Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples (original 2006; edition 2006)

by Thom S. Rainer, Eric Geiger

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2,009	15	8,184	(3.86)	4
Many of the church leaders we talk to are seeking an escape from the not-so-simple life. This book is not about another church model. Church leaders have been exposed to plenty of models, and have many on their bookshelves. Or worse, many church leaders have blended a bunch of models into one schizophrenic plan. If that is the case, neither the leader nor the people in the church are really sure what that church is all about. This pattern is seen all the time. But no new program will be pushed here. If anything, this book encourages eliminating some things, to streamline. This book will help design a simple process of discipleship for a church. It will help implement a personally chosen model. It will help simplify.… (more)

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Member:	nirrad
Title:	Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples
Authors:	Thom S. Rainer
Other authors:	Eric Geiger
Info:	B&H Books (2006), Hardcover, 272 pages
Collections:	Your library
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Tags:	Christian, Evangelism

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Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer (2006)

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The Most Loving Place in Town: A Modern Day Parable for the Church by Ken Blanchard (johncstark)
johncstark: The Simple Church is a great process to help with the nuts and bolts of being the most loving place in town.

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Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)

I wanted to give this book 3.5 stars. It has some very good principles and I have come away challenges and helped. However there is a lot of filler that I skipped over. I didn't find the examples of churches helpful either. The research and the basic pint of the book is spot on though and I would encourage other ministry leaders to read this book and spit out the bones. (

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emabbott | Dec 8, 2021 |

7/10: A fairly helpful book, with what appears to be a very sensible premise — that people in "simple" churches tend to grow more than those where church life is complex. It takes a statistical approach (though Rainer and Geiger are no Jim Collins), and it's certainly worth reading. It's helpfulness is lessened for me because its conclusions probably most useful to larger churches (which tend to be more complex by nature) than smaller ones, and to the American scene. (

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mark_read | Aug 13, 2020 |

It's interesting to see reviews of fellow pastor friends who didn't like this book. I suppose it's repetitive, and some of the research needs explained better, but it hammers home again and again crucial thoughts on church organization.

I came to it after reading the incredible Essentialism by McKeown, which pairs well with it (and exceeds it) in the emphasis on clear focus and direction in ministry. I'll be returning to this book.

Other reviews are correct when they ask for deeper theological and Scriptural reflection, however. (

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nicholasjjordan | Nov 13, 2019 |

Great book about what we have done to the Church today. Is it still as Biblical as what Christ wanted? Have we made it just too complex to the church? (

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HopewellGB | Jan 31, 2017 |

I led a leader's retreat for my church yesterday. Our goal was to discuss our purpose and the process that we are using to achieve that purpose. Our pastor recommended this book, and I found it very helpful in structuring our conversation. The key idea is that most churches are too complex. We need to help people move through the stages of encountering God, growing spiritually, and serving the world. This book provides lots of examples of how other churches have successfully achieved these goals and questions for discussion. (

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porch_reader | Feb 1, 2015 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Thom S. Rainer	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Geiger, Eric	—	main author	all editions	confirmed

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Christianity Today Book Awards (The Church/Pastoral Leadership – 2007)

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Thom S. Rainer

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Many of the church leaders we talk to are seeking an escape from the not-so-simple life. This book is not about another church model. Church leaders have been exposed to plenty of models, and have many on their bookshelves. Or worse, many church leaders have blended a bunch of models into one schizophrenic plan. If that is the case, neither the leader nor the people in the church are really sure what that church is all about. This pattern is seen all the time. But no new program will be pushed here. If anything, this book encourages eliminating some things, to streamline. This book will help design a simple process of discipleship for a church. It will help implement a personally chosen model. It will help simplify.

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