Simply Church - Have we made it all too complicated?
Saturday 26 May 2012, 10am – 4pm
Venue: Horfield Baptist Church, Gloucester Road, Bristol BS7 8NY

Do churches need so many structures, processes, programmes and organisations? What is essential and what could we dispense with? What do we need to sustain faith, inspire mission and build community? And what do we have the energy and resources to sustain?

In a post-Christendom culture many believe church needs to be simpler:

•    That we can no longer maintain the kinds of churches that served previous generations.
•    That we need to prioritise mission and reduce maintenance.
•    That we need to recover the dynamism of a movement and streamline institutional dimensions of church.
•    That we need to plant churches that are reproducible and less dependent on paid staff and their own buildings.
•    That we need to concentrate on making disciples and incarnational mission rather than running churches.

Simpler churches are a global phenomenon, flourishing especially where the church is growing strongly. Should we be developing simpler churches in western societies, where the church is in decline? What are the dangers and drawbacks? What are the losses as well as the gains? Does this mean planting new churches or can we simplify the churches we already have? How do simpler churches network together and what kind of leadership is needed?

Simply Church is an opportunity to explore these issues through a mixture of story-sharing, discussion and missional reflection.

Trainers include Nigel Coles, Nick Bradshaw and Stuart Murray Williams

Cost: £20 (£12 if unwaged) – includes lunch
For further information, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0117 3307826.

Sponsored by:
West of England Baptist Association, South Wales Baptist Association, South Wales Baptist College, Bristol Baptist College, Urban Expression, Incarnate Network.