Customer Reviews

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

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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.

This book is quite intriguing, with its catchy title: Deliberate Simplicity. A while back I heard about a church in Washington that had locations in several countries (and continents). At the time it seemed as if they all were piped in by video feed to one location. That impression led me to be quite skeptical of this book (which discusses that very same church network), I must admit.

As I browsed through, and read much of the book, my interest was piqued. Christ the King Community Church aims to be deliberate about three emphases: worship, small groups, and outreach. More than that, they intentionally choose to not make anything else a priority. They encourage ministry to be initiated and fueled by individuals, but they shy away from packing the lives of their members chuck full of programs and church functions. Keeping the main thing, the main thing, this church movement has had a global impact.

With a criticism of the status quo, and an emphasis on new methods for church growth, it would be easy to write this off as another emergent church phenomenon. But upon reading the various emphases covered in Dave Browning's book, I don't think that's a fair assessment. Some valid criticisms are raised against Christians isolating themselves in a counterculture of their choosing. Meanwhile the spotlight is shone on the importance of outreach. What's more, they aim to spread not by building megachurches which attract seekers, but by focusing on small groups where people are encouraged to go out and find the lost. The worship services stress authentic, real worship, that doesn't cater to the lost, but lovingly shares the truth with them. Their honest, passionate message is reaching thousands across our nation and around the world. For that reason alone, Browning's book is worth a look.

I was able to ask Dave, the author and a founding pastor of CTK, a few questions about his book, and he was kind enough to answer them.

Q: I like your focus on being deliberately simple in how we "do church". Does your emphasis on a multi-site, and even multi-country model take away from that simplicity?

A: It has become harder for us as we have continued to expand. But that is not to say it can't be done. It just may take more work and discipline. The two words through which we try to filter our organization are "virtuous" and "empowering." Whatever we do we want it to be virtuous and empowering.

Q: Would you consider yourself a proponent of the Emergent church philosophy? Will the principles in your book help all kinds of churches, not primarily those more open to an Emergent church perspective?

A: I don't consider myself Emergent, but I can't say that I am an expert on that word either. What I have sensed about where I'm coming from, relative to other restless young leaders, is that my learning style has been action/reflection instead of reflection/action. We have gone out and done it first, and then tried to figure out how to describe it. That has been a pretty messy process, but rich in divine discovery. When the process is non-linear it sometimes defies the neat categories. In some ways, CTK is like a can on the shelf without a label on it. You have to open it up and look inside to figure out what it is. I kind of like that. I do think that there are applicable principles that can apply across the theological spectrum.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Zondervan for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

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.

I thought it was a well written book and I'm very glad I took the time to read it. There's something to say about focus and about narrowing your mission to: Worship, Small Groups and Outreach ... instead of being all over the map with programs. I've been a pastor for 31 years and familiar with all the models and templates of doing ministry (and I mean contemporary, cutting-edge ministry). I thought the author did a great job inserting quotes or studies on trends to support the arguments he was making. Really interesting stuff and the quotes were worth it for me. I've always been of the opinion that having a pretty big mother church (megachurch) would be the better way to go if possible or feasible because of increased momentum, funds, volunteers, missions giving and options (programs) for attenders. But the book challenged my thinking on that and forced me to grapple with the paradigm of hiving off or planting another church in the same general geographic area. I related to his analogy of McDonalds ... if you want to serve more people, do you build a bigger McDonalds or do you simply build more units? So it did start to resonate with me. Not bigger, but more. There are two huge benefits from my view ... 1) In a smaller church you get to know more people personally and it feels more like honest-to-goodness community and 2) a huge savings of pouring money into brick and mortar, paid staff and "stuff". Theoretically, according to the author, another huge benefit is that you ultimately reach more people. I wouldn't be able to deny or verify that either way. I did have a question that had to do with children's and youth ministries. At first blush it would seem to me that a dynamic children's ministry in a church of 2000 would appeal more to most children than a children's ministry in a church of 200, where the volunteers aren't as gifted (I don't mean that as a slam) or there aren't the financial resources to fund what's necessary to make it dynamic and exciting. I'm kind of wondering out loud on this point. Also, and I'm thinking about my lost neighbors and friends, and how they are wired for the most part ... and would they feel more at home at a church of 2000 where they can be more anonymous and maybe experience a more dynamic worship experience versus a smaller church where it wouldn't be as anonymous or dynamic (again, not a slam, just trying to grapple with what I've seen in reality for the most part)? It probably comes down to a diversity of church models that reach/connect a diversity of people. It's definitely a book I believe every pastor should read, and ... push came to shove ... I would opt for the ministry paradigm presented in this book because of so much it resonated with me. The people I'm familiar with would prefer the more "community" feeling experienced at a church of 200-400 versus the feeling in a church of 2000-5000+. Great book and I know the Lord had this book written for a reason ... it will bear much fruit for His kingdom.

Deliberate Simplicity is about being committed to the core expressions of the church and nothing else. Dropping pretense, program and sometimes even pixels to maintain a purity in the mission of the Jesus. Dave Browning is the pastor of Christ The King church, a community relentlessly focused on three things; Small Groups, Worship and Outreach.

All that stuff I love. The book? Not so much.

The book pushes this idea of a "Deliberately Simple" church hard, too hard. It felt more infomercial than inspiration. And in the end an ill fated attempt at creating a new kind of church brand. The heart was lost in the tone (or maybe the small font, was it just me?)

Deliberate Simplicity opens with the telling of a story of a perfect utopian faith community. A church that has it all. Which church would this be? The author's of course. It's tough to get into a story that leads like that.

DS oversold itself.

A few lines that drove the book for me...

(On the use of overhead projectors.) "We're not trying to dazzle people with Pixels." Not Shane Hipps fans I take it.

"This is not to say that Deliberately Simple church is the only church interested in reaching out to a lost world. But..."

"I have people tell me, 'Dave I don't go to church, but if I ever did, I would check out Christ The King.'"

"CTK was shaping up differently than any church church I'd seen before. I was moaning in my office about how I didn't have a mentor to show me the way."

CTK is "different than any church you've ever seen before".

Felt too self promoted. DS also seemed to keep us at a distance from the author, leaving us with charts, church stories and lots of quotes from other people.

Sounds like God's doing some cool stuff at CTK but as a reader/leader it didn't work for me.

Begs the question though, do we always need to try and brand the great things God is doing and attempt to sell them? Can commercialization of even good stuff be harmful?

What a great book for the church that is tired of being stagnate. It is for the next generation without compromising God's message and mission.
We look forward to applying many of the concepts. We are making arrangements to have a group of leaders in our own church go up North and meet with Dave Browning, the author. Highly recommend