T h e B a s i c s

1. TheBasics Part III – The HowThe Simple Church Revolution Simple Church by Thom Rainer & Eric Geigerhttp://www.ericgeiger.com/site.html

2. Worship • Ministry • Evangelism • Fellowship • Discipleship • Clarity • Movement • Alignment • Focus • Doctrine

3. Class Objectives (What do we hope to accomplish) • (Re-)Discover the Foundational Principles of the church • Develop a razor sharp focus on church priorities • Develop an approach to do Sunday School for Young Adults (where do we fit?) • Perform a self-exam of CRBC

4. Every attempt will be made to teach based on the authority of the scripture, but some materials will reflect the opinions & bias of the sources (albeit learned opinions)

5. The Revolution • Simple is in. • Complexity is out. Out of style at least. • People are hungry for simple because the world has become much more complex. • The world is a complicated place, people want to find simplicity. They long for it, seek it, pay for it, even dream of it. • Simple is in. Simple works. People respond to simple. • The Simple Revolution has begun. • Papa Johns Pizza • Check out RealSimple.com • And other marketing, graphic design, and interior design trends. • Apple iPod • Google • Southwest Airlines

6. Simple Church Simply Stated • The healthiest churches in America tends to have a simple process for making disciples. • They had clarity about the process. • They moved Christians intentionally through the process. • They were focused on the elements of the process. • And they aligned their entire congregation to this process.

7. What Simple Church Does Not Say • The simple approach is not a change in doctrine or conviction. • Churches should become simple because it in in style or culturally hip. • Churches should have a simple process just for pragmatic reasons. There is a theological and philosophical foundation on which the simple process stands. • Simple church is easy. There is a big difference between simple and easy.

8. Jesus Knows Simple • The religious leaders of His day had developed a religious system with 613 laws. 613 was how many separate letters were in the text of the 10 Commandments. • Then they found 613 commandments in the Pentateuch. They divided the list into affirmative commands (do this) and negative commands (don’t do this) • There were 248 affirmative commands, 1 for every part of the human body as they knew it. • There were 365 negative commands, one for every day of the year.

9. Jesus Knows Simple (cont’d) • They further divided the list into binding commands and non-binding commands. • Then they spent their days debating whether the divisions were accurate and ranking the commandments within each division. • Enter Jesus. • A leading religious leader of the day was tagged to humiliate Jesus in public. Of all 613 commandments which is the greatest? Read Matthew 22:37-39 • He summed up 613 commands in 2. Jesus has the ability to take the complex and make it simple.

10. His Yoke • 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 light. Matt. 11:28-30 • He is not offering a complicated and long set of rules, rituals, and regulations. He is offering grace. He is offering a simple relationship with God.

11. Key Concepts • Simple Church leaders are designers, not programmers. They excel in designing a ministry process that leads to spiritual growth and vitality; not developing church programs • Spiritual growth is a process. It always has been. Thus, it would make sense for church leaders to design their churches around the process of spiritual growth. • A simple church is a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.

12. The Four Elements of Effective Church Design • Clarity – the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by people. • Movement – the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment • Alignment – the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process • Focus – the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process

13. Over the course of the next 5 Weeks we will: • Examine in detail each of the four characteristics of a simple church • Then we’ll take a look at some real churches via case studies.

14. Weekly Metric • How do we measure church (simple or otherwise)? • Transformed Lives

15. TheBasics Stay TunedPart III – The HowClarity

16. TheBasics Part III – The HowClarity: Starting with a Ministry Blueprint

17. Review What are the four elements of effective church design? • Clarity • Movement • Alignment • Focus

18. “Building up” the Body • And He personally gave some to be apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-12) • The term Paul uses for “build up” is the Greek word oikodome. It is a construction term. It paints the picture of building a house. • Constructing lives is the calling.

19. Getting Started What is the first thing that you need before you start a construction project? • Blueprints • Building without blueprints would be ridiculous • Brochures are different from blueprints • The brochure is pretty, but it is not clear • There is a highly significant relationship between church vitality and the CLARITY of the process.

20. Five Keys to Clarity • Define • Illustrate • Measure • Discuss • Increase Understanding

21. Five Keys to Clarity • Our time today is organized around the principles that support the five keys to clarity and a couple of real-world examples

22. Define • Without definition, people are uncertain about how the church is making disciples. • Without definition, people are clueless about how the church is designed to bring people toward spiritual maturity. • Without definition, there is room for ambiguity

23. Illustrate • The illustration should be reflective of your process • The illustration should show progression • The illustration should help simplify

24. Illustrate Example

25. Measure • For people to take your ministry process seriously, it has to be measured. For people to internalize the simple how in your church, you have to evaluate it. • Learn to view your numbers horizontally and not vertically • Measure attendance at each level/stage in your process

26. Measure Example

27. Discuss • The discussion must begin with the leadership of the church. • Consistently discussing your ministry process makes a big difference. • View everything through the lens of your simple process. • Surface the process in meetings. • Test the leaders on it.

