpose of the church. And I'm willing to grant that that is not, in itself, a problem. However, this fact does pose a grave danger for unwary readers and, especially, long time Christians. The danger is that many readers will assume that the answers to these key questions are just obvious and can be taken for granted. The fact that the Rainer and Geiger do not address themselves to these questions may just solidify, in the reader's mind, the impression that the answers are obvious. I will try to point out, here, that the answers are not obvious. And my suggestion, ultimately, is that it is a fundamental unclarity about the answers to just these questions that is really responsible for both the complexity and ineffectiveness of most churches.

Having laid my cards on the table, more or less, let me now turn to look at what are some of these unresolved issues and unanswered questions. Think to yourself, for a moment, when you read my summary and the passages that I quoted, did you see any unresolved issues or unanswered questions?

Consider the following paragraph, quoted above, from p. 14. "[I]n general, simple churches are growing and vibrant. Churches with a simple process for reaching and maturing people are expanding the kingdom. Church leaders who have designed a simple biblical process to make disciples are effectively advancing the movement of the gospel. Simple churches are making a big impact." Especially if you've grown up in the church, this passage may not sound odd to you at all. But when I read it, a host of questions come to mind. What does it mean to say that a church is growing and vibrant? What are the criteria that a church must meet to count as "growing" or "vibrant"? Rainer and Geiger imply that the goal of the church is to expand the kingdom [of God]. Their remark reveals some underlying assumptions: (1) that everybody (or, at least, all church leaders) knows what the kingdom of God is and (2) that everybody agrees that the goal of the church is to expand that kingdom. In fact, I think that both of those assumptions are false. Any church that wants to apply Rainer and Geiger's insights needs to thoughtfully consider (and not just take for granted) what the kingdom of God is. They need to carefully consider what the purpose of the church is. Rainer and Geiger talk about reaching and maturing people. But they don't say anything about how to do that and they don't say what a mature person is or looks like. I fear that an awful lot of churches would say that they are strongly committed to maturing people while being deeply confused about what a mature person actually is or looks like. If you don't know where the destination is, it's awfully hard to get there.

Again, is it a bad thing that Rainer and Geiger don't answer these questions? No. It's fine if they want to focus just on simplicity. It's fine for them to do that because they are not designing a church. But if you are designing a church or helping out in the leadership of the church, then you need to focus on more than simplicity. You need to think about what the purpose of the church is, what discipleship is, what the goal of discipleship is, what the kingdom of God is, what a mature Christian looks like. You need to think about these things in light of Scripture. And you need to not assume that these answers are obvious.

Now, some will worry that, in making all of this fuss about these questions and issues, I am making things more complicated than they need to be. Some might try to argue that all of these issues about purpose and discipleship and kingdom actually just are distractions from the simple message of Jesus. Some of these people might point, as Rainer and Geiger do, to Matthew 22:37-40. Here's how that text appears:

"And one of them, a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (22:35-40)

There is the simple and powerful message of Jesus. (See the quotation from p. 19, above.) Right there. In black and white (or red and white). Love God and love people. Surely there's no need to become more complicated than that.

Notice these comments, by Rainer and Geiger, about this Scripture passage: "Think about the significance of that moment. He said all the Law (and He added the Prophets) is summed up in this simple and perfect phrase. He was not lowering the standard of the Law. He was not abolishing it. He was capturing all its spirit, all of its essence, in one statement. He said all of it hangs on this. He summed up 613 commands in two. Jesus took the complexity and the advancement of the Law and made it very simple." (17) Rainer and Geiger use this event as an example of Jesus' revolutionary simplicity. "Revolutionary" is key. Jesus was doing something that had never been done before. The only problem: People had done this before.

Jesus was not being revolutionary in this moment. He was not introducing something new. He was not saying something that people had never heard before. The first commandment, from Deuteronomy 6:5 was already widely recognized as the most important commandment in the Jewish tradition. It was recited regularly for just that reason. And many rabbis before Jesus had linked it with the second commandment (from Leviticus 19:18). In fact, in their original contexts, these two commandments functioned as summaries of the law. Jesus was not introducing anything new or revolutionary when he cited these as the two greatest commandments. The people were already familiar with this. And yet, Jesus criticized them repeatedly for their failure to love God and their failure to love one another.

Is it possible for a person who preaches, "Love God and love people," to fail to love God and love people. Of course it is. Unfortunately, many of us are far too familiar with people who have preached this message but not lived it out. So what is the solution? It won't help just to preach more about loving God and loving people. Do Rainer and Geiger offer a solution? No they don't. They're not trying to. Their goal is to help you (or your church) to take the solution you've already formulated and make it more simple and more effective. But the task of coming up with a solution is still up to you. You've still got to do the work of studying the Bible and figuring that out.

