Seven Reasons Churches Should Merge
by: Thom Rainer
The difficult conversation when your church has declined to the point where its near term future is in doubt.
ABOUT 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.
Simple Steps to Social Media Success
by: Thom Rainer
Social media customer service tips applicable and translatable to local churches.
7 Ways to Make Sure Your Guests Have the Best Experience Possible
by: Thom Rainer
What churches can do so that guests can have the best experience possible.
The Danger of Seeking Stability
by: Thom Rainer
Five key reasons why stability is bad for a church.
Eight Reasons You Are Wasting Your Resources
by: Thom Rainer
We are wasting too much time, energy, and money in our churches doing more things and becoming less effective.
Five Challenges to Healthy Church Growth
by: Thom Rainer
Most churches keep doing what they’ve always done. As a consequence, they are reaching fewer. They are declining. How can they have healthy church growth?
Are These Offertory Trends Taking Place at Your Church?
by: Thom Rainer
Seven subtle but noticeable offertory trends developing in today’s worship services.
5 Dangers of Unaligned Small Groups
by: Thom Rainer
Five dangers of an unaligned “anything goes” approach to your small group process.
Seven Commitments to Refocus Your Leadership
by: Thom Rainer
Leaders, ask God for the wisdom, strength, and perseverance to move these commitments of refocus to reality.
Five Common Mistakes Made by Leaders When They Speak
by: Thom Rainer
Attention, Awareness, Communication Mistakes, Mistakes, Thom Rainer
Here are five of the more common communication mistakes made by leaders when they speak.
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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.
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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.
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Amen!!
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