The way we do conventional church is no longer relevant to the vast majority of unchurched people in the West, according to Floyd McClung in his book You See Bones, I See an Army. “No-one will die for a cause that is no bigger than Sunday-oriented, building-fixated Christianity.” Instead, we need to learn from believers in the rest of the world where the church is an army rather than an institution, and it consists of simple organic communities.
McClung, who leads a multi-cultural church-planting movement in South Africa called All Nations, elaborates on five core beliefs that guide his life: Simple Church, which consists of easily-reproducible small groups of Jesus-followers; Courageous Leadership, which is team-based and focuses on guarding, governing and guiding; Focused Obedience, which avoids distractions from the core mission; Apostolic Passion, involving a high level of commitment; and Making Disciples, which should be the heart of everything.
Although I found considerable resonance with many of the ideas in the book, I found it an uncomfortable experience, and it took quite a bit of effort to read all the way through. The simplicity of the simple church model he advocates seems a bit too extreme for my liking, but I think that this is an important book which offers a perceptive critique of contemporary churches, and it should be on every church leader’s reading list.