Simple church
Encyclopedia
The Simple Church movement is an Evangelical
Christian
movement that seeks to redefine the nature and practice of church
.
The movement claims to be "a Christ-centered community established primarily on relationship both to God and to the other members of the group." In doing so it discards many aspects of conventional expressions of church, which is considered beneficial by some, and problematic by others. This gives those in the movement the opportunity to focus on what it considers to be the core practices of Christian spirituality.
, programmes or structures. To facilitate relationship, discipleship (spiritual formation), multiplication, mobility, and member ownership, a simple church is usually a small group
of no more than 20-25 persons. Church "programs" are virtually nonexistent and small group participation is essential. The process of moving from worship to small group, small group to mission work, and mission work to worship is a primary focus.
Authors Tony and Felicity Dale, founders of House2House Ministries, have promoted the term "simple church" in their book "Simply Church".
The term is often used interchangeably with other terms like organic church, essential church, primitive church, bodylife, relational church, and micro-church. Some groups use other names for their groups, although they would consider themselves part of or related to the simple church phenomenon.
Perhaps the most common synonym is house church
, which has much more popular usage and predates the term simple church. Recently, a number of established Christian denominations and mission organizations have officially supported efforts to develop house church networks. These include the following: The Free Methodist Church in Canada
, The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
, The Presbyterian Church in Canada
, Partners in Harvest, The Southern Baptist Convention
, Dove Christian Fellowship International, DAWN Ministries (Discipling a Whole Nation), Youth With A Mission
(YWAM), and Eternal Grace.
, especially the Gospels, Acts
, and the writings of the Apostle Paul for justification of their model (see House Church, Scriptural Basis). Historically speaking, simple gatherings of Christians were the norm of Early Christianity
. Between 100AD and 300AD, Christianity grew from 25,000 to 20 million people in the Roman Empire
. In fact, much of the New Testament was written to people who met in house churches.
Early Christian house churches were patterned after house synagogue
s which were numerous. Christians took a low-cost and easy-to-multiply model and adapted it to their new Christian context. In addition, the Communion
service, sometimes called the Lord's Supper
, was uniquely Christian (though modeled on the Passover
). Since it did not apply to Jews and therefore did not fit in the Jewish synagogues, it had to be celebrated somewhere else. House churches were the natural place for communion to be shared. As time went on, Christians were banned from Jewish synagogues as persecution intensified (see Split of early Christianity and Judaism). Although house churches flourished in times of persecution, they were well established before them.
Today, the simple church movement in the West has recently regained attention but has been quite normative in other parts of the world where Christianity has historically been persecuted. In places like China, the movement has multiplied as part of an underground Christian movement, which is otherwise banned from meeting. Some recent Christian writers have supported the view that the church should continue to meet in houses, and have based the operation of their communities around multiple small home meetings.
In the West, simple church can be traced back to the house church movement. In North America and the UK particularly, the house church movement is often viewed as a development and logical extension of the 'Brethren' or Plymouth Brethren
movement, where many individuals and assemblies have adopted new approaches to worship and governance, while others recognise a relationship to the Anabaptists, Quakers
, Amish
, Hutterites, Mennonites, Moravians, Methodists, and the much earlier Waldenses and Priscillianists. Another perspective sees the house church movement as a re-emergence of the movement of the Holy Spirit
during the Jesus Movement
of the 1970s in the USA or the worldwide Charismatic Renewal
of the late 1960s and 1970s. Others see it as a return to a New Testament church restorationist paradigm and a restoration of God's eternal purpose and the natural expression of Christ on the earth, urging Christians to return from hierarchy and rank to practices described and encouraged in Scripture.
Simple church has also been influenced by overseas missions and the growth of church planting
movements. Church planting movements are spontaneously growing church multiplication efforts that often result in thousands of new simply structured faith communities. The growth and character of these movements has impressed many who would like to see similar things happening in Europe
, the United States
, and the West
in general. Groups like DAWN Ministries have switched to simple church as their model for domestic missions in the hope that this phenomenon that has been effective overseas will also work here.
