The nature of the new pt 3

Simple and Small

3. Simple

This new paradigm of church is above all simple. Again this is a vital element which can so easily be overlooked. Simplicity is the key to reproducibility and thus multiplication. Without it there is no hope of movement.

What do I mean by ‘simple’? I mean that there is nothing that happens in the life of the church that could not be quickly and easily replicated even by a new believer. A new believer must be able to step into one of these churches, see how they are and what they do, and think ‘well I could do that’. If there is anything which causes a new believer to think ‘I couldn’t do that’, then we have immediately placed a block in the way of multiplication.

To facilitate this we have to rigorously examine every aspect of our church life and activity, particularly when it comes to the gatherings; how do we do ‘worship and praise’? How do we open the Word, pray for one another, handle our finances, disciple one another etc. If anything is not easily reproducible by any believer we have failed.

Again this raises all sorts of questions about quality, accountability and depth etc. Simple does not mean shallow of course and in our own experience quite the reverse has been the case.

This concept of a relatively new believer leading or at least hosting a church in their home breaks all sorts of barriers in our thinking! Again the issue comes down to control and trust in the Holy Spirit. If we are going to see the sort of movement needed to affect this nation then we have got to be ready to take the lid off the box. Every believer has to realise that they too can plant a church, especially when it is simple enough for anyone to do. Of course it will prove far easier, in one sense, to work with new believers in this process as they will just assume that it is quite natural to do things this way. They won’t have any preconceived notions about needing several training courses before they can begin to disciple someone in their home. Existing believers must realise and accept that they have divine permission to plant churches.

4. Small

Coupled naturally with this is the aspect of smallness. Smallness naturally lends itself to simplicity and ease of reproduction. In addition the small dynamic contributes beneficially on several levels including, deeper and more real relationships and consequently more effective mutual discipling; provides an environment in which visitors can feel at home more quickly; allows far greater flexibility in terms of how, when and where the church gathers; low maintenance from an administrative point of view; low cost in that there does not need to be a central building to maintain and staff to employ; this allows a significant proportion of the churches giving (often 80-90%) to be available for giving outwardly.

A further reason for the ‘small’ approach is a simple numerical dynamic. As a group grows the dynamic of that group changes. An example of what I mean would be the very different feeling engendered by walking into a room of 12 people as opposed to 300.

What appears to happen is that as a group grows numerically past 50, 70, 100 people a delicate balance is tipped. Gradually the amount of resource, time and energy required to organise the group and its activities grows until the structure of the organisation begins to outweigh the life of the ‘organism’.

Remaining small, of course, doesn’t totally rule this out, but it certainly makes it easier to avoid. And once this balance has been tipped, it significantly reduces the potential for reproduction and thus multiplication. This is the reason that in most ‘big’ church contexts, growth and church planting tend to occur by addition rather than multiplication. That’s good, but I believe multiplication is better.

Having said all this I also believe strongly that there is a place for larger gatherings for example as a network of simple churches gather together for celebration or for teaching/ministry at an Eph 4 level. Ideally as relationships grow stronger with the wider body there is a place for the whole church in the city to gather together, perhaps more on this later.

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