Above all, our desire is for people to genuinely love Jesus Himself. Often, we find ourselves drawn to sermons, ministries, books, and community, but do we truly cherish God above all else? A church can't thrive if its members aren't regularly encountering and delighting in God. Loving God with all our being is our highest priority as leaders.

To cultivate a culture of personal connection with God, we've structured our approach. Rather than relying solely on Sunday sermons for spiritual nourishment, we encourage everyone to spend daily time with God, following a shared reading plan throughout the week. This daily engagement with Scripture and prayer is where they're spiritually fed. Then, when we come together, instead of a sermon, we have discussions led by church leaders based on the week's readings. Everyone is expected to contribute insights gained from their personal time with God, fostering a community deeply devoted to Scripture.

This daily Bible reading also serves as a safeguard against false teachings. When everyone regularly immerses themselves in God's Word, they become less susceptible to deception. By equipping our members with the habit of daily Bible reading, we're strengthening them against potential falsehoods and ensuring they stay rooted in the truth.

Everyone is supposed to share the gospel and take care of each other spiritually. But real discipleship is not easy. It means getting to know someone, having tough talks about sin, working through conflicts, and being there when life gets tough.

Sometimes, we replace true discipleship with programs. For example, if a married couple is struggling, we might suggest they read a book or join a class. But what they really need is someone experienced to walk alongside them through life's challenges. While programs can be helpful, they shouldn't replace real discipleship.

In our church, leaders don't have to disciple everyone; they focus on a few and make sure those few disciple others too. Even new believers are encouraged to share their faith and learn how to care for others.

We want everyone in our church to join small, close-knit groups, so there's no hiding. Each person's life is intertwined with others, and everyone is expected to be honest and grow together.

Discipleship means taking care of someone spiritually and being involved in each other's lives. It's not just about meeting for coffee once a week; it's about spending time together and learning from each other's lives.

Paul said “to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). He goes on to list many different types of gifts that the Spirit gives to believers for the sake of the body. Then he explains how every part of the body is needed and that we must be careful not to develop a mindset that some gifts are more necessary than others. But is that truly how we function in the church? Does every single believer in a church realize that they are just as needed and important as anyone else in the church? Or do they tend to think that the preacher and worship leader is more important?

We have intentionally structured things to create space for everyone in the body to contribute in the gatherings and in everyday life. Church leaders have an important calling to lead and shepherd, but it doesn’t mean that they are the only voice that needs to be heard. We don’t have long monologue sermons in our house gatherings because we don’t want any one person to dominate things. Our leaders lead the discussion in our gatherings, and a big task for them is to draw people into utilizing their gifts. Leaders shouldn’t be dominating the discussion.

This is one of the reasons we have smaller churches. If there are 40 to 50 people in the gathering, it’s easy for half the group to shrink back and not contribute. The church leaders should also look out for gifts in the people in their church and give them opportunities to lead and grow in those gifts. Have people use what they’re passionate about and gifted in.

For example, If someone is hospitable, encourage them to have people over in their home. If someone is administratively gifted, have them organize a retreat. Someone might have the gift of encouragement - ask them to support someone who is down. If someone can explain the Bible well, ask them to meditate on a passage and share what God taught them on Sunday. In conversation with people in your church, affirm gifts that you see and encourage people to use them.

Communion is essential to the community of faith. At Simply Church, we celebrate communion every week and we want to encourage everyone to uphold this celebration as much as possible. While doing so, we keep in mind two things.

First, communion is sacred. We want to treat it with seriousness. We take on a heart posture of reverence. We should not be casual about the act.

Second, communion should be happening a lot –we see this in Scripture. We pursue devotion to breaking bread. Communion doesn’t need to occur only in a specific setting with certain people administering it.

Communion is for believers. We don’t rush into taking communion. For example, we see in Corinth that there was disunity and deep sin issues. Some people went hungry while others we stuffing themselves. It seems there was a lack of concern for the body as they took it, which is a big issue. When we take communion, we acknowledge that we’re about to take the body and blood of Christ. We want to examine our lives and see if there’s anyone we’ve offended or are not right with.

Baptism is Commanded - Acts 2:37-38

"Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

We see here that Baptism is commanded as part of our conversion. ​

We see a good explanation of baptism in 1 Peter 3:20-21.

"Those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood. And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.."

Peter is saying that baptism saves you, but it's not that the water somehow washes away your sins. Look at the reference to Noah. God's destruction was coming upon the world, yet who was saved from God's destruction? It was those eight people that climbed into the ark. In the same way, Jesus is now our ark. My baptism is a baptism into Jesus. It's like me climbing into Christ and saying, "I'm one with him now. I'm safe now because I'm in Jesus. I'm in Christ. I climbed into the ark, and he does all of the work—I'm in there." Baptism is the picture of you climbing in and becoming one with Christ.

Baptism can be done in a variety of ways, but we often encourage people to do it in home churches. We don't want it to be something where people have to wait for just the right situation to get baptized. It's ultimately up to the leader of the family church to decide how they will do it. Before someone gets baptized, that person and his/her discipler should talk through baptism with their house church leaders. Baptism shouldn't happen only in a big service, it should be held in reverence and immediately as someone is ready to put their faith in Christ. It's fine to baptize someone in a baptismal, a swimming pool, the ocean, a bathtub, or any other body of water. The Bible seems to leave freedom for where baptism happens. The reverence comes from understanding the weightiness of the public declaration of a lifelong commitment and is expressed through a heart posture of awe and gratitude for new life.