The missional Movement has also influenced simple church. Missional thinking grew from the lessons learned from foreign missionaries and as a reaction to the Church growth
Movement. In this line of thought, the Church's purpose and theology comes out of the Missio dei
-- God's Mission in the World. This means that everything relating to church life and Christian practice should be directly derived from a theology of mission. This means the Body of Christ should be primarily identifying with humanity, reaching the lost, ushering in the Reign of God, and working towards the peace (Shalom
) the Kingdom of God
brings. To aid its cause, missional thinking promotes incarnational ministry, messianic spirituality, indigenaity (see Indigenous church mission theory
, and innovation. For many simple church practitioners, their model of church aids in completing the missional mandate of God by being highly mobile, easily adaptable, and fundamentally indigenous.
in America
) and Neil Cole originally articulated these values using the organic metaphor of DNA:
These values have since been promoted by House2House Ministries and DAWN North America, and have been adopted by various groups like New York's MetroSoul
Adherent Frank Viola
's book Pagan Christianity points out a number of reforms that organic churches often advocate.
Many books have been written on the simple church movement, especially by insiders (see House Church, Recommended Books). Recently, books are beginning to appear by those studying the movement from a more objective view. Most notable is George Barna
's Revolution. Barna, perhaps the most influential pollster and church growth consultant in Evangelical
Christianity, says that "revolutionary" expressions such as simple church will soon account for one third of American spirituality.
Visibility of the movement has also increased due to national and regional gatherings of various kinds. The largest of these is the Annual House Church Conference held in Dallas, and, occasionally, other locations by House2House. There are also many smaller localized or regional conferences where people may be exposed to simple church ideas, like CMA Resources' Green House, and DCFI's House Church Seminar.
The Century One Project provides seminars and conferences on the subject of 'Biblical Church.' Century One's founder, Gary Ward, observes that church can be found in the New Testament and the Apostles taught a way to meet. Identifying many of today's church practices as 'inherited' from the Roman Catholic practices, Gary appeals for Christians to begin to reform what they do for church and move towards obedience to the scriptures.
and ecclesiology
is the subject of much debate, especially with critics of the movement. Some within the simple church movement believe the Bible shows this model as the most valid form of church, even the original intention of God. Others see the Bible as presenting an expression of simple Christian community that is a valid option, but not necessarily the "right" or "only" choice.
Several prominent voices have serious concerns about simple church. For example, J. Lee Grady (Charisma Online Editor) says such a movement wants to "reinvent the church without its biblical structure and New Testament order — and without the necessary people who are anointed and appointed by God to lead it. To follow this defective thesis to its logical conclusion would require us to fire all pastors, close all seminaries and Bible colleges, padlock our sanctuaries and send everybody home..." Grady and other critics worry that the simple church movement could encourage people to leave more traditional forms of church, which could lead to further collapse or decline of Christendom.
Online discussion boards contain much of the current debate between simple church practitioners and opponents because the conversation is not yet mainstream enough to be in many other forms of media. These conversations usually revolve around several issues:
Self-criticism is also present in the movement. Leaders and prominent voices have pointed out key issues, like leadership development, exclusivity, missional effectiveness, and other items as points of concern. A good example of this is Andrew Jones, an emerging church advocate and simple church practitioner. Many in the simple church consider this kind of self-evaluation very healthy and tie it to the important prophetic role in the movement.
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
movement that seeks to redefine the nature and practice of church
Church service
In Christianity, a church service is a term used to describe a formalized period of communal worship, often but not exclusively occurring on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sabbatarianism. The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be...
.
The movement claims to be "a Christ-centered community established primarily on relationship both to God and to the other members of the group." In doing so it discards many aspects of conventional expressions of church, which is considered beneficial by some, and problematic by others. This gives those in the movement the opportunity to focus on what it considers to be the core practices of Christian spirituality.
Simple
A simple church may meet anywhere; with or without trained leaders, formal liturgyLiturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, programmes or structures. To facilitate relationship, discipleship (spiritual formation), multiplication, mobility, and member ownership, a simple church is usually a small group
Cell group
The cell group is a form of church organization that is used in some Christian churches. Cell groups are generally intended to teach the Bible and personalize Christian fellowship. They are always used in cell churches, but also occur in parachurch organizations and other interdenominational...
of no more than 20-25 persons. Church "programs" are virtually nonexistent and small group participation is essential. The process of moving from worship to small group, small group to mission work, and mission work to worship is a primary focus.
Authors Tony and Felicity Dale, founders of House2House Ministries, have promoted the term "simple church" in their book "Simply Church".
The term is often used interchangeably with other terms like organic church, essential church, primitive church, bodylife, relational church, and micro-church. Some groups use other names for their groups, although they would consider themselves part of or related to the simple church phenomenon.
