New Testament Church - Embracing Effective Simplicity Within the Body of Christ
I seem to have spent so much of my life as a child of God attempting to comprehend the ins and outs of how to build a healthy church community. One of the biggest obstactles I have experienced, is the utter lack of simplicity in most of what I've researched.
The true church paradigm that the Lord Jesus demonstrated was most definitely one of simplicity. In many ways, it's the idea of simplicity that generates trouble for so many individuals. The concept of simplicity is often related to a person who is perceived as "simple" or stupid. The term simple is also misused to sell oodles of products and services that aren't actually as "simple" to use as the advertisers would like us to believe.
In our world, that just about worships the idea that "more is virtually always better," simple church can appear like a strong contradiction. The traditional church template is administered by professionals that have a far greater knowledge base than the laity. If the long standing church system they were a part of was in fact simple to manage, they would find themselves out of work, which in large part explains why the traditional church system continues to operate in the same basic manner it has for several hundred years.
25 years ago, I was taught that about half of all the individuals I would come across during the course of a business day, suffer from regular feelings of loneliness. A simple answer to that challenging situation is for individuals to be friendly, to invest the time to really listen to people, to take a keen interest in what is happening in their everyday lives.
But what if our everyday lives are so busy and chaotic that we lack the time or energy to genuinely listen to those who we come in contact with? What if the church configurations we belong to don't allow time for people to share with each other, to "carry each other's burdens," what then?
Well the results are pretty plain: the typical Christian church has very little relevance in today's society because for the most part the traditional church system doesn't create the necessary space for it's members to be heard. Individuals who have grown up outside the church come for a visit and soon realize that they don't need to go outside to be overlooked and irrelevant, they can merely stay home to receive that type of treatment.
So, the genius of the simple church system is found to a large degree, in what isn't accomplished as opposed to what is getting carried out. Eating food together is quite simple and at the same time quite effective in constructing bridges between folks. There are no long lectures regarding how we need to work on developing into the body of Christ. We just sit together and share some food, and in the course of action, become the body of Christ through our mutual experience. The key is found in our ability to stop doing the intricate things that don't bring us closer together, so we can participate in the simplistic activities that do.
The true church paradigm that the Lord Jesus demonstrated was most definitely one of simplicity. In many ways, it's the idea of simplicity that generates trouble for so many individuals. The concept of simplicity is often related to a person who is perceived as "simple" or stupid. The term simple is also misused to sell oodles of products and services that aren't actually as "simple" to use as the advertisers would like us to believe.
In our world, that just about worships the idea that "more is virtually always better," simple church can appear like a strong contradiction. The traditional church template is administered by professionals that have a far greater knowledge base than the laity. If the long standing church system they were a part of was in fact simple to manage, they would find themselves out of work, which in large part explains why the traditional church system continues to operate in the same basic manner it has for several hundred years.
25 years ago, I was taught that about half of all the individuals I would come across during the course of a business day, suffer from regular feelings of loneliness. A simple answer to that challenging situation is for individuals to be friendly, to invest the time to really listen to people, to take a keen interest in what is happening in their everyday lives.
But what if our everyday lives are so busy and chaotic that we lack the time or energy to genuinely listen to those who we come in contact with? What if the church configurations we belong to don't allow time for people to share with each other, to "carry each other's burdens," what then?
Well the results are pretty plain: the typical Christian church has very little relevance in today's society because for the most part the traditional church system doesn't create the necessary space for it's members to be heard. Individuals who have grown up outside the church come for a visit and soon realize that they don't need to go outside to be overlooked and irrelevant, they can merely stay home to receive that type of treatment.
So, the genius of the simple church system is found to a large degree, in what isn't accomplished as opposed to what is getting carried out. Eating food together is quite simple and at the same time quite effective in constructing bridges between folks. There are no long lectures regarding how we need to work on developing into the body of Christ. We just sit together and share some food, and in the course of action, become the body of Christ through our mutual experience. The key is found in our ability to stop doing the intricate things that don't bring us closer together, so we can participate in the simplistic activities that do.
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