28. Increase Understanding • Articulate the process corporately. When you are tired of talking about it, people will just be in the first stages of understanding. • Share the process interpersonally. • Live the process personally.

29. Weekly Metric How do we measure church (simple or otherwise)? • Transformed Lives

30. TheBasics Stay TunedPart III – The HowMovement

31. TheBasics Part III – The HowMovement: Removing Congestion

32. Review What is the first thing that you need before you start a construction project? • Blueprints - Not Brochures • There is a highly significant relationship between church vitality and the CLARITY of the process. What is the “calling” of the church? • Building lives! • And He personally gave some to be apostles, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-12)

33. Congestion What comes to mind when you hear the word congestion? • Congestion prevents movement • Many churches are congested – spiritual movement is stifled • We are not necessarily referring to the absence of new people – we are referring to people staying the same. • The building of lives is stalled. • Read II Cor. 3:18

34. Our Part • God does the transforming, but we play a vital role in the process. • Using Moses as an example: • Moses walked up the mountain. • Moses placed himself in the right place to be transformed by God. • He discovered the place where God would move in his life, and he put himself there.

35. Leadership’s Part • Leadership’s part is to place people in the pathway of God’s transforming power. • Simple church leaders have designed their simple process with movement in mind. • Research found – There is a significant relationship between the vitality of a local church and the MOVEMENT of the church’s ministry process. • Movement is the sequential steps in the process that causes people to move to greater areas of commitment.

36. “Congestion Medication” – Five Prescriptions for Congestion • Strategic Programming • Sequential Programming • Intentional Movement • Clear Next Step • New Members Class

37. Strategic Programming • Order the sequence of your programs to reflect your process • Designate a clear entry-point to your process • Identify the next levels of programming

38. Intentional Movement • Create short-term steps • Capitalize on relationships • Consider the “now what?” • (Create anticipation that there is a next step) • Connect People to Groups

39. Sequential Programming • Begin with your clearly defined process • Choose one program for each phase of your process • Design each program for a specific aspect of the process

40. Finally Clear Next Steps • Curriculum • Mentoring (i.e. Guide) New Members Class • Teach the simple process • Ask for a commitment to the process

41. “Get in the Game” http://www.gochristfellowship.com

42. Weekly Metric How do we measure church (simple or otherwise)? • Transformed Lives

43. Our Challenge HALF OF ALL teenagers attend a church-related service or activity in a typical week and some of those are quite avid in their faith, but a new poll by The Barna Group found that most of those teens will disengage from active spiritual activity during their 20s. Barna found that, compared to older adults, twentysomehtings have significantly lower levels of church attendance, time spent alone studying and reading the Bible, volunteering to help churches, donating to churches, attending Sunday School and small groups, and using Christian media such as radio and magazines.

44. Our Challenge (cont’d) In fact, Barna said 61 percent of today’s young adults were churched at one point during their teen years but now are spiritually disengaged. Only 20 percent have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences. “The current state of ministry to twentysomethings is woefully inadequate to address the spiritual needs of millions of young adults, “David Kinnaman, director of the research, said “When and if young adults do return to churches, it is difficult to convince them that a passionate pursuit of Christ is anything more than a nice add-on to their cluttered lifestyle.

45. Our Challenge (cont’d) It’s not as if twentysomethings are totally abandoning their faith, Barna noted, since 78 percent of twentysomethings say they are Christians compared with 83 percent of teenagers. They just need something to help them stay plugged into church life as they navigate the transition period from adolescence to adulthood. “Much of the ministry to teenagers in America needs an overhaul – not because churches fail to attract significant numbers of young people, but because so much of those efforts are not creating a sustainable faith beyond high school,” Kinnaman said.

46. TheBasics Stay TunedPart III – The HowAlignment: Maximizing the Energy of Everyone

47. TheBasics Part III – The HowAlignment: Maximizing the Energy of Everyone

48. Review If spiritual movement in a church is stifled it may be that the church is? • Congested • Congestion prevents movement • This does not necessary refer to the absence of new people – it refers to people staying the same. • The building of lives is stalled.

49. Stewardship / Unity • A key principle in the Bible is Stewardship • Stewardship – to maximize resources; to manage • Does not refer exclusively to money • We are held accountable for all resources that God has entrusted us with • We must maximize our impact with what resources God entrust to us

50. Stewardship / Unity • In the finality of Jesus’ life, He was burdened for unity. In the garden He prayed that believers would be one. • He said to the Father, “May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me” (John 17:21)