Thom S. Rainer

Thom S. Rainer

Op-ed Contributor

Latest

  • The big surprise of 'Simple Church'

    The big surprise of 'Simple Church'

    It has been 15 years since a young doctoral student named Eric Geiger came into my office to share with me his research on churches that had clearly defined processes of discipleship. I saw his genius in those early years and was eager to put my name on a book reflecting his insights.

  • 5 reasons your church's giving may have dropped significantly this year

    5 reasons your church's giving may have dropped significantly this year

    What are some possible reasons church giving can take a seemingly dramatic turn downward? As we work with churches, we often see these five reasons.

  • 3 sentences pastors hate to hear

    3 sentences pastors hate to hear

    The most common place pastors hear one of these three sentences is right before they preach or right after they preach.

  • 6 lessons from retiring pastors

    6 lessons from retiring pastors

    Rarely a week goes by that I don’t hear from Boomer pastors who just retired, are considering retirement, or wish they could retire. I am listening carefully. And I am learning a lot as I listen. Most of it is not very encouraging.

  • Is your church driving away guests?

    Is your church driving away guests?

    We want people to visit our churches. We want them to return so they can have multiple opportunities to hear the Gospel and connect with believers. But many do not return.

  • The biggest demographic churches are missing

    The biggest demographic churches are missing

    While I would not advocate abandoning Sunday worship, I wonder why so few churches offer a non-Sunday alternative. There is a huge demographic we are missing: those working on the weekends.

  • 5 trends of retiring Baby Boomer pastors

    5 trends of retiring Baby Boomer pastors

    We recently asked a number of retired or retiring Boomer pastors what they planned to do in their next stage of life. We received five common responses among them:

  • Who should select the church staff?

    Who should select the church staff?

    It is both a question and a frustration. The question is often stated as the title of this post: Who should select the church staff?

  • 10 surprising questions church leaders are asking

    10 surprising questions church leaders are asking

    Because we have such a large sample of church leaders, I want you, the readers of this blog, to have an inside view of some of the questions we get.

  • How do you explain why church members left?

    How do you explain why church members left?

    Pastors are usually hurt when a member decides to leave the church. Sometimes the pain is deep. It feels personal.