Perhaps the most common synonym is house church
House church
House church, or "home church", is used to describe an independent assembly of Christians who gather in a home. Sometimes this occurs because the group is small, and a home is the most appropriate place to gather, as in the beginning phase of the British New Church Movement...
, which has much more popular usage and predates the term simple church. Recently, a number of established Christian denominations and mission organizations have officially supported efforts to develop house church networks. These include the following: The Free Methodist Church in Canada
Free Methodist Church in Canada
The Free Methodist Church is a denomination of Methodism, which is a branch of Protestantism. It was founded in 1860 in New York by a group, led by B. T. Roberts, who was defrocked in the Methodist Episcopal Church for criticisms of the spiritual laxness of the church hierarchy...
, The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is a national parachurch association of over . All affiliated groups identify themselves as part of the evangelical movement in Canada....
, The Presbyterian Church in Canada
Presbyterian Church in Canada
The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Protestant Christian church, of presbyterian and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875, although the United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939...
, Partners in Harvest, The Southern Baptist Convention
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
, Dove Christian Fellowship International, DAWN Ministries (Discipling a Whole Nation), Youth With A Mission
Youth With A Mission
Youth With A Mission is an international, inter-denominational, non-profit Christian missionary organization...
(YWAM), and Eternal Grace.
Origins and influences
Many in the simple church movement point to the New TestamentNew Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, especially the Gospels, Acts
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, and the writings of the Apostle Paul for justification of their model (see House Church, Scriptural Basis). Historically speaking, simple gatherings of Christians were the norm of Early Christianity
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
. Between 100AD and 300AD, Christianity grew from 25,000 to 20 million people in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. In fact, much of the New Testament was written to people who met in house churches.
Early Christian house churches were patterned after house synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s which were numerous. Christians took a low-cost and easy-to-multiply model and adapted it to their new Christian context. In addition, the Communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
service, sometimes called the Lord's Supper
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, was uniquely Christian (though modeled on the Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
). Since it did not apply to Jews and therefore did not fit in the Jewish synagogues, it had to be celebrated somewhere else. House churches were the natural place for communion to be shared. As time went on, Christians were banned from Jewish synagogues as persecution intensified (see Split of early Christianity and Judaism). Although house churches flourished in times of persecution, they were well established before them.
Today, the simple church movement in the West has recently regained attention but has been quite normative in other parts of the world where Christianity has historically been persecuted. In places like China, the movement has multiplied as part of an underground Christian movement, which is otherwise banned from meeting. Some recent Christian writers have supported the view that the church should continue to meet in houses, and have based the operation of their communities around multiple small home meetings.
In the West, simple church can be traced back to the house church movement. In North America and the UK particularly, the house church movement is often viewed as a development and logical extension of the 'Brethren' or Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...
movement, where many individuals and assemblies have adopted new approaches to worship and governance, while others recognise a relationship to the Anabaptists, Quakers
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
, Hutterites, Mennonites, Moravians, Methodists, and the much earlier Waldenses and Priscillianists. Another perspective sees the house church movement as a re-emergence of the movement of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
during the Jesus Movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
of the 1970s in the USA or the worldwide Charismatic Renewal
Charismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
of the late 1960s and 1970s. Others see it as a return to a New Testament church restorationist paradigm and a restoration of God's eternal purpose and the natural expression of Christ on the earth, urging Christians to return from hierarchy and rank to practices described and encouraged in Scripture.
Simple church has also been influenced by overseas missions and the growth of church planting
Church planting
Church planting is a process that results in a new Christian church being established. It should be distinguished from church development, where a new service, new worship centre or fresh expression is created that is integrated into an already established congregation...
movements. Church planting movements are spontaneously growing church multiplication efforts that often result in thousands of new simply structured faith communities. The growth and character of these movements has impressed many who would like to see similar things happening in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and the West
West
West is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.West is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of east and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the left side of a map is west....
in general. Groups like DAWN Ministries have switched to simple church as their model for domestic missions in the hope that this phenomenon that has been effective overseas will also work here.
The missional Movement has also influenced simple church. Missional thinking grew from the lessons learned from foreign missionaries and as a reaction to the Church growth
Church growth
Church Growth is a movement within evangelical Christianity which emphasizes mainly missionary work combined with sociological awareness of the target population. The "seeker sensitive" label for this approach characterizes the would-be converts as "seekers".-History:Church Growth began with the...
