7 reasons why it is often more effective to start a simple church with not-yet-believers or new disciples

Photo credit: tquiddle (Creative Commons)

In the previous post, I described some of the churches we have started on our journey with simple churches. The majority of them were started with mostly unbelievers. We have also started churches with believers, but it is usually far easier and often more effective to start with not-yet-believers and new disciples. Here are some of the reasons:

1. New believers have fewer expectations of what church "ought to look like" from their previous experience. They are less likely to revert to "Honey, I shrunk the church!"
2. Their questions concern lifestyle, not theology. 
3. They are far more likely to convey their excitement about the changes in their lives to those in their circle of influence.
4. They have less hang-ups from their previous Christian experience.
5. Their problems are the problems of life.
6. If simplicity is modeled well, they easily pray aloud, share from the Scriptures, minister to each other.
7. They don't have to go through "death valley." (I'll explain that in the next post.)

Obviously believers who have been walking with Jesus for longer enjoy organic church too, but the dynamics are very different.