Fellow Traveler

SIMPLE IS GOOD
Do you remember your first computer? If it has been a while, let me refresh your memory. First, you may have had to make decisions about "text card" or "graphics card," color or monochrome, which operating system, will this monitor and this printer work with this system. Then there was software. You had to get it all separately, load it, and spend hours in the manuals to make it work. It was not uncommon to spend time on the phone with techs for a few days, call in friends, and deal with glitches for a long time.

The last computer I bought, I brought home, plugged in the color coordinated cables, plugged into power, turned it on, and started using it. Printer worked first time. Software already there. Simple. As a matter of fact, if IBM had not gone simple, we would all have Apples today.

Here is the deal. I am afraid that our churches are more like the old computers. Difficult. Not because of people's attitudes as much as our structure. Thom Rainer offers this definition of a simple church: "a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth." I struggle with how to simplify the church I presently serve. We move about as fast as the Federal government to a disaster area. We have to work through layers, committees. I want to move like Baptist Disaster Relief teams. They don't have to wait for lots of red tape, they see a need and move. Church really should be simple. Simple is effective. Simple is efficient. Simple is also dependent on God's leadership.