Book Review: Simple Church (Rainer & Geiger)

Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger’s book attempts to persuade the reader to contemplate church as “simple.” With the plethora of mission, vision, and strategic statements, the church leadership as well as the average parishioner can easily get lost in various messages in the church. Appealing to Apple Computer’s simplistic approach, Rainer and Geiger share that “simple” is not only “in,” they also show that this approach is effective. With research from various churches Rainer and Geiger propose that growing churches are churches that are simplistic rather than complex. Instead of doing all sorts of things ordinary, they show the reader that it is better to do fewer things well. In other words, less is better.


Rainer and Geiger propose that the churches develop a simple statement that attempts to combine the mission, vision and strategic statement into on simplistic statement. This statement shall also include a key component of “process.” The key component of process is to help clearly show the church and leadership exactly where they are moving an individual in the realm of discipleship. The power of having one simple statement and keeping the church simple is that everyone will be on the same page. A simple statement should be able to be communicated to everyone in the church from the youth to the senior citizen. When everyone is speaking the same language and understands the simplistic identity and process of the church, everyone’s resources can be funneled into this statement. Therefore, instead of programs and people competing against each other, everyone has their own part in the simple identity/process statement.


Even though I tend to very much agree with Rainer and Geiger in their appeal for simplicity, I do so not for the sake of having a simple process but for the sake of keeping the Gospel in the position of having first importance (See 1 Corinthians 15:3). Their zeal for simplicity can be commended; however, I believe there are times where they have missed the essence of simplicity. For example read the following statement,

"The design of the church is centered on something. The programs and ministries revolve around something. They are just not plugged into the church calendar and brochure. Everything is designed around something. And that something is not a nebulous abstract concept. The design for discipleship in a simple church revolves around the process. A simple church is designed around a straightforward and strategic process. The process is straightforward. It is not confusing; it is easy to grasp. The leaders know it and the people understand it. The process is intentionally kept simple. It is not lengthened. It does not change every few months. The church sticks to the simple process…"

While this statement is very simple, I believe that a truly simple church is even simpler than a simple process. Observe my editing of the Rainer and Geiger’s paragraph below.

The design of the church is centered on something. The programs and ministries revolve around something. They are just not plugged into the church calendar and brochure. Everything is designed around something. And that something is not a nebulous abstract concept. The design for discipleship in a simple church revolves around the process Jesus. A simple church is designed around a straightforward and strategic process Gospel Message. The process Gospel is straightforward. It is not confusing; it is easy to grasp. The leaders know it and the people understand it. The process Gospel is intentionally kept simple. It is not lengthened. It does not change every few months. The church sticks to the simple process Gospel Message… 

Rainer and Geiger define a simple church as, “a congregation designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.” While I appreciate this I would like to also edit this by saying that a simple church is, “a congregation designed around the straightforward Gospel Message and a process that moves people into the Gospel Message for spiritual growth.”


While a simple unified process is healthy, I am convinced that if the simplistic church doesn’t have the Gospel as the central focus of simplicity, that the church will inevitably end up dabbling in a Theology of Glory or Law-Based Sanctification which will in the end lead to complexity.


With my criticism stated, I reflected on my local church and came up with the following thoughts implementing my concerns as well as taking into consideration Rainer and Geiger’s appeal to move the congregation somewhere:

Question: What are we about at Sidney Lutheran Brethren Church?
Answer: The Gospel Message About Jesus Christ
Question: What is it that we want for people?
Answer: We want people to receive the Gospel.
Question: How do people receive the Gospel?
Answer: People receive the Gospel when they gather around the Word and Sacraments.
Question: What is it that we hope for when people gather and receive the Gospel?
Answer: We want people to grow into the Gospel and go because of the Gospel
Question: Why does Sidney Lutheran Brethren Church exist?
Answer: We exist so that people may gather together to receive the Gospel and grow into the Gospel which results in us going into all Nations with the message of the Gospel.
Simple Summary: The Gospel: Gathering ~ Receiving ~ Growing ~ Going

View all my reviews

To Read More On This Subject:
Ahh, Simple Church!