The Rabbit and the Elephant

Hi Friends,

This is Jon Dale, you probably know my parents (Tony and Felicity Dale) as the people behind SimpleChurch.com. First, a HUGE thank you to everyone for taking part here. SimpleChurch has become a wonderful community because of you.

My parents new book (co-authored with George Barna), The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small Is the New Big for Today's Church, comes out on Monday, June 1st.

We think you’re going to find this book really helpful, both for your own journey and as a way to introduce others to the ideas behind simple church.

We’d love your help getting the word out about the book. Here’s what you can do to help:

1. Order copies of the book from Amazon. This will increase our Amazon sales rank and make it more likely that others will buy the book. Here’s the link to the book on Amazon: http://bit.ly/DFD3k

2. Send out an email, write a blog post or post something to your website about the book.

If you need a picture for your website or newsletter you can download one here.
Thanks so much for being a part of this. We’re excited to see what God does with this.

If you want to send an email to others here’s some copy that may help. Feel free to change it any way you want to:

Rabbits, Elephants and Simple Church

If you put two elephants in a room together with plenty of food and water, close the door, and come back in three years, if you’re lucky, you may have one baby elephant. But do the same thing with two rabbits and you’ll get thousands of baby rabbits.

In their new book, The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small is the New Big for Today’s Church, simple church planters Tony and Felicity Dale, with acclaimed researcher George Barna, use the rabbit illustration to show the pace at which the Christian faith can (and should) be growing—through a way of life that is explosive and transformational. Through observations supported by the Barna Group research, the Dales document how church all across the world is changing from being event-based to life and relationship-based.

The Rabbit and the Elephant explores the simple church phenomenon and the ideas and experiences behind its concept of every member ministry. You will learn how to incorporate spiritual growth and outreach into every aspect of your life, while discovering the key to 21st century evangelism.

You can order the book from Amazon here: http://bit.ly/DFD3k

Thanks,
Jon
Download the first chapter (PDF)
Order from Amazon

What others are saying about The Rabbit and the Elephant:

In a time that is crucial, God sent a precious gift to our nation—Tony and Felicity Dale. There are few people I respect and love as much as I do these two. It is my privilege to call them friends and coworkers. Their experience is a prophetic voice to us, and this book gives wings to that voice.

Neil Cole
Author of Organic Church, Search & Rescue, and Organic Leadership

Tony and Felicity Dale ask the right question in this book: why is the church growing in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, while thousands of churches are closing and church attendance is at an all-time low in America and Europe? They ask the question and they tell us the God answer! Don’t miss this book!

Floyd McClung
International director of All Nations

Tony and Felicity Dale have found keys to restoring God’s original purpose for the church. Today’s church is 95 percent tradition and 5 percent truth. What if we could turn these per- centages around? I encourage you to read and reap from The Rabbit and the Elephant.

Sid Roth
Host, It’s Supernatural!

Tony and Felicity Dale are at the forefront of a revolution that is brewing in the body of Christ today. That revolution is marked by a growing number of Christians who are gathering outside the organized church and finding Christ in fresh ways in Christian community. This book will give readers a window into some of the exciting things that are marking this revolution. Among other things, you will discover that Jesus Christ can be profoundly known and expressed outside the typical structures of institutional Christianity in new and simpler forms of church life. Read this book and join a revolution that just might outstrip the Reformation!

Frank Viola
Author of From Eternity to Here, Reimagining Church, and Pagan Christianity? (coauthored with George Barna)

God is shifting the church from church-as-we-know-it to church-as-God-wants-it. Felicity and Tony Dale bring us a thrilling backstage account of how God is restoring divine order in his house. May the spiritual “rabbit plague” they describe here sweep through our post-man-made church world and invite all of us to join the King, Jesus, as he builds his church.

Wolfgang Simson
Author of Houses that Change the World and The Starfish Manifesto

I have read many books on the house church movement, but this one was the most helpful of all! Tony and Felicity Dale have been involved in the house church movement, both in England and in the United States, for many years and bring a wealth of information and practical help in every aspect of house church ministry. The Rabbit and the Elephant will be the first book I will be recommending to those who are led to get involved in simple church.

Robert Fitts
Author of The Church in the House: A Return to Simplicity

Tony and Felicity bring years of global leadership and experience in the simple church movement to this book. They are genuine pioneers of this movement in the West and have visionary insights to off er in this easy-to-read, practical, and big-hearted book. We are grateful for their ministry.

Alan Hirsch
Founding director of shapevine.com and author of The Forgotten Ways

In this new book by Tony and Felicity Dale, “rabbits” are simple churches, and those rabbits are multiplying rapidly! Here you will find quality “rabbit food” in the form of dozens of practical insights wrapped in real-life stories. Tony and Felicity Dale are wise voices speaking into this emerging movement.

John White
Community coach at LK10.com

Clear. Practical. Timely. The contents of this book are praiseworthy, but more importantly the book springs from the lives of a couple who are implementers rather than theoreticians, people who are Kingdom-minded and humble in heart.

Curtis Sergeant
Director of Global Strategies, e3 Partners Ministry

Download the first chapter (PDF)
Order from Amazon

Comment by Lee and Bonnie Davis on May 19, 2009 at 6:29am: Tony and Felicity,

We thank God for you! The first chapter has captured our attention! Your book will be a great blessing and a great tool for this ministry. The Holy Spirit has been redefining for us the true meaning of "church" over the last few years......and some people just don't know what to do with us! HA! God is soooo good. He just continues to amaze us and challenge us to not go along with the "status quo"....church as usual plan! We love it! Keep on doing what you're doing! We love you!

