Adam McLane

Keep it simple

Discipleship – One of the most straight-forward concepts in Christianity. Instead of keeping it simple we turn it into a complicated mess. How hard is it? A person comes to you and wants to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Cool, tell them to find a Bible, read the book of John, and lets meet in 3 days. In the process of trying to make it easy (with a process) we make it hard.

Bible study – Another straight-forward concept. To lead a Bible study you need a couple of people, a Bible, and maybe a notebook. Pick a starting point, any starting point, read a section and ask the text… who, what, how, when, where, and why? In the process of trying to make it easy (with tools) we make it hard.

Community – We are hard-wired to form community in our DNA. It couldn’t get more simple than following your instincts. Share life with some friends, be open to making new friends, and take care of one anothers needs. The only thing hard about it should be the relational stuff. You don’t need a pastor to teach you how to do this, or a program at church, or anything else. You just need to do it.

Sometimes I wonder why we make things so dang complicated?

I know one reason: Making simple things complicated keeps people busy/employed/powerful/empowered.

When in doubt– keep it simple. 

Posted

in

by

Adam McLane

Tags:

, , , ,

Comments

3 responses to “Keep it simple”

  1. Andrew Latulippe Avatar
    Andrew Latulippe

    Adam, well said as usual. The hard part about this outlook is that there will be lots of threatened ministries that operate based on their complex traditions and systems.
    Being an unemployed youth pastor right now is really allowing me to rethink a lot of the things that I once considered ‘essentials’ in church. I’d love to see more simple ministries start to challenge the status quo!

    Reply
  2. Chris Schaffner Avatar
    Chris Schaffner

    Also, simple isn’t flashy and doesn’t sell books. Thanks for this post Adam. I love what A.A. says in their meetings and literature. K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid. I need that reminder often.

    Reply
  3. Mike Farmer Avatar
    Mike Farmer

    Thanks Adam! I have been using This in my life lately. I meet with a group men on Wednesday and we had a pastor that lead a short devotional each week. Well about two months ago he became sick and end up going home to be with the Lord. Everyone panicked, what are we going to do? I pointed out that if we kept it simple we could continue with the journey. I have shared a few very simple studies with them and they are beginning to get the idea.

    In any case thanks for sharing this.

    Reply

Leave a Reply