Steps to Designing the "Simple Church"

Thom Rainer

Following is my outline of the main points of the last section of the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger where they describe the steps to becoming a simple church.

BECOMING SIMPLE
A. Design a simple process (CLARITY)

1. Design a simple ministry process for your church on paper - do not build your process (first) around any existing ministries.
2. Study about discipleship in the Bible and narrow your definition down to a few key points. Disciples at our church are: ________________, _______________, ______________, and ___________________. The fewer the points the better.
3. Place them in sequential order to identify HOW people progress through spiritual transformation. Place them according to different levels of commitment. The first step should be the first level of commitment.

Ed Stetzer on the Missional Church

Josh Reich's summary of the highlights of Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer.

Studies show that the higher standards of biblical teaching, the longer people remain engaged. Today's seekers are seeking depth. They won’t interrupt a fine Sunday morning of sleeping in to attend a church that serves up shallowness, at least not for long.

Establishing a missional church means that you plant a church that’s part of the culture you’re seeking to reach.

Missional is the posture – the way in church we approach people in culture – but incarnational describes what’s actually happening.

International Arts Movement (IAM): Makoto Fujimura

Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and speaker who is recognized worldwide as a cultural influencer by both faith-based and secular media. A Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts (2003-2009), Fujimura has contributed internationally as an advocate for the arts, speaking with decision makers and advising governmental policies on the arts. Fujimura’s work is exhibited at galleries around the world....

Vision of IAM
The world is not as it ought to be. We long for meaningful existence and involvement in our culture - to be part of a story greater than ourselves. But too often our reality is a broken and fragmented story in which dignity and value are stripped from humanity.

Art, as a universal language, can begin to address this dehumanization. The world needs artists and visionaries to lead the way in seeing beyond the trivial to the transcendent, bringing synthesis to fragmentation and hope to despair.

7 Reasons Why the Church Needs Artists | TonyMorganLive.com

7 Reasons Why the Church Needs Artists TonyMorganLive.com

Faith and the Arts

Faith and the Arts is an online platform dedicated to exploring the relationship between artistic practice, creativity and religious beliefs.

Faith and the Arts

Links | Art and Christianity Enquiry

Links on Art and Christianity Enquiry website

Art and Christianity Enquiry (ACE)

ACE claims to be

..."the leading UK organisation in the field of visual art and religion. ACE offers stimulating educational projects and publications, advice, information and skills."

See more on: Art and Christianity Enquiry (ACE)

The Church & The Arts

by Robert Cooper

THE FOLLOWING PAPER WAS GIVEN AS PART OF A WORKSHOP AT THE 1998 NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR LICENSED READERS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Excerpt:

If your ministry is one of leading worship and teaching, you cannot afford to ignore the arts. For one thing, you would discount the experience of all the people who find creative activities valuable. For another, you would end up with a lop-sided theology in which words and concepts are given excessive value. As Neil Smith of the Community of Christ the King has written; "The arts are about revelation and are therefore a profound pathway to engagement with spiritual truth".

This paper gives some pointers towards the practical importance of creative activities. It then offers some reflection on the theological significance of the arts.

Read more. The Church and the Arts

Makoto Fujimura | Writings on Art and Faith

Makoto Fujimura Writings on Art and Faith

Arts: Making Church Artist-Friendly - Christianity Today magazine - ChristianityTodayLibrary.com

"Many times the church is blessed with creative people but doesn't have the right perspective to empower them," Fujimura says. I AM attempts to fill the gap. Artists meet together in cell groups to support, mentor, and disciple one another.

I AM also hosts events where Christianity can be explored through artistic expression. Says Fujimura, "If you're called to be an artist, you're called to be in the world but not of it. Therefore, you need accountability, you need prayer, you need groups that understand your creative side."

Read the entire article...

Arts: Making Church Artist-Friendly - Christianity Today magazine - ChristianityTodayLibrary.com

The Church and Postmodern Culture Conversation: Art and The Postmodern Church

by Daniel A. Siedell

As I was going about my business in New York and since my return home, I still believe the emerging church or the emergent movement is, to my mind, the only place that art and the aesthetic can be discussed and debated in an open manner. However, it will remain just that: discussion and debate unless it is accompanied by the sustenance of a robust sacramental and liturgical life. To put it crassly, the difficult, radical, and problematic discussions about art and the aesthetic have to take place at places like the PCA Village Church but for it to have any long-term impact, it has to be nourished by places like the Anglo-Catholic St. Thomas Episcopal Church. It is spanning the space between these two churches that is the challenge. (italics, bolding and links mine, DLS).

Work on Wilmington

This appears to be a group that organizes work/service projects in the Wilmington area for those who would like to volunteer for four hours at a time.

Work on Wilmington - About

Tim Keller: Churches Worldwide Need to Move into Cities | Christianpost.com

Quotes from Tim Keller's article on churches moving into cities...

“The people are moving into the cities faster than the church is,” Keller emphasized. “If you love what God loves then you will love the cities. If you want to go where the people are you've got to go into the cities.”

But churches that want to go into the cities need to be contextualized in order to be effective, he said. Just like how urban China is different than China and urban America is different than America, an urban church is different than a church in the countryside.

Reaching Artists: Artists' Concerns and Issues They Care About

Reaching out to artists with the Gospel includes knowing their particular concerns and issues they face. Following is a partial list to consider and study. Each has one or more links to an article.

Finances: Insurance and Legal

The Environment

Creative Rights

Stamina and Vocal Issues

Toxic Art-Making Materials

Exhibiting Their Work

Economic Recession

Health and Safety

Health Care:

• Where's the heart for the artists in health care reform?
• A guide to emergency health care for starving artists
• Programs allows artists to trade creative services for health care
• Why artists hate conservatives (mostly about health care, but also references artists' need decent housing, private education for their children, medical expenses, and retirement funds)

Dream Centers Invest in the Community Around Them

The 2010 Outreach 100 issue features an in-depth article on churches that have elevated the community around them. The five pastors we talked to include: Matthew Barnett (Angelus Temple/Los Angeles Dream Center); Dino Rizzo (Healing Place Church/Baton Rouge Dream Center); Greg Surratt (Seacoast Church/North Charleston Dream Center); Chris Hodges (Church of the Highlands/The Birmingham Dream Center) and Rick Bezet (New Life Church/Arkansas Dream Center). Below are more highlights from our conversations with these game-changing pastors.

On partnering with city organizations and other churches

Risks, Regrets and Revelations of Church Planters

Veteran church planters talk about starting a new church from scratch in an article from Outreach Magazine.

When sensing God’s unique call to plant a church, most pastors are full of dreams about the church and culture they want to cultivate. But even the loftiest dreams are not enough. The task of church planting requires seeking guidance from those who’ve been there. Outreach sat down with five veteran church planters—

Planting a church requires significant personal risks. What were some of your initial struggles and fears?

Bob Roberts: In terms of difficulty, I think church planting—on a scale of one to 10—is a 10. It’s a difficult thing to do in and of itself, but you’re not just planting a church. Most guys who do it are young, so you’re doing life, too—learning how to be a husband, how to be a dad, how to grow your church, how to be a person. For the first time, you’re really out there.