I figure that I might as well get specific regarding what I mean by "Good News will be a simple church." I've talked about it in theory, but I haven't always given specific details. So, let me explain the plan for the 2012/2013 school year. This year, it is highly likely that we will only be doing four things:
- Holding Sunday morning worship services that are designed to build up believers in their faith, as well as be a place that a non-church person could come and understand what is going on (a place where a non-church person could come to know God and the Bible, and that we would be helpful to them as they live their life.)
- Having small groups of people who can interact with each other (learning & applying the Bible, helping each other with their lives) in a smaller setting than big church.
- Getting involved with one outside organization to do a kind of outreach that is church-wide This year (and perhaps in future years) that will be Royal Family Kids Camp.
- In addition to all of the above things happening at a church-wide level, we also intend and expect our people to be involved in worship, evangelism, fellowship, service, and spiritual growth. In other words, living the christian life informally as individuals. We will encourage people to share Christ with the people they know, read their Bibles, pray, care for other people, have close Christian friendships, etc. But there is not a formal program for these things, they are just things every church (group of Christians) should do.
But the reason I listed those things above is to explain where our focus is. In other words, we will not be starting a Christian school, building a gymnasium, starting a sports ministry, having a preschool, putting on a VBS, starting adult Sunday School classes, partnering with several other organizations like Royal Family Kids, starting a choir, or putting on a Christmas pageant any time soon (or possibly ever.) We believe that if we focus on the above four categories of things we will be able to do them well this year. In fact, one of the big reasons we want to stay a simple church is because we need to afford our people the TIME to do the things listed in category #4. You just can't share Christ with your neighbor if you go to church programs seven nights a week.
I hope that explanation was helpful.
