A Simple Plan

The first church growth movement was a simple one.  Acts 2:42 describes how the church fresh with the power of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost went about doing Kingdom work.  "The devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."  There was no drive for money, neither was there a building program launched.  There were no arguments about the type of church government and no committees were organzed to brainstorm about possible problems which might be experienced.  Instead, it was a simple formula for moving forward which carried the day.    

Sometimes when we have a decision to make, we are guilty of overthinking to the point that nothing gets done.  And sometimes the church creates such an elaborate detailed program to accomplish its mission that the mission becomes secondary to the process.  If the Pharisees of Jesus' day were guilty of making it difficult for people to serve and love God in a faithful manner, then the church of our day often creates even greater obstacles.  

It is no longer enough to simply share in the breaking of the bread, it has to be done in a certain manner.  And those who teach are often more interested in entertaining and being seen as insightful instead of nurturing the body of the church.   The church has come to a place where simplicity is not an option.  Too many things would have to be done differently.  Too many of the things which have to be done would be discarded as unnecessary.  The church of our day is not built to just accomplish the four parts of Acts 2:42, but instead, is built to maintain a structure which has nothing to do with those four basic things.  What was meant to be simple has become complicated and the church and its people suffer as they are led down a different path.