The Simple Pastor

By Phil Whittall, church planter, blogger & book reviewer

• Rediscovering my heritage

  February 15, 2010 | 339 Views | 5 Comments

  One of the sad things about being a Christian concerned about consumerism or passionate for a simpler more generous life is that you can often feel alone in this pioneering lifestyle. It is encouraging to discover more of my heritage and in doing so realise that we have some heavy weight hitters on our team.

  This latest rediscovery came from this book review on John Stott’s final book The Radical Disciple and it’s eight ways to live this radical Christ-like life. The review says,

  “A fifth area is simplicity. John Stott speaks from a position of integrity on this subject, since his book sales and speaking engagements could have made him a millionaire, yet he practices what he preaches, giving all his book royalties towards the work of providing books for believers and pastors in poorer countries. He feels grieved that the International Consultation on Simple Lifestyle which took place in March 1980 received very little attention, and this chapter is simply given to republish their statement (which he co-wrote with Ron Sider). This is a very challenging chapter, and one that exposes deep-seated idols that we are reluctant to part with. It is sad that Stott seems to be something of a lone voice in the evangelical world on this subject.”

  So I followed the links and discovered this and this. Breathe, (and I realise this is a bit ambitious), has taken up the baton for a simpler lifestyle. Perhaps we should call for a new International Consultation on Simple Lifestyle. It’s about time don’t you think?

  Originally posted at Breathe

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  Categories: lifestyle, simplicity

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• http://www.lukesblog.org Luke

  Hey Phil, I was in an Oxfam bookshop yesterday and picked up ‘Living more simply’ which was published by the Consultation on Simple Lifestyle that came from the Lausanne statement, it’s a collection of the papers that explore what this should look like. I’m looking forward to reading it.

• http://www.thesimplepastor.co.uk/ admin

  Hi Luke, what a find! Be great to hear what you thought of it when you’ve read it.

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• http://www.wordandspirit.co.uk/blog Mark Heath

  I think with simplicity, more is needed than just teaching or calls to a simple lifestyle. We need it to be modelled at the local church level by elders and small group leaders who share their lives in such a way that people can “get” how exactly a simple lifestyle could work in practice for them. It also probably requires more openness about our finances than our culture is comfortable with.

• http://www.thesimplepastor.co.uk/ admin

  Hi Mark, couldn’t agree more. The best form of discipleship and teaching is when what we hear connects to what we see