Simplicity is one of the greatest values driving decision making for 801South. We live in a very complicated culture here in suburban America. I see a hunger for a simpler way to do life, but there are few organizations who focus on providing the necessary steps.

The reason for striving for simplicity is the need to be reproducible. The more complicated an organization, the more of its own resources are required to feed the machine, rather than reproduce itself. As a local church reaches people, sees lives changed, and, consequently, receives more financial support, is it best to use that financial support to continue reaching people or to build more space for the people who have been reached? The people who were reached were done so despite the lack of space, but there is a natural drift toward being inwardly focused. Being inwardly focused naturally leads to complication.

One aspect of simplicity is the worship + 2 concept in that a modern disciple of Jesus makes attending worship a priority, participates faithfully in small group discipleship, and serves in one opportunity to display the love of Christ to those in need. That’s it. Simple, huh? As complicated as our lives have become, the local church should be asking how to simplify life, not add to the complexity.

Simplicity allows an organization to reproduce and multiply much more easily as it pursues its mission. Every aspect of the organization–facilities, leadership structure, programming, etc.–must strive to maintain its simplicity. The question, “How is this simple?” must be asked over and over and over to combat the tendency of growing complicated.