simplify

Ever since I was a kid, there was a phrase that has pushed me to do things and say things, change things and process things in ways that people can understand. It is a phrase that continues to swell in my brain as an overiding theme of life. It is represented on my wall in a word, a word that reminds me of the phrase. The word is not something I naturally lean into, but something I have to really work at.
The word is Simplify. The phrase is "keep it simple, stupid."
And while I KNOW these truths, I find that it is a hard thing to live out. Life is not simple, it is complicated. Schedules, family relationships, jobs, finances, conflict, church. Our lives quickly busy with "life". And we complicate it with "stuff". Somewhere along the way, we all get caught up in DOING instead of BEING. We lose sight of the fact that God never intended life or church to be this way-complicated. We like our options. We like being busy. We like "stuff". But "stuff" sucks the life right out of us. We are too tired to come to church, to serve, to love, to listen. We are too busy to study, to work on relationships, to be intentional, to want more. Our lives are full and we like it that way....and yet, most of us sit and wonder how life got so complicated? What can we cut out so that we can simplify?

I have been reading a book called SIMPLE CHURCH. Dave actually gave the first chapter out to our deacons and has encouraged them to read it. In reading this book, I have been reminded that Jesus had a very SIMPLE plan for changing the world. It was a very SIMPLE mandate from Scripture and a very SIMPLE process. Why? because people respond to SIMPLE. If you make something complicated....people just shut down, tune you out, don't come back and stop participating. Why? because people respond to SIMPLE. It is why the IPOD exists. It is why Starbucks has made millions. It is SIMPLE....they do ONE THING and do it well. They have designed a SIMPLE process to reach people. They have a SIMPLE product.
(exerpts from the book follow)
Now, there is a difference between simple and easy. Simple is basic, uncomplicated and fundamental. Easy is effortless. Ministry will NEVER be easy. It is messy and difficult because people are messy and difficult. (not looking for easy, thinking simple) But if anyone knew simple, it was JESUS. And if anyone was a revolutionary, it was JESUS. He is the original simple revolutionary. He stepped into a complicated and polluted religious scene. It was CLUTTERED with Religious people-Sadducees, Pharisees, Herodians, Zealots....He did not play by their rules. (He made them mad because He wouldn't do church their cluttered way!) He could not stand their hypocrisy. The religious had a religious system with 613 laws-that were not even in the Bible. But Jesus has the ability to take religion and make it simple. He stood opposed to all the religious laws and summed them up in a simple statement-to love the Lord your God with all. Jesus was and is adamantly opposed to anything that gets in the way of people encountering Him-especially religion.
Many of our lives, and our church life is 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.
Clutter can make things look okay, even good. The busyness is a great disguise for the lack of life. Complexity is a great cover-up. Great amounts of activity do not produce life change. It only gives the impression that things are happening, that there is life. The question is not how much are we doing or not doing? The question is how much life change is happening as a result of what we do? If we are not seeing Spiritual transformation in the lives of people, then we have become content with busy calendars to masquerde the truth that life change is not happening. We are on religious treadmills going nowhere.
How do we get here? It occurs when churches and leaders are not sure who they are. They are not clear what their fundamental identity is. They run in a disjointed and frantic fashion. When the church is unsure of who she is, programs and ministries move in multiple directions. This is not an enviornment for life change to happen. While we all know that the church is to be committed to evangelism, prayer, helping people build relationships with believers, the study of the Word, seeing people grow deeper and serving (Acts 2), the question remains why is this not happening and HOW do we create a SIMPLE process so that it does? And why are we doing all this other stuff? The problem is there is no overarching discipleship process that pulls everything together. There is not a clear process in place that streamlines ministry and keeps everyone on the same page. We can no longer measure ministry on how well a program is going. Then we just become program managers. We MUST see the whole picture. Who we are. What we are created to be. We must get rid of the clutter that masqurades life and begin to discern what our process is. We must be sure that everything in church produces life change. There must be a simple process that pulls everything together to move people towards spiritual maturity.
So what is it that we are called by God and Scripture to be about? The Great Command...not suggestion is that we are to make disciples. Jesus had a SIMPLE plan and it worked. He changed the world by pouring His life into 12 men. It was not a program or a platform. It was Jesus making Disciples. And that is what He told us to do.
EXERPTS FROM SIMPLE CHURCH by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger

As a church, we have proclaimed to our community that our heart is for FAMILY-children and students. And so, if our identity is to BE the CHURCH (not just do church) in our community that reaches out to FAMILY-children and students-making that our focus and who we are, then we must create a SIMPLE process by which we make disciples of those the Lord gives to us. We must skillfully design enviornments where life change can occur. We must create a process that moves people through stages of spiritual growth. The process must be clear, planned and must move people toward maturity. This is not some fly by the seat of our pants activity...this is the GREAT COMMAND-we Can't mess this up. We must MAKE DISCIPLES and we have to be intentional. That doesn't mean it needs to be complicated. In fact, just the opposite. It NEEDS to be SIMPLE. Let's do one thing....and do it well. We say we are all about family. God has called us to make disciples. Let's focus on that and move forward towards that goal. Let's make it SIMPLE...work on the one thing and BE what God has called us to BE, DO what God has said to DO.
ALL FOR YOU