Principles of Simple Church

As my mind surveys the stories found in the Bible, I can not help but see that our God is a God who leads us to places requiring significant change and the associated risk.  Abraham, leaving his country; Noah, building the ark; Moses, reluctantly accepting the call; Caleb and Joshua, saying we can not but God can; Esther, risking her life and luxury; Jonathan, standing with David against his father and King; Jesus, the ultimate revolutionary; and Paul, into the desert.  Our God is a revolutionary and He calls us to join Him as revolutionaries who are willing to seek significant change.

 Authentic restoration of the church(es) from their current plight in both America and the Slavic nations will require significant change.  No tweaking of existing systems will be sufficient.  Our current systems are perfect for the results we are getting: DECLINE.

 The changes that I am referring to are not new changes, but a return to the apostolic patterns found in the New Testament and a return to follow the life and words of the Head of the Church – Jesus Christ.  There are principles and concepts from the early church, which should lead us into the future.  These concepts and principles are the same for all who wish for and work for restoration.  They are cross-cultural and apply to both America and Ukraine.  They are also counter Christendom.  We will not be able to maintain the hallmarks of Christendom.  There will need to be some deconstruction to take place before we can see restoration.  We need to break our dependence on buildings and professional leadership.  We will need to release baptism and the Lord’s Supper to God’s people.  We will need to seek release from the institutionalism of the church.

Is This Really Church?

This is a video that we highly recommend that you watch. Francis Chan, well known author and former pastor of a mega-church, underscores some of the key principles that we try to emphasize here on this website. Namely, that the real issues facing the church do not so much concern size or model, but being honest to recognize that much of what we call church today often does not align with the truths we see presented in scripture. Francis Chan can be respected for his courage and honesty after having been very successful in building a mega-church and then personally recognizing that there were many issues in which his church was not reflecting the essence of the church as it is seen in the New Testament. His straightforward look at what the scripture teaches about the church is both challenging and inspiring. The key part of this video starts at 34:00 and continues to the end.

Thanks to Vitally Keller of St. Petersburg, Russia for translating this video and making it available to us.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq3DfUPAQiY

Current Question for Discussion

We want to try an experiment to encourage more interactive learning among those who visit our site.  We will call this experimental feature- Current Question for Discussion.
We will put a question or questions here on the front page from time to time that we hope will encourage interaction and learning from one another. We will start with the topic of committed relationships and being a spiritual family. Share any verses or thoughts (it can be short) on this topic that you want, but here are a few questions to stir your thinking.

• How can a church be a true spiritual family, instead of just programs and meetings?
• What does it mean to live in committed relationships with other believers? What does it practically look like?
• What are you learning about relationships and being a spiritual family in your church?

Encouraging and teaching one another is one of the biblical principles that we promote on this website, so take a few minutes and share your thoughts with our online community. Feel free to ask questions as well. You will need to be registered to add a comment, but it only takes a minute to do so. Thanks for your participation in the website.

• God spoke to me and my sisters, who were also at the conference, in a way He has not in a long time.  And I am happy to share it with you. He reminded me of a simple truth – freedom is only with Christ and in Him. Not a single person, even the best, can give you this freedom. I have often recalled the words of Christ when He said that the Pharisees imposed on people heavy burdens ... I carried such burdens for a long time, but now I have dropped them.  In many ways, I am still uncertain, and of course sometimes I'm just scared - what will happen next? - But the joy of freedom I have received is a lot more!

The New Testament doctrine of ministry rests therefore not on the clergy-laity distinction but on the twin and complementary pillars of the priesthood of all believers and the gifts of the Spirit. Today, four centuries after the Reformation, the full implications of this Protestant affirmation have yet to be worked out. The clergy-laity dichotomy is a direct carry-over from pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism and a throwback to the Old Testament priesthood. It is one of the principal obstacles to the church effectively being God’s agent of the Kingdom today because it creates a false idea that only “holy men,” namely, ordained ministers, are really qualified and responsible for leadership and significant ministry. In the New Testament there are functional distinctions between various kinds of ministries but no hierarchical division between clergy and laity. —Howard Snyder

When we go back to the Word of God and read it afresh, we see that the clergy profession is the result of our human culture and history and not of God’s will for the church. It is simply impossible to construct a defensible biblical justification for the institution of clergy as we know it. —Christian Smith

Dear Nicolay,

I was so glad to see you in April. Although it was such a short meeting, I am always delighted to see old friends. You seem to be keeping active serving our Lord. Let me tell you about several of the meetings I had on my travels throughout Ukraine.

In the South of Ukraine, I met another man named Nicolay who came to Christ in 1991. In twenty years, he has had many experiences as teacher, pastor and leader. I was encouraged because Nicolay understands that the churches growth has plateaued resulting in the need for change. He is exploring “Organic Churches” because it has spoken to his heart. We had a great time sharing experiences and hopes for a renewed church.

In Kiev, I met one of my first church planting students. He successfully planted a church in 1993, built a building, and received a theological education. He is now a leader in the Oblast. However, he sadly admitted that his church has plateaued and shows little life. He wondered “where did I go wrong?”

If you watched the famous children's film "Adventure of Electronics", it is probably easy to remember how hard the mafia tried to find the "button", which would help them gain control over the electronic boy. No sacrifice of money or effort was too great.. They blindly believed that it would open the door to new opportunities.

Traveling through the labyrinth of pastoral ministry, I also was similar to the one who was desperately trying to find the "button". Sometimes I thought it was very close. This occurred especially in moments of successful ministry, when everyone was marveling at our fruitfulness or after the regular sermon, the words were said, "It was a good sermon." All of this seems so wonderful and it gives an impetus to move forward, but things are not what they seem.

All attempts to find a methodology or the secret of success in building the church lead nowhere. Again and again I was desperately continuing the search for a new system. Now, looking back, I understand what I did not in the past. I was already too deep in the system. I was part of it. It was part of me. I could not escape the system, and the system was using me. My mind was full of models and standard approaches. Moreover, I was not thinking about whether these models and approaches of ministry meet the Biblical principles of the teachings of Christ. And only now I realize I was looking for "button" for ministry success , but the Holy Spirit in His loving hand guided me to find a way out of the system. I think if I had heard this ten years ago, I would have been very terrified and could not even imagine the possibility of pastoral ministry beyond the traditional church system.