ABOUT THOM RAINER

Thom Rainer
Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers, an online community and resource for church leaders. Prior to founding Church Answers, Rainer served as president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Before coming to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

How Long is Too Long? 5 New Sermon Length Trends

Pastors, what is your typical sermon length? Has it changed over the course of your ministry?

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The Great Commission Is Not Great Numbers

We need all churches. All sizes of churches. We need more churches. It’s not either/or. It’s both/and. a debate on church size bears no good fruit.

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10 Ideas About Church in Ten Years

Some outliers and trends are pointing us toward some key directions for the church in the next ten years.

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The Real Reasons Your Search Process is Taking Too Long

All things considered, more and more churches are struggling because they are going longer periods of time without a pastor.

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This is the Most Toxic Threat a Church Member Will Make

One of the most toxic statements a church member or group of church members can make is, “We pay the bills at this church.”

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7 Traits of Increasingly Generous Churches

Generous churches with increased giving per member have seven dominant characteristics.

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Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you Ed for sharing your insights into the Church Growth Movement. I have my reservations with Church Growth models because it has done more damage than good in the Body of Christ. Over the years, western churches are more focused on results, formulas and processes with little or no emphasis on membership and church discipline. Pastors and vocational leaders are burnt out because they're overworked. I do believe that the Church Growth model is a catalyst to two destructive groups: The New Apostolic Reformation and the Emerging Church. Both groups overlap and have a very loose definition. They're both focus on contemporary worship, expansion of church brand (franchising), and mobilizing volunteering members as 'leaders' to grow their ministry. Little focus on biblical study, apologetics and genuine missional work with no agenda besides preaching of the gospel.
 
— Dave
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.