“simple” church

it’s been a very busy few days with a stack of things going on at warnbro church.

one thing which i thought worthy of mention is that we’ve been working through thom rainer’s “simple church” as a staff and leadership, and this book is just filled with some excellent wisdom about how to “do” church in a way which is not only sustainable, but also ensures that you’re making disciples. (click on the link in the right sidebar to get the amazon page for my current reads)

making disciples is our main mission, but its amazing to me how even very good churches can not be getting the main thing done. i did a case study as part of my doctor of ministry course on a fantastic church in the States, which by all accounts is a really cool place, but i would have to say their discipleship stuff isn’t cutting it, in spite of their bold mission statement stating that making disciples is their core business. at warnbro we’ve known for a while that this is something we’ve got to improve on. and, i don’t care what shape church you’re a part of, if you’re not making disciples, then you’re missing the mark.

so, i recommend “simple church” – it’s a really good read.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 10:23 pm and is filed under leadership. You can feed this entry. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses

  1. definitely one of the best books around for est churches on how to make disciples and not get caught in other less important stuff!

    i read it last year and have been recommending it everywhere

    hamo - November 8th, 2007 at 6:56 am

  2. well, i think it certainly is a great book for established churches, but i reckon it would be an awesome orientation text for ANYONE starting ANY sort of church – frankly, i think all kinds of churches, including church plants, lose their way in the weeds pretty quickly.

    there’s probably a big component of that which is part of spiritual warfare and the fact that our enemy does not want us to accomplish our mission, and part of it is our own lack of real understanding about what we’re actually trying to accomplish.

    anyhoo… as you say, worth recommending.

    ob1 - November 8th, 2007 at 7:31 am

  3. Does the book focus more on style than principles? More on principles? Good balance?

    Glenno - November 8th, 2007 at 1:36 pm

  4. Can I ask how it’s impacted your ministry / church Mark and Hamo?

    Glenno - November 8th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

  5. Yeah it is applicable to everyone, but the illustrations he uses are exclusively larger church based.

    hamo - November 8th, 2007 at 8:13 pm

  6. Bill Hybels made a big admission recently that willow had largely failed in this area…brave move..I’m increasingly conviced that most of what we do is related to leadership and discipoleship…..

    Barry - November 10th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

  7. glenno – i think the book is largely about principles, but as hamo says, many of the illustrations are out of larger churches. but, i personally think some of them are pretty cool churches, so i don’t have a problem with that.

    i think the principles could easily be applied to a great variety of church shapes…

    ob1 - November 14th, 2007 at 12:16 am