Great sayings that have shaped me: PART III
“Less is more.” {Andy Stanley; others}
This has defined so much of what I do and don’t do and what our church does and does not do.Â
- We will do a few things well rather than a lot of things average.
- We will be focused, we will be simple, we will disciplined.
- This means we say ‘No’ to a lot of things so that the things we say ‘Yes’ to are done with excellence.
A lot of people have a hard time understanding this. Typically, the church has tried to have a program or ministry or sub-ministry for everything under the sun. The end result is everything can end up competing for space, dollars, and time. The staff gets stretched too thin and committed members end up feeling guilty because they cannot be there every time the church doors open (which grows with every new ministry that gets started). Ten years later the program that started with such excitement isn’t as exciting but you can’t kill it because “We’ve always done it that way.”
So at Rock Bridge we made a strategic decision. We will only do a few things that fit our vision … the one God gave us almost five years ago … and we will do those things for the glory of God!!
Our “few things” include weekend worship, adult small groups/discipleship, children & students, and multiple campuses. (I once heard this guy respond to the question of ”Do you have a men’s ministry?” with the reply, “Yes, we encourage our men to come to worship every Sunday!” Whether that reply fits or not is up to each church but the focus, simplicity, and committment to doing only a few things well is refreshing and is proving effective in churches (see the book Simple Church by Thom Rainer) and in businesses (see the book Good to Great by Jim Collins).
I could be even simpler by saying we do two things:Â LARGE group and SMALL group environments for adults, students, and children modeled after Acts 2.