I just finished reading the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. The authors explain that the data they collected shows that healthy churches have a clear discipleship process that moves people through the different stages in the process and everything they do is aligned and focused to this process. Churches that are not healthy usually do not have this type of discipleship process.
But one of the observations that stuck out to me the most about this book was the fact that this simple process creates space for people to be on mission. Churches without a simple discipleship process, complex churches as the book describes and defines, have so many things going on at church that the people don’t have any time to engage in relationships outside of church. People in churches with a simple discipleship process have an opportunity to build intentional relationships with people far from God. They also know what programs to invite these people to and how the church will help engage these people. But people in churches with complex systems are attending their 4th activity or program this week. Of course they don’t have time to engage the people around them.
Matthew 9:9-13 records the time when Jesus called Matthew to be a disciple. Notice what Matthew and Jesus do after this happens. Verse 10 explains that “Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.” This type of gathering cannot be programmed by a church. Instead of Matthew signing up for 4 programs each week with Jesus’ other followers, Matthew and Jesus both had time to engage the people they knew who were far from God. Instead of Matthew getting caught up in the Jesus discipleship process, Jesus got caught up in the mess of Matthew’s relationships.
What if the church was serious about the fact that “healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do?” What if the church spent less time in “fellowship meals” and instead eat more often with “such scum” (As the Pharisee’s described the sinners Matthew and Jesus ate with in Matthew 9:11)? What if the church had a simple discipleship process that people could engage with and invite the other people they know to get engaged as well?