We’re doing more with less

Three months into our home church experience and counting. Our little group ebbs and flows, between 15 and 20 people. We have all age groups, and it really feels like “family” when we get together. For the first time in decades we eagerly look forward to the weekend and our meetings.

I look back on 40+ years of leadership in the denomination and feel so blessed to be where we are right now. Nearly 20 years ago I began to analyze what was happening in our local churches, and I kept thinking there had to be a better way to do things. Good leaders were getting burned out, wearing too many hats. Hours of board meetings and committees, budget meetings, etc. And all the expense of every age group having their own materials and supplies (and leaders).

The system wasn’t working. Old leaders were dropping out in discouragement, and younger or newer members weren’t interested in taking the load. We were on the verge of burnout ourselves. Something had to change. We reached the point where we no longer looked forward to attending the weekly services at the denominational church. All the preliminaries frustrated us, the services dragged to the point of fatigue. We hungered for simplicity and plain Scripture focus.

Today our little group is just excited to get together. We talk about how we are able to do “more with less” now. No budgets, no committees, no boards, and very little expense. We have two or three outreach projects we are funding. Every week we talk about any needs we’ve seen in our circles of friends and acquaintances. When the Lord shows us a need, we see how we can meet it. Sometimes we call it our “Nike church” because our motto seems to be “just do it!” We feel alive again, energized. And we’re excited to invite our friends to come and study with us. It’s a really GOOD place to be.