Pioneers for Him in PG County,

Lee and Bonnie Davis

Comment by Sanjay James on May 19, 2009 at 10:31am: Dear Tony and Fellcity,

Greetings,

I wish you for your new book, I hope it will be road map for all church planters.

God bless you,

Sanjay James
Master Researcher,
VISION ministry, Central India

Comment by Victoria on May 22, 2009 at 11:19pm: I just finished The Rabbit and the Elephant; it is what led me to Simplechurch. Very insightful, informative and encouraging. I have a few questions, but I always have a multitude of questions after any book I read!
Couldn't put this book down.

Thanks!

Comment by Lee Smith on June 1, 2009 at 12:41pm: greetings,
I read the first chapter and we are going to order a few to give away and one for us to read...great start lee smith

Comment by Andrew Jones on June 2, 2009 at 3:02am: hope it does well

Comment by Jason Rigby on July 8, 2009 at 7:34pm: I did a book review for Tyndale it is on my blog here:
http://northwestpastorjason.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-review-rabbit-and-elephant-why.html

Comment by Ann & Jim Miesner on July 19, 2009 at 3:08pm: This book has come to us just when we needed it. It is changing our lives from now until Jesus comes. We've struggled in how to get started, yet, now believe we should begin with our grown children and their friends, who live in four places far apart. We always teased them we would spend 3 mo. at each of their houses with a pop up camper in their yard, but now it doesn't seem like a joke. Think I'll order a case of this book to have on hand when needed.

Comment by Marion Clark Ingram on July 31, 2009 at 5:33pm: Bless You, Tony, Felicity, and George. This book is an overview of what I have been doing for over twenty years. It expresses the depth and the breadth of the simple functioning of the Body. I was elated, blessed, and encouraged from chapter to chapter. The "stories" are a wonderful tool, and anyone should be able to duplicate any number of examples shared here.

Next week, I am holding a three-day "conference" with the leaders of three groups that sprouted from my group using "The Rabbit and the Elephant" as our syllabus.

Thank You,
Marion Clark ingram/author
"His Daughters Do Prophesy"
www.PublishAmerica.com
MarionCIngram@aol.com

Comment by Neal Taylor on August 13, 2009 at 12:38am: Tony, Felicity and George - just published a review on my blog Hand to the Plough - http://www.handtotheplough.com.au/2009/08/13/review-the-rabbit-and-the-elephant-why-small-is-the-new-big-for-todays-church/

Also been talking this up to many people here in Australia! God Bless!

Comment by Page Hamilton on October 19, 2009 at 9:45pm: While I think the hearts mean well, the foundational idea of the multiplication drive, to grow the kingdom of God quickly, is flawed and dangerous. It quickly puts you right back into the seat of today's traditional church model, and living a script for which there is "no Holy Spirit required" where it becomes all about what man or woman has the clever ideas to carry the day. This church growth energy is not seen cultivated among the new testament followers. There is no scriptural support for thinking that faith in Christ "should be" happening in people at any particular pace, fast or slow. But it's what the Holy Spirit empowers for any particular time, place, people. It's not so much that we've come to a wrong answer here, but rather a case of asking the wrong question. For example, can you imagine Peter or Paul saying, "how can we get these church groups multiplying faster?" But in the NT we see Christ himself initiating, leading his followers moment by moment. Too often today we are still thinking we need to scheme on how to do his work - watch out that we don't find ourselves beginning in the Spirit and trying to finish in the flesh. There is great danger in the simple church ranks in seeing all that is happening as a "green field" of opportunity to run with our cleverness among ranks used to working with it. When we dig down to the root of that drive, I have found it to be the flesh, not the Lord. We must be wise today so as to truly find and hold the path of the Spirit-led life, dependent upon his moment by moment leading, and not fall into the scripted paths of man's wisdom. The great invitation I see the Lord handing his church today is to give him the reins, let him be the head, no matter the results (in human terms), and no matter how wise or foolish it may seem. We don't find out how he squares up our obedience till the final chapter.

Comment by Cheryel Lemley-McRoy on June 25, 2010 at 11:57am: The reason why Christ's Body is growing so rapidly in third world countries is because she is largely persecuted there. The Church in America has grown fat and drunk with popularity. A brief study of the history of the Christian church over the last two thousand years quickly shows that when the church becomes politically powerful, she soon becomes corrupt and fallen. The Church in America has lost focus on the great commandment to "Go ye" and prefers to attempt to influence government and force morality on unbelievers through legislation. I call these ultra right-wing churches "christianists" They are no different than Islamisists who seek to control all by their religious beliefs. God had a plan to change the world when He said "Go ye and preach, disciple..." He wanted to change the world one heart at a time. Each one of us is responsible to obey this command, not just our preachers and missionaries. The Church in America needs to return to this commission, and become a servant, not a ruler.

Comment by Marco Island Church on July 23, 2010 at 6:07am: Wonder Book and We love the new site. Sharing the Kingdom has now become more Simple. Invite your friends and lets see where God takes us!

Comment by Rev Vijay Raju on March 1, 2011 at 10:21pm: Glory to God for this book, praying that this books will impact many churches to develop Christ-centered leaders in the Church.

Pastor Vijay Raju

Christ Gospel Church

Visakhapatnam

Comment by Luis Yosefus on March 11, 2011 at 4:42am: "Thousands of Christians are now meeting in simple House Churches in the United States. They have “dropped out” of organized religion and prefer to worship God in greater authenticity and simplicity – just like the early Christians did." - Pastor Luis Yosefus, www.RealJesus.net