Deliberate Simplicity: How the Church Does More by Doing Less (Leadership Network Innovation Series) [Paperback]

Dave Browning (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 3, 2009 | Series: Leadership Network Innovation Series

Less is more. And more is better. This is the new equation for church development, a new equation with eternal results. Rejecting the 'bigger is better' model of the complex, corporate megachurch, church innovator Dave Browning embraced deliberate simplicity. The result was Christ the King Community Church, International (CTK), an expanding multisite community church that Outreach magazine named among America's Fastest Growing Churches and America's Most Innovative Churches. Members of the CTK network in a number of cities, countries, and continents are empowered for maximum impact by Browning's 'less is more' approach. In Deliberate Simplicity, Browning discusses the six elements of this streamlined model: * Minimality: Keep it simple * Intentionality: Keep it missional * Reality: Keep it real * Multility: Keep it cellular * Velocity: Keep it moving * Scalability: Keep it expanding As part of the Leadership Network Innovation Series, Deliberate Simplicity is a guide for church leaders seeking new strategies for more effective ministry.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Einstein noted once that any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex, but that it takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage to boot -- to move in the opposite direction. Drawing deeply from the living witness of Christ the King Community Church, David does exactly that, and in the process gives us not only a highly informative text on a critical subject, but also an inspiring one. -- Alan Hirsch, Author, The Forgotten Ways and reJesus <br><br>

About the Author

Dave Browning is the founding pastor of Christ the King Community Church, International (CTK), an eight-year-old nondenominational church with locations in twelve states and seven countries. He is a graduate of Denver Baptist Bible College (BA), Northwest Baptist Seminary (MDiv), and has completed the course work for his doctorate of ministry through Northwest Graduate School. Dave lives in Burlington, Washington, with his wife and three children. Christ the King is one of the twenty-five most innovative churches in America on a recent Outreach magazine ranking.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (February 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310285674
• ISBN-13: 978-0310285670
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Browning is a visionary minimalist and the founder of Christ the King Community Church, International (CTK). CTK is a non-denominational, multi-location church that has been noted as one of the "fastest growing" and "most innovative" churches in America by employing the K.I.S.S method: "keep it simple and scalable."

Dave's passion is to see the church grow organically and exponentially through relationships, instead of attractionally and incrementally through programming. Dave's vision is to see a prevailing multi-location church emerge that will transform the spiritual landscape. This church will convene in hundreds of small groups, with Worship Centers strategically located in every community. Since it's beginning in 1999, CTK has become a mini-movement, with locations in a number of states, countries and continents.

Prior to CTK, Dave pastored in traditional and mega-church contexts. His experiences led him to become a pastorpreneur and to break many of the rules of the established church, including "bigger is better." A scion of simplicity, Dave coined the phrase "deliberate simplicity" to describe a new equation for church development, where less is more, and more is better.

Dave is married to Kristyn and has three children, Erika, Jenna and Daron. He lives in Burlington, Washington.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Offering From Leadership Network's Innovation Series March 2, 2010

By William E Rice

Format:Paperback

I just finished another great offering from Leadership Network's Innovation Series, Dave Browning's Deliberate Simplicity, How the Church Does More with Less. I remember sitting at a gathering of pastors a few years back. We had just sat through a presentation on the latest "thing we should be doing." We had broken into small groups to talk about how we would be implementing this thing at our churches. I asked the very unpopular question, "If we are going to start doing this, what are we going to stop doing?" It was odd because no one seemed to even understand what I was talking about. At least in our denomination, we tend to just keep adding stuff not realizing that we are doing more and more stuff with less and less quality.

Browing gets right at the issue to set the framework that is the basis for ministry at Christ the King Community Church International. He writes early in the book, "Many how-to books for church leaders suggest things for the leaders to do (in addition to what they are already doing) to improve the effectiveness of their church." (p. 36) It is as though we don't understand the law of diminishing returns. In order to do more, we are just going to have to stop. Fortunately, and this may sound kind of harsh, most churches have plenty of things that they can stop doing that do not have a whole lot to do with their mission.

The author writes, "Activity for God can be the greatest enemy of devotion to him. That is one of the reasons we try to prune the activity branches at CTK [Christ The King], so God has our time and attention." (p. 102) As a person who is still fairly new to church (I have only been a Christian about 11 years) it occasionally looks like a bunch of movements and ideas just piled on top of each other.... It was about programs, it was about connecting people, it was about small groups, it was about leadership. Without judging any of these ideas, a lot of churches just look like a chaotic, very busy mish-mash of all this stuff.

