Making things simple

Making things simple

I wish I could make things simple. I have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be. Take for instance the time I got a new computer. Okay, it was a gift from some friends in the states. I live in Europe. We use 220 watts and the states use 110 watts. Instead of doing the simple thing and reading the specs. And what to do with the extra current or whatever a watt is I just did the “male” thing and plugged it in and gave it the juice and instead of seeing windows pop up I smelled smoke. I naturally unplugged it and then decided to look at the manual and sure enough it told me what I should have done. There was an extremely small button on the back where all I had to do was to switch the button to the 220 position and I would have hadno problems. A couple of weeks later I finally decided to go to the store and try to fix it and I was able to buy a transformer to replace the one that smelled like it had been burnt. Smile
So … After another week of trying to figure out how to change it out I was finally able to turn it on. YEA. When I plugged it in there was no smoke and sure enough it booted up and became the computer it was meant to be for me. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble, patience, sweat, reading, etc…. If I had only read the instructions to begin with.
I made it all too complicated.

I have found something similar that I have done with churches. I think I have started churches that are far more complicated than what our Lord ever wanted. When I read the second chapter of Acts and especially when I get to verses 42 and following I see some pretty simple stuff about what a church or New Testament community of faith looks like.

They were devoted to ..
The apostles teaching
The Breaking of Bread ( the Lords Supper)
Fellowship – doing life together
Prayer

I think I have added so much more to what a church needs to be and the reason is that I have focused more on what we should “do” rather than “be”. I was often more concerned with all of the programs that I could generate rather than disciples that I could make.
I also think when I have added all of these things to a church then I greatly reduce its ability to reproduce itself because it is too hard and too costly.

So let’s remember the KISS principle- Keep It Simple Silly