Thom S. Rainer

Latest

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  Jul 29, 2017

  7 Dangers in the Last Few Years of Your Ministry

  I am assuming I have a few more years left in ministry. And this point in my life is both a time of reflection and looking forward. To be clear, I want to avoid seven dangers in my last years of ministry.

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  Jul 27, 2017

  7 Reasons Why Some Churches Should Consider Being Acquired

  This post is not about a pleasant topic. It's about churches that have declined to the point where their near term future is in doubt.

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  Jul 22, 2017

  10 Roadblocks to Church Revitalization

  Two-thirds of our churches are plateaued or declining. Since so many of our churches are in need of revitalization, let's begin by seeing what roadblocks hinder turnarounds.

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  Jul 19, 2017

  7 Costs to Being an Evangelistic Leader in Your Church

  The topic of evangelism has grown strangely quiet in many churches. Pastors are not talking about it. Other church leaders aren't talking about it. Members aren't talking about it.

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  Jul 15, 2017

  5 Sobering Realities About Evangelism in Our Churches

  Growing churches are growing largely by transfer growth. Most of them are not reaching people with the gospel. They are growing at the expense of other churches.

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  Jul 12, 2017

  5 Surprising Discoveries About Growing Churches

  Let's take a few moments and look at the churches whose average worship attendance grew from 2013 to 2016. Here are five of the surprising discoveries from this research.

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  Jul 8, 2017

  Is There a Church Death Spiral?

  I am troubled by one major aspect of the research we just conducted. If your church has fewer than 100 in worship, it is likely to be a declining church.

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  Jul 6, 2017

  Dispelling the 80 Percent Myth of Declining Churches

  Have you ever heard, "80 percent of churches are either plateaued or declining"? I have. It's wrong. Here are the results of our research.

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  Jul 2, 2017

  5 Terrible Reasons to Enter Vocational Ministry

  I've seen too many people in vocational ministry fail to launch. Perhaps "launch" is not the best term, because they may stay in ministry for many years. But they never seem to do well.

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  Jun 30, 2017

  5 Overcorrection Mistakes Churches Make

  The pendulum swings in churches. The congregation does not like a previous direction, so they overcompensate with the next move they make.