This simple request, consisting of two words, an adjective and a verb, has it all. First of all, it is ambiguous: If the tone is more on “simple”, then we have to admit that almost nothing is easy in Germany: Neither the tax return nor the driver’s license theory, almost nothing is – as they say “quite easy”, “conceivable”. simply”. Digitization makes some things more accessible for younger people and almost inaccessible for older people.

But we put the sound on “do”. “Just do it” then means: Don’t waste your time with steep theories for too long, but aim for a starting point and then get started. “Just do it” is then the opposite of “putting it off”, weighing things up forever and, above all, considering what could speak against a decision that has been made.

In the 1970s there was a somewhat clumsy tract depicting a life film: The first picture showed a baby with the title “too young -“, then a small child with “too playful -“, then a teenager with “too in love -” , then a family with “too busy -“, at the end a coffin with “too late – to think of God”. It’s true, there will always be something in our lives that wants to push itself to the fore and push even impressions that are burning in our hearts to the background.

In 2005 a large Willow Creek Congress took place in Stuttgart in the Schleyerhalle. I don’t like big events and didn’t sign up even though I could have walked from the vicarage. A year before the start, the organizers called me to ask whether a pre-conference for pastors with the speaker of the congress could take place in my church. I agreed, and so it was that I got a home church building talk and was able to spend a lot of time during the breaks with Pastor Gordon MacDonald from New York. He reported on the most diverse situations of his church work. He said to me in no uncertain terms: if I were young again and could start from scratch, there is one thing I would do differently: I would no longer let myself be held up and slowed down by people who reject change and who always raise concerns. His eyes lit up as he recounted steps where he had the courage to “just do it” even though success wasn’t guaranteed and setbacks could happen. I felt it was a gift that I received personal encouragement from the speaker, even though I wasn’t registered for the congress.

As a young vicar, I asked my supervisor if I should consult the church leadership first on something I wanted to try. He said, “You better not do that. Up there is a collection of skeptics who above all know why something doesn’t work!” He himself had started many unusual projects, e.g. an exemplary diaconal work to open up new ways for the homeless, which found imitators nationwide.

What am I shaped by? Do I hear the voices of the doubters and those who always know everything better and, above all, why something won’t work? For us, making it simple can mean not first following our concerns, but trying out things happily, not starting rashly without reason, but also not just “with a network and double security”.

As a pastor, I always visit old, sick and dying people who look back on their lives. I don’t remember that anyone I spoke to regretted having tried something for themselves, having undertaken a journey, having dared a new beginning. Many have only discovered their own gifts in completely new contexts, which they would not have suspected without courageous steps. I’ve often heard women say, “If I could turn back time, I would take bolder steps to change…”

Just do it! is the advertising slogan of the sports article brand Nike. He wants to encourage people to dare to try something new in a sporty way. However, the statement comes from a macabre context: It was the last request made by a multiple murderer in the USA to the prison officers at his execution, which the copywriter later overheard. Our motto, make it simple, on the other hand, gets its dynamic from God’s Word: A contact mission pioneer used to say: Christians should burn, not smoke! He was alluding to Romans 12:11: Do not be lazy in what you ought to do. Be burning in spirit. Serve the Lord!

In Greek there is the concept of kairos. In contrast to the long period of time (chronos”), this means the unique, the favorable opportunity to do something. Sometimes we feel that too and say: “Now or never!”.

When Philip had explained the gospel to the eunuch, the latter said with great determination: Behold, water! What prevents me from being baptized?

Objections immediately pop up for me: Uh, after a conversation? Will he have a good church? Who does the follow-up work…?

But I like the uncomplicated action of faith. He decides to follow Jesus and gives visible expression to his decision. What’s stopping you? Nothing!

What prevents us? Nothing! Just do it!

Albrecht Hoch
1. Chairman of Kontaktmission e.V.,
Pastor of the Heilandsgemeinde Stuttgart Berg