Movement. In this line of thought, the Church's purpose and theology comes out of the Missio dei
Missio dei
Missio Dei is a Latin Christian theological term that can be translated as the "mission of God," or the "sending of God." Mission is understood as being derived from the very nature of God...
-- God's Mission in the World. This means that everything relating to church life and Christian practice should be directly derived from a theology of mission. This means the Body of Christ should be primarily identifying with humanity, reaching the lost, ushering in the Reign of God, and working towards the peace (Shalom
Shalom
Shalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, completeness, and welfare and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye...
) the Kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
brings. To aid its cause, missional thinking promotes incarnational ministry, messianic spirituality, indigenaity (see Indigenous church mission theory
Indigenous church mission theory
Indigenous churches are churches suited to local culture and led by local Christians. There have been two main Protestant strategies proposed for the creation of indigenous churches:...
, and innovation. For many simple church practitioners, their model of church aids in completing the missional mandate of God by being highly mobile, easily adaptable, and fundamentally indigenous.
Values
As in any decentralized, spontaneous movement, a variety of values are expressed in simple church. Due to the influence of some key groups and Acts 2:42-47, three overarching values have emerged in many circles. Adherents Paul Kaak (who began ministry in one of the largest and most systematized mega-churchesMegachurch
A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance. The Hartford Institute's database lists more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States. According to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list have attendance ranging from 10,000 to 47,000...
in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) and Neil Cole originally articulated these values using the organic metaphor of DNA:
- D - Divine Truth : Truth is the foundation for everything. By Divine Truth, we mean the dynamic and living presence of Christ and His Word.
- N - Nurturing Relationships : Healthy relationships are what make up a family. Love for one another is to be a constant pursuit of the family of God. This is the most basic of Christ's commands.
- A - Apostolic Mission : Apostolic means, simply, “sent.” Just as Jesus was sent on a mission, so we are sent out on a mission for Him. Our mission is to go into the world and disciple the nations for their good and God's glory
These values have since been promoted by House2House Ministries and DAWN North America, and have been adopted by various groups like New York's MetroSoul
Practices
Frank Viola (author)
Frank Viola is an American writer and blogger on Christian topics. He has written and co-authored a number of books and is seen as a key adherent of the organic church and missional church movements. His books fall into two categories: deeper Christian life and organic missional church life...
's book Pagan Christianity points out a number of reforms that organic churches often advocate.
- The belief that modern clergyClergyClergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
is a vestige of Roman pagan religion that was absent from the early church and is largely at odds with the true priesthood of all believersPriesthood of all believersThe universal priesthood or the priesthood of all believers, as it would come to be known in the present day, is a Christian doctrine believed to be derived from several passages of the New Testament...
. The movement sees the institution of the clergy at odds with passages like Matthew 20, Matthew 23, 3rd John, and the message in RevelationBook of RevelationThe Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
regarding the deeds of the Nicolaitans (Greek-literally those who triumph over the people). 1 Corinthians 12-14 paints a picture of an every-member functioning church meeting entirely at odds with the modern religious service which is performed by professionals for an audience. However,some believe this view does not take into account the Jewish and synagogue based nature of the ekklesia, which explains the talk of elders and deacons found in the New Testament. In reply, many simple churches do recognize elders and deacons according to the biblical standards laid out in TImothy and Titus, but believe these people emerge over time as their character becomes descriptive of these roles. In an environment where people are free to express their gifts, such people can emerge. Also, being an elderElder (Christianity)An elder in Christianity is a person valued for his wisdom who accordingly holds a particular position of responsibility in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions an elder is a clergy person who usually serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of Word,...
or deaconDeaconDeacon is a ministry in the Christian Church that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions...
does not mean this person dominates the meeting. 3 John rebukes DiotrephesDiotrephesDiotrephes was a man mentioned in the . His name means "nourished by Jupiter". As Raymond E. Brown comments, "Diotrephes is not a particularly common name."...
the elder who had to be first and was dominating. The simple church largely believes the idea that an elder or deacon is not a license for some to minister and others to be passive. - Valuing the Lord's Supper occurring as a regular, recurring full meal celebration rather than a short religious ritual. The early integration of the home based ritual into the public synagogue-like meeting functioned to reduce the symbolic nature of the act to a private moment, replacing its symbolism of fellowship and dedication to the Lord. This was complete by the time of Constantine, when home based agape feastAgape feastThe term Agape or Love feast was used of certain religious meals among early Christians that seem originally to have been closely related to the Eucharist...
s were banned. However, this history does not in itself devalue the need for the larger synagogue-like meeting for prayer, ministry of the word and singing. Simple church adherents also enjoy occasional and even monthly larger gatherings that do this very thing, though they emphasize the smaller meeting of the ekklesia as the environment for spiritual growth. - Organic churches tend to place less emphasis on the building or meeting place. To this end, Neil Cole, an adherent of simple church, states that "buildings, budgets, and big shots," tend to do more to contain Christianity than allow it to spread. However, this statement against larger sized churches does nothing to substantiate its claim.
