One aspect of the vision of Good News Church is to not create so many programs that church people have time for little else. We’ve often called this “simple church,” and I figured now might be a good time to explain what we mean by this and what we are hoping you would do in response.
First of all, let me describe “non-simple church.” This is the church that has many of the following: a Sunday morning service, a Sunday evening service, a set of doctrine classes, a Wednesday evening service, a potluck fellowship meal, Bible studies, small groups, Sunday school classes, the women’s tea, the men’s pancake breakfast, choir practice, the fall retreat, the spring retreat, the missions trip, the Dave Ramsey Class, the ladies sewing circle, the church softball team, VBS, summer camp, fundraisers, missions conferences, Upwards basketball, Awana, youth group, the college ministry, the senior citizens ministry, the Thursday morning prayer meeting, a Christian school, an Easter Cantata, and a Christmas play.
That list may sound hyperbolic, but the church I grew up in had well over a dozen of these on its schedule. Back then, I think most medium and large-sized churches were similar.
Now, there’s nothing in the Bible forbidding any of these programs. However, most of these churches have a person or two who gets up on Sunday morning, and promotes all of these things as activities that the congregation ought to get involved in. And the expectation is to show up to all of the ones that apply to you. And what was often not considered is that if anyone actually obeyed the announcement guy (most people didn’t) those people would be out of their house doing church activities with virtually all of their free time.
Along those same lines, I recently read a book (from 25 years ago) that said that churches “unintentionally promote consumerism by recruiting almost every available worker to run programs to serve those within the church, leaving members with little time to minister to those outside the church.”
Yep. That is what was happening back then. I remember. The people who were considered the most “committed” members of the church, could hardly make a difference in their community and/or evangelize their friends and neighbors because they constantly had responsibilities at church.
Good News does not subscribe to that philosophy of ministry. In fact, I found an old article from 2012 where I said that “one of the big reasons we want to stay a simple church is because we need to afford our people the time to…” and then I referred to this list of non-programmatic things: “share Christ with the people they know, read their Bibles, pray, care for other people, have close Christian friendships, etc.” The paragraph ended with these words:
First of all, let me describe “non-simple church.” This is the church that has many of the following: a Sunday morning service, a Sunday evening service, a set of doctrine classes, a Wednesday evening service, a potluck fellowship meal, Bible studies, small groups, Sunday school classes, the women’s tea, the men’s pancake breakfast, choir practice, the fall retreat, the spring retreat, the missions trip, the Dave Ramsey Class, the ladies sewing circle, the church softball team, VBS, summer camp, fundraisers, missions conferences, Upwards basketball, Awana, youth group, the college ministry, the senior citizens ministry, the Thursday morning prayer meeting, a Christian school, an Easter Cantata, and a Christmas play.
That list may sound hyperbolic, but the church I grew up in had well over a dozen of these on its schedule. Back then, I think most medium and large-sized churches were similar.
Now, there’s nothing in the Bible forbidding any of these programs. However, most of these churches have a person or two who gets up on Sunday morning, and promotes all of these things as activities that the congregation ought to get involved in. And the expectation is to show up to all of the ones that apply to you. And what was often not considered is that if anyone actually obeyed the announcement guy (most people didn’t) those people would be out of their house doing church activities with virtually all of their free time.
Along those same lines, I recently read a book (from 25 years ago) that said that churches “unintentionally promote consumerism by recruiting almost every available worker to run programs to serve those within the church, leaving members with little time to minister to those outside the church.”
Yep. That is what was happening back then. I remember. The people who were considered the most “committed” members of the church, could hardly make a difference in their community and/or evangelize their friends and neighbors because they constantly had responsibilities at church.
Good News does not subscribe to that philosophy of ministry. In fact, I found an old article from 2012 where I said that “one of the big reasons we want to stay a simple church is because we need to afford our people the time to…” and then I referred to this list of non-programmatic things: “share Christ with the people they know, read their Bibles, pray, care for other people, have close Christian friendships, etc.” The paragraph ended with these words:
You just can't share Christ with your neighbor if you go to church programs seven nights a week.
This has been something we’ve believed in from the beginning.
Recently, someone said something to me along these lines: “I don’t think people realize that’s what the goal is, Mario. I mean, they appreciate that they aren’t expected to show up to a hundred different church events. But they don’t take that time and use it to invite their non-Christians friends over for dinner and gospel. They just fill it up with volleyball and a bunch of other activities.”
Well, I don’t know if that person is correct or not. But once I heard it, I thought it might be good to send out an article like this reminder as to what the extra time is for.
The reason Good News doesn’t have activities seven nights a week, isn’t because we expect the people of Good News to fill their lives up with a bunch of activities that make them look exactly like their pagan neighbors. We were hoping that you would use your time for the mission of God on this earth – a mission that we have limited time to work on.
That doesn’t mean you can’t do volleyball. Just don’t forget to be on God’s mission at volleyball. Don’t forget to care for the people who are there the way that Jesus would. And don’t forget to do the many other things that God may call you to, that are different from the lifestyles of people who don’t know God.
That’s what the extra time is for. Today might be a good day to consider rearranging some of your priorities to better fit the heart of God in the rhythm of the schedule you are currently in.
Recently, someone said something to me along these lines: “I don’t think people realize that’s what the goal is, Mario. I mean, they appreciate that they aren’t expected to show up to a hundred different church events. But they don’t take that time and use it to invite their non-Christians friends over for dinner and gospel. They just fill it up with volleyball and a bunch of other activities.”
Well, I don’t know if that person is correct or not. But once I heard it, I thought it might be good to send out an article like this reminder as to what the extra time is for.
The reason Good News doesn’t have activities seven nights a week, isn’t because we expect the people of Good News to fill their lives up with a bunch of activities that make them look exactly like their pagan neighbors. We were hoping that you would use your time for the mission of God on this earth – a mission that we have limited time to work on.
That doesn’t mean you can’t do volleyball. Just don’t forget to be on God’s mission at volleyball. Don’t forget to care for the people who are there the way that Jesus would. And don’t forget to do the many other things that God may call you to, that are different from the lifestyles of people who don’t know God.
That’s what the extra time is for. Today might be a good day to consider rearranging some of your priorities to better fit the heart of God in the rhythm of the schedule you are currently in.
