Simplicity Over Complexity
Episode Summary
In this episode, Cory and Brian explore the profound impact of simplicity in disciple-making. Join us as we discuss how returning to the basics can enhance the effectiveness of disciple-making efforts. Discover practical insights and tools, like the "eight and a half by 11" exercise, that help streamline and focus our mission. Whether you're leading a microchurch or engaging in personal discipleship, learn how simplicity can be a powerful catalyst for growth and multiplication.
Key Themes & Takeaways
1. Simple Things Multiply
Complexity fatigues people; simplicity empowers them.
Tools serve a purpose, but the focus must stay sharp: gospel presence, demonstration, proclamation.
2. The 8.5x11 One-Page Rule
Imagine you must condense the last “unit” (4–6 weeks, a cohort, a gathering plan) onto one sheet.
Write what’s essential: the few things you’re radically committed to that anyone can reproduce the same week.
Use it for: hub team training, microchurch plans, coaching new disciple-makers, even family rhythms.
3. Prune, Don’t Pile On
Movements often advance by subtracting, not adding.
Keep the toolbox, but only pull a tool when it’s needed (e.g., FROG questions, Five Thresholds, DBS, Story Diamond, Four G’s).
4. Constraints Clarify the Essentials
Prison story: when you can’t bring anything in, all you have is what’s inside you.
The Word + the Spirit + a simple pathway beats a binder of content.
5. Framework > Flood of Content
Offer a framework people can remember and reuse (Missionary Pathway; three-thirds; DBS).
The one-page discipline forces clarity and makes multiplication normal.
Final Thoughts
When life and ministry feel complex, don’t fight complexity with more complexity. Prune back to the essentials, put it on one page, and practice it until it’s muscle memory. That’s how everyday people carry the gospel into every context—and how microchurches multiply.