Browing and his church have said no to all the "stuff." "At CTK we have chosen to forego meetings, bazaars, programs, fairs, potlucks, conferences, and other activities typically associated with church so we can have more energy available to put into our priorities: worship, small groups, and outreach." (p. 43)

I think this book lays out the problem exceptionally well. As far as the solution they provide, it clearly works for them and I think it is worth a look for churches that are looking to shed themselves of busyness to make room for more ministry. At University UMC in San Antonio, we are addressing the issue but in a little bit different way. Our simplicity might look a little bit complex to some. But we hope it looks clear to those who join us. Our model is to shed the attention we put into a plethora of programming choices and put that energy into the Pathway to Discipleship. When people come to University and they ask, how do I get connected? the only answer is "The Pathway to Discipleship." Instead of offering new members a million choices and praying that they meet Jesus and make some friends, we offer an intentional path to meeting Jesus, learning the message of Jesus and claiming their mission from Jesus. The Pathway to Discipleship cuts through the thousands of options and sets forth a clear pathway to beginning a life of discipleship. It is not the same idea as "get them in and get them busy." It is about equipping people to begin a journey toward a life with God.

So our approach to deliberate simplicity is a little different but I totally amen the message and implementation of this book. Especially if you are involved in starting a new faith community or deciding where your church will go next, give it a read. Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Resource April 19, 2011

By Andrew Merritt

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Deliberate Simplicity walks you through one church's (Christ the King Community Church or CTK) ministry model. it offers lots of wisdom and challenges to some of the traditional thinking of what makes up a church and what the church should be about.
I am the Pastor of a Church Plant that is attempting to be simple in our programming and style while being very intentional in our mission. This book was good for our Board to go through to help us evaluate and process our direction.

The reader should understand that they are reading about one church's ministry model that they may or may not agree with. However, it should offer a check to business as usual for many pastors and church leaders. Do we need to be doing the things we are doing? What should we be doing that we are not?

My only criticism is the structure of the book. I (and my board) found the last half to be less well organized. In my opinion, the book ended up being about 1/3 longer than it needed to be to communicate the message.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as different as I had hoped or expected... September 28, 2012

By Chad Oberholtzer

Format:Paperback

I've served for a number of years at a church where words like "choice" and "options" are sacrosanct. The default setting is to assume that more options on the menu will serve more people, thereby furthering God's mission in our community. And certainly the heart of this philosophy of ministry is pure and gospel-centered. But I have found that this style of church life leads to fragmentation, disorientation, confusion, waste, and frustration for so many people. And the ordinary people on the ground, charged with executing the ever-expanding ideas of the visionary leaders, are caught in a pattern of never-ending assignments to support the huge machinery of unfocused ministry. Having been one of those people and married to another one, it is utterly exhausting, unsustainable, and ultimately counterproductive.

So, I am excited for any model of church ministry that points in the direction of focus, consolidation, stream-lining, and clarity. These ideals just seem like good stewardship to me and offer a church an opportunity to be more effective for the Kingdom of God. This is where I had hoped that Browning's "Deliberate Simplicity" might deliver. And on one level, "Deliberate Simplicity" does describe a very different approach to ministry than what I've personally experienced and observed in so many other overly busy churches. Browning does describe a laser focus that emphasizes high amounts of energy in only a few directions, rather than a shrapnel-like smattering of energy in a hundred different directions. And this involves the hard leadership work of saying "no" to some very good things so that a church might correspondingly say "yes" to very few but even better things.... This overall approach seems much more manageable and sustainable to me, something that I deeply desire in my ongoing ministry in the church.

But Browning started to lose me when he elaborated on his ideas of velocity and scalability. Frankly, at the end of the day, the model that he described seems to offer just another methodology to ensure exhaustion. Rather than bouncing back and forth from one ministry endeavor to another, Browning seems to assume a willingness to keep grinding out reproductions of the original model, over and over again with increasing speed and franticness. As I look at his description, I again say, "No, thanks." I got tired just reading about it.

I won't pretend to fully understand my own theoretical solution to these complex issues. I do generally prefer Browning's fundamental simplicity over the ever-expanding smorgasbord that is most familiar to me. But having watched numerous people faithfully and passionately engage in ministry only to feel like they've been run over by a truck, I'm not satisfied if Browning merely offers an alternative method to grind people into the ground. I am convinced that there must be ways to do church ministry that aren't primarily defined by exhaustion, and "Deliberate Simplicity" did not offer the alternative that I had hoped to find. Read more ›

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing read March 17, 2013

By Tim

Format:Kindle Edition

Another person who believes they have cracked the perfect for church. Every other church is someplace between wrong and sinister and his church "a sports car" and "heat seeking missile" and every other great analogy he can imagine.

4.0 out of 5 stars Wow--I have caught the vision! February 15, 2013

By bookglutton

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book:
encouraged me--I am on the right track in trying to form a small group that really shares honestly about our sins
convicted me--I need to be careful to keep sharing God's love with those around me, living in light of His return
This book caught me--by surprise, I was impressed with the thought that Browning has put into all aspects of his church's mission