Ever notice how easy it is to get comfortable in your own way of thinking and doing life? It’s amazing how we can get into mindsets that actually confine us, and we don’t even realize we’ve become captive to our own perspectives. Assessing our beliefs and practices is an important key for continued fruitfulness, personally and organizationally.

We recently sent senior pastors a book titled Stuck? by Foursquare Pastor Stan Simmons. We thought this would be most appropriate as a practical guide to help leaders enter a new year with a new mentality.

The description of the book’s content says: “All of us find our wheels spinning at various times in life. In the face of grief, depression, fear, prejudice ... or plain laziness, we find our wheels slipping and sliding in ruts we can’t seem to roll out of. If we’re stuck mentally, physically, or especially spiritually—how do we get un-stuck? How do we find the traction to start moving again?”

You may want to consider purchasing copies of this book for your congregation to help them begin 2010 with something more than a New Year’s resolution: a new perspective!

We also want to inform you of an exciting decision made by our board of directors—the inclusion of simple churches in our Foursquare family. Rod Koop, national missional facilitator, describes it as follows: 

What is simple church? Simple church is our Foursquare family’s preferred term for what is often called house church. By simple church, we mean a way of doing, or being, the church that is so simple that almost any believer will say, "I can do that!" Think about the church described in the New Testament, flexible and responsive to the needs of people—that is simple church.

Simple church is a response to God’s call to re-examine everything about church in light of the Bible, and to simplify what has become complicated by buildings, events and programs. It is best described by values and practices such as the following:

• Simplicity: Formal programs give way to informal expressions of life and outreach.
• Intimacy: Both with God and one another.
• Community: Relationships are at the core of everything.
• Family: Healthy families are the church, and leaders are spiritual parents.
• Supernatural lifestyle: Simple church people are aware of the need to live naturally supernatural lives in a broken world.
• Participation: Everyone has something to contribute.
• Modeling discovery-based learning: This is a return to the Hebraic model Jesus used as His primary means of teaching and training.

Traditional churches share many of these values. But some particular distinctions that may be helpful for understanding are the following:

• The small group meetings are the church—larger gatherings are simply the churches gathered for a larger meeting.
• Leadership in a simple church is viewed as the shared responsibility of every member.
• Every member (including children) is encouraged to participate in all gatherings and expressions of ministry.
• Personal care for one another takes place through all members of the group.

Globally, Foursquare has seen thousands of churches planted and whole countries impacted using the simple church approach. How wonderful that God would want to reach whole cultures, people groups and population segments in our own country using simple churches!

The board’s decision allows us to register simple churches that are not traditional in structure as official Foursquare churches. Are they fully functioning churches? Of course! Pastors of simple churches and simple church networks are fully credentialed Foursquare ministers. Simple churches operate within the authority of our district and divisional coverings, and simple churches report monthly on their missional activities. This decision by our board of directors simply fulfills their hope that our family would extend a loving embrace, validation and blessing.

Far from being competition to or a replacement of traditional church models, simple church adds a critical tool to our national and global efforts to advance God’s kingdom.

==
By: Tammy Dunahoo, interim general supervisor, and Rod Koop, central office