Again, this is the problem with being a sloppy reader, if you're looking through Simple Church. Rainer and Geiger will point out that many churches are so cluttered that "people have a difficult time encountering the simple and powerful message of Christ." But Rainer and Geiger don't tell you what that simple and powerful message of Christ is. They don't tell you how to help people encounter it. They'll tell you how to simplify your process for doing that, but they won't tell you what process to choose.

The same point applies to their reference to Jesus' "easy yoke." Most people, I think, are totally mystified about what Jesus is talking about in that passage? They don't know what Jesus means and they don't know how to apply what Jesus says to their lives. But if they don't understand that, then they won't know how to apply Rainer and Geiger's very valuable and important insights.

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This blog post seems to have been dominated by critical and negative remarks. My hope is, for the interested reader, that it will spark you to start thinking about these questions. What is the gospel? What is the kingdom of God? What is the goal of discipleship? What does (or should) a mature Christian look like? What is the purpose of the church? What is Jesus' easy yoke? What does it mean to love God and love people? The funny thing is that the answers to these questions are actually pretty straightforward. So, in raising these questions, I am not suggesting that the truth is something deep or mysterious or difficult or just for the few initiate. Actually the answers to these questions are extremely straightforward--they are simple--and, more importantly, they lead to life, joy, wholeness, wellness, love, peace, and grace for those who take them seriously.

All the same, the answers are not obvious. And they may be especially hard to see for those of us who have grown up in the church--who have gotten used to a way of talking and thinking and acting. We've become comfortable with a certain set of answers and they are familiar to us. But if the church is not being effective, then maybe it's time to stretch ourselves and consider something different.

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A closing meditation:

No one sets out to become an ineffective church. No one has the goal of becoming weak and frail and powerless. But the truth is that there are an awful lot of churches that are ineffective and that have become weak and frail and powerless. How do they get that way? How can they be fixed?

Here's an analogy that may be helpful for thinking about this. No one sets out to have a bad marriage. No one has the goal of being in a relationship that dead, full of strife, and unfulfilling. But the truth is that there are an awful lot of marriages that are bad and that have become dead, full of strife, and unfulfilling. How do they get that way? How can they be fixed?

There are no quick answers to fixing a broken marriage. There's no set formula. If a husband and wife are going to pull through the dark times, they'll have to do a lot of work. They'll need to think carefully about what marriage is, what their roles are as husband and wife, what they really care about, and how they are going to behave. Unfortunately, when many people get married, they don't make the mental shift that's required to live in this different kind of relationship. Instead, they each continue to have the thoughts, attitudes, feelings, desires, and motivations of a single person. And marriage is not the same thing as two single people living together. Add to this the ordinary kinds of stresses that individuals have to deal with and you have a recipe for estrangement and brokenness.

What does this have to do with the church? Well, the truth is that if our thinking about church stays at the level of evaluating some corporate entity, then we've missed the point. A healthy church is one that is composed of healthy Christians. And a healthy Christian is one who has a growing relationship with God. But just like marriage requires a change on the husband's and wife's part, so relationship with God requires a change on our part. The Bible uses the imagery of marriage to describe our relationship with God. But there's a problem with many of our relationships with God. Many of us don't act or behave like we're in a committed relationship. Our thoughts, attitudes, feelings, desires, and motivations are still those of a 'single' person. And if I'm still committed to being autonomous or getting my way or satisfying my desires, my relationship with God is going to be rocky at best.

Now one might think, isn't it just obvious that a relationship with God requires some measure of commitment? To which I might reply by asking, isn't it just obvious that a marriage relationship will require some measure of commitment? And yet so many marriages are broken and hurting. And so many relationships with God fall far short of what they should or could be.

What is the point of this meditation? Just that the obvious stuff is not at all obvious. What's required for a successful marriage and relationship with God are, in important respects, quite simple and obvious. But the fact that so many of our marriages and relationships with God are failing suggests that we are not cluing into the obvious. And the worst thing that we can do, in trying to find solutions to these problems, is to just assume that the answers are obvious.

So if you happen to pick up Simple Church, or if you just care about the growth and development of the Church, make sure that you're thinking carefully about these questions: What is the gospel? What is the kingdom of God? What is the goal of discipleship? What does (or should) a mature Christian look like? What is the purpose of the church? What is Jesus' easy yoke? What does it mean to love God and love people?

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.