Media and popular attention
In recent years, the growth of the movement as it becomes more missionally focused, and the adoption of simple church by various missions groups, missionary societies, and parachurch organizations, has led to increased visibility. News coverage by specialized and mainstream media is becoming more common:- Michael Alison Chandler and Arianne Aryanpur, "Going to Church by Staying at Home: Clergy-Less Living Room Services Seen as a Growing Trend" Washington Post (Printed June 4, 2006, pg. A12) (Accessed September 30, 2006).
- Stuart Laidlaw, "Religion, but no church required" Toronto Star (Accessed September 30, 2006).
- David Van Biema and Rita Healy, "There's No Pulpit Like Home" Time Time (Accessed September 30, 2006).
Many books have been written on the simple church movement, especially by insiders (see House Church, Recommended Books). Recently, books are beginning to appear by those studying the movement from a more objective view. Most notable is George Barna
George Barna
George Barna is the founder of The Barna Group, a market research firm specializing in studying the religious beliefs and behavior of Americans, and the intersection of faith and culture...
's Revolution. Barna, perhaps the most influential pollster and church growth consultant in Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
Christianity, says that "revolutionary" expressions such as simple church will soon account for one third of American spirituality.
Visibility of the movement has also increased due to national and regional gatherings of various kinds. The largest of these is the Annual House Church Conference held in Dallas, and, occasionally, other locations by House2House. There are also many smaller localized or regional conferences where people may be exposed to simple church ideas, like CMA Resources' Green House, and DCFI's House Church Seminar.
The Century One Project provides seminars and conferences on the subject of 'Biblical Church.' Century One's founder, Gary Ward, observes that church can be found in the New Testament and the Apostles taught a way to meet. Identifying many of today's church practices as 'inherited' from the Roman Catholic practices, Gary appeals for Christians to begin to reform what they do for church and move towards obedience to the scriptures.
Criticism
How the simple church movement relates to constructing a theologyTheology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and ecclesiology
Ecclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
is the subject of much debate, especially with critics of the movement. Some within the simple church movement believe the Bible shows this model as the most valid form of church, even the original intention of God. Others see the Bible as presenting an expression of simple Christian community that is a valid option, but not necessarily the "right" or "only" choice.
Several prominent voices have serious concerns about simple church. For example, J. Lee Grady (Charisma Online Editor) says such a movement wants to "reinvent the church without its biblical structure and New Testament order — and without the necessary people who are anointed and appointed by God to lead it. To follow this defective thesis to its logical conclusion would require us to fire all pastors, close all seminaries and Bible colleges, padlock our sanctuaries and send everybody home..." Grady and other critics worry that the simple church movement could encourage people to leave more traditional forms of church, which could lead to further collapse or decline of Christendom.
Online discussion boards contain much of the current debate between simple church practitioners and opponents because the conversation is not yet mainstream enough to be in many other forms of media. These conversations usually revolve around several issues:
- Leadership: Who are the leaders and what is the leadership structure? Is the simple church understanding of leadership biblical? Is there enough control to prevent abuse, cultism, and heresyHeresyHeresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
? Will there be many arguments as a result of conflicting opinions arising from differing levels of religious education and experience? Are the lay leaders in simple churches qualified for the care of others? Adherent Frank Viola replies to this in his book Reimagining Church saying that certain strains of the movement look to apostolic outside coaching for help and try to prevent any one charismatic person from dominating the meeting. Other leaders emerge over time according to function, emerging as others respect their authentic experience of the Lord. The Christian's ultimate "covering" is Jesus Himself and the local believing community that gathers in His name. - Longevity: According to sources within the movement, the average lifespan of a simple church is 6 months to two years. This leaves critics to wonder how Christianity can survive in such a transient movement. What will be the long-term impact of simple church? Adherents might reply that the sticking power is not in a static institution but a multiplying movement of the Holy Spirit. The hope for organic churches is exponential multiplication, meaning that two churches become four, four become sixteen, and so forth. The same question could be asked of institutional churches where closure and the failure of new church plants is also a problem. Traditional approaches to church can be expensive and rare in their ability to replicate and multiply. Nonetheless organic church has yet to substantiate its growth claims in the optimistic terms in which they are made.
