Simplify and thrive

“Less is more, more is better,” according to Dave Browning in his book Deliberate Simplicity: A New Equation for Church Development. The book arises out of the success of Christ the King Community Church, a multi-location church community with a distinctive approach to ministry. The Deliberate Simplicity philosophy consists of six ideas: minimality (keep it simple), intentionality (keep it missional), reality (keep it real), multility (keep it cellular), velocity (keep it moving), and scalability (keep it expanding).

Small churches often suffer from a lack of resources and a close-knit community, factors which tend to resist growth. Large churches typically invest vast amounts of money in expensive buildings and they often become spectator events rather than communities of growing disciples. The Deliberate Simplicity model aims to address all of these issues by using multiple gatherings in smaller buildings so that large numbers of people are reached without the high infrastructure costs.

The ideas in the book are important ones and they need to be considered and discussed in depth by church leaders who are concerned about being faithful to the gospel in the 21^st century. However, not everyone will be enthused by “low tech” ideas such as returning to overhead projectors. I personally found the writing style somewhat disconnected for my tastes, and it took some effort to finish the book.