IS YOUR MINISTRY TOO COMPLICATED?

One of the most important questions church renewal leaders can ask is this: Are people truly being transformed? Or are we simply keeping them busy with a calendar full of the usual church programs?

• Churches tend to drift toward a cluttered calendar and a complicated smorgasbord of programs. It feels good to be busy, but is it effective?

Examples of simplicity working well are easy to find. Where I live, a Raising Cane’s recently opened, and it was swamped for weeks. Cars backed up for blocks, obstructing the roads as people clamored to get in. And for what?

• Raising Cane’s menu is shockingly simple. Chicken fingers. That’s it. That is your only choice. You can get three of them or four of them, and you can get them between two buns. But that’s basically it. For them, simple works!
• Simplicity has worked well for Apple, too. Their product line is simple, and the products themselves are simple and intuitive as well. Apple’s previous CEO, Steve Jobs, once said he was “as proud of the things they have not done as he is of the things they have done.”

But what about for churches? Does simple work for ministry too? Research suggests that it does. A helpful summary of this research comes in the form of the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. They studied more than 400 evangelical churches and found that the vibrant churches were much simpler. The statistics showed there was only a 0.1% probability this was by chance alone!

• Here are a few ways to begin simplifying for the sake of renewal.

Eight ideas to simplify ministry for renewal

1. Get Clear About the “win”

• Church leaders must regularly remind themselves of what the “win” is. It’s not keeping people busy. It’s not keeping people happy, either. It’s forming them into the image of Christ and equipping them for works of service. It can be tempting to short-circuit that discussion by pointing to a very full calendar of church programs. But programs are a means to an end, not the end itself.

2. Build ministry around process, not programs

• Ministry is about movement. Vibrant churches offer strategic, sequential steps that move people toward greater commitment to Christ. For each phase in your process, you should ideally offer one primary program, and every program should lead to an easy and obvious next step as its goal.

3. Communicate with clarity

• If your process cannot be explained clearly, it probably cannot be followed consistently. A simple, memorable answer to how your church makes disciples should be well known throughout the congregation. Clarity matters because people are already overwhelmed. They need a clear path, not a maze. Churches should pay close attention to the handoffs between ministries so people are not dropped, forgotten, or left to figure things out alone.

4. Have the courage to cut

• If a program does not fit the process, it may need to be cut. Cutting a program can feel harsh, especially when people love it. But less effective programs divide attention and drain energy. Here’s a good diagnostic question to reveal whether your programs are too bloated: Can you do everything you are asking your people to do?

5. Have the creativity to combine

• When multiple programs exist to meet the same goal, they may need to be combined. If you have three programs that are all serving the same population and offering roughly the same benefits, you are simply stretching your resources three times too thin. Could they be combined or at least differentiated (e.g., designed to meet people at different maturity levels, etc.)?

6. Have the confidence to stay the course

• Complexity creeps in quietly. When a new need appears, the temptation is to add a new ministry or event. Vibrant churches meet needs without introducing complexity and clutter. How do they do this? They often use existing programs in new and creative ways rather than creating new ones.

7. Look through the lens of stewardship

• Simplicity is a stewardship issue. Every program requires time, money, attention, volunteers, announcements, planning, and emotional energy. When churches try to do everything, they often end up doing too many things with mediocrity instead of a few things with excellence.

8. Create margin for mission

• Complex churches have so many programs, it can feel like they are asking people to live at the church. By contrast, simple churches equip people to live on mission as the church. They create space for people to live as disciples in their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and communities.

Church renewal requires leaders to have courage and grit. The pain of change often feels greater than the pain of maintaining the status quo, even if that means being over-extended and under-focused.

• Less really can be more. Fewer programs can mean more clarity, more energy, more excellence, more participation, more money directed toward what matters most, more attention from your people, and — by God’s grace — more transformation!
• For many churches, this focus on simplicity may be one of the first steps toward renewal.