- OrthodoxyOrthodoxyThe word orthodox, from Greek orthos + doxa , is generally used to mean the adherence to accepted norms, more specifically to creeds, especially in religion...
: Without denominational control or pastoral oversight, who will maintain orthodoxy among simple churches and its participants? Isn't it a breeding ground for people with wild theologies who would get drummed out of more traditional and more orthodox churches? These questions seem to be more based on fear than the reality of practicing organic churches. In its defense, heresy is no more likely to spread than in any other form of church. The nature of accountability in an every-member functioning church can deal with heresy appropriately. Many within organic churches are seminary educated, many of having left positions of prominence in the organized church out of conviction. - Teaching: It is rare for simple churches to have sermons or Bible classes in the formal sense. Critics wonder when teaching occurs and how people are formed educationally and doctrinally in simple churches. Without concentrated teaching, sermons, and bible classes, how will believers be educated? Adherent Frank Viola, in Reimagining Church, points out that Christian meetings are where worshippers gather around Jesus Christ and every member functions as described in 1 Corinthians. Here people share how God is feeding them, and this can be very rich. Viola contrasts this with "ministry events," where teaching, education, or even evangelism occur, or where an outsider comes to minister to a group. This point, does not in itself deal with the biblical nature of synagogue-like events where one of the elders is responsible for "preaching and teaching," as in 1 Timothy 5v17. Believers in the simple movement also have opportunities for good teaching, biblical education, to read Christian books, and so forth. In fact every Christian is encouraged to feed upon Christ, which is contrasted with the system where one or two clergy teach and others absorb from them.
- Outreach potential: How will unchurched people or visitors find the church when there is no location and no phone book listing? In common with many evangelicals, adherents of organic church believe that worship should not be bound to a location; but rather be thought of as the way a community offers their lives to God. Nonetheless it is possible for a community to understand this and retain a public presence.
- Relationship with established churches: Is simple church another movement pulling people away from congregational churches? Is it a threat to more traditional models? Do simple church practitioners condemn or criticize other forms of church? Can simple churches and traditional forms of church work together? It is the expressed hope of many churches that lost people find a relationship with Jesus Christ. Neil Cole, Frank Viola, and other adherents admit that God works in and through the organized church as well as the organic church. Many people in the organic church acknowledge that they were saved while in more formal churches.
- Cultural accommodation/syncretismSyncretismSyncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
: Has simple church sold out to a culture that sinfully refuses to "go to church?" Is simple church just caving in to postmodernismPostmodernismPostmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
? Does simple church promote the West's tendency to worship the individual and individualism? Such questions are complex. Writers such as Lesslie NewbiginLesslie NewbiginBishop James Edward Lesslie Newbigin was a Church of Scotland missionary serving in the former Madras State , India, who became a Christian theologian and bishop involved in missiology, ecumenism, and the Gospel and Our Culture Movement.-Biography:Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Newbigin's schooling...
have made the point that the church shows every sign of being captive to modernism. Where many in the church believe that western culture is becoming more postmodern, the same danger of captivity applies, but now in a different cultural context. Newbigin suggests that retreating into a private world of faith is a mistake in any context, and therefore would be critical of the simple church approach.
Self-criticism is also present in the movement. Leaders and prominent voices have pointed out key issues, like leadership development, exclusivity, missional effectiveness, and other items as points of concern. A good example of this is Andrew Jones, an emerging church advocate and simple church practitioner. Many in the simple church consider this kind of self-evaluation very healthy and tie it to the important prophetic role in the movement.
External links
- SimpleChurch.com Social Network
- "What is Simple Church?" documentary, free to watch/download
- "A Dangerous Question and Organic Church" definition of Organic Church by Neil Cole
- ReChurch
- An On-Line Community of House Churches, Simple Churches & Assorted Sojourners
- Starting and Growing Extraordinary Simple Churches
- LK10, A Community of Practice for Simple Church Planters
- Simple Church for Simple People Podcast
- Simple Church Network, Gr. Philadelphia
- Simply Church
- A Church in Every Neighborhood
- SimpleChurches.ca
- Life Together Churches