Nashville, Tennessee
12 WAYS TO KEEP YOURS ALIVE
Thom S. Rainer
Autopsy
of a
Deceased
Church
Copyright © 2014 by Thom S. Rainer
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
978-1-4336-8392-3
Published by B&H Publishing Group
Nashville, Tennessee
Dewey Decimal Classification: 262
Subject Heading: CHURCH \ CHURCH RENEWAL \
LEADERSHIP
All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian
Standard Bible (HCSB) Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003,
2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 • 18 17 16 15 14
To
My Grandchildren
Canon Rainer
Maggie Rainer
Nathaniel Rainer
Will Rainer
Harper Rainer
Bren Rainer
Joshua Rainer
With many more surely to follow
And always to
Nellie Jo
“Jo Jo” to our grandchildren
vii
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Part 1: The Autopsy
CHAPTER Introduction 3
CHAPTER Slow Erosion 11
CHAPTER The Past Is the Hero 17
CHAPTER The Church Refused to Look Like
the Community 25
CHAPTER The Budget Moved Inwardly 31
CHAPTER The Great Commission Becomes
the Great Omission 39
CHAPTER The Preference-Driven Church 47
CHAPTER Pastoral Tenure Decreases 55
CHAPTER The Church Rarely Prayed Together 63
CHAPTER The Church Had No Clear Purpose 71
CHAPTER The Church Obsessed Over the Facilities 77
vii i AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH
Part 2: Is There Hope for the Dying Church?
Twelve Responses
CHAPTER My Church Has Symptoms of Sickness:
Four Responses 85
CHAPTER My Church Is Very Sick: Four Responses 91
CHAPTER My Church Is Dying: Four Responses 97
ix
Acknowledgments
I never expected to write a book about death, whether the
subject would be the death of humans or the death of
churches. I am hopeful and optimistic by nature. Death and
dying, frankly, are subjects I would rather avoid.
But then I wrote a post called “Autopsy of a Deceased
Church” on my blog at www.ThomRainer.com. I was amazed
at the response. It became and still is my most viewed post.
Even months later, people still read that article daily. I knew I
had struck a chord.
I first express appreciation to the community of readers at
my blog. I know some of you by name, but with millions of
viewers a year, I can’t know all of you. Thank you, every one of
you, for taking time to read what I write. I am still amazed that
anyone wants to read my works.
I owe a great deal of appreciation to the B&H team, one
of the most capable and excellent teams in publishing today. I
wish I could name each of you individually. Thank you Jennifer
Lyell and Devin Maddox. You are superb editors, dynamic
x AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH
leaders, and persistent encouragers. And thanks to the two
top leaders of B&H: Selma Wilson and Cossy Pachares. You
have taken a sleeping giant and turned it into a mighty force in
Christian publishing.
There are no words adequate to thank “Team Rainer” in
the president’s office. I love having “A” players on my team.
I am blessed to have three “A+” players: Amy Jordan, Amy
Thompson, and Jonathan Howe. They are the brains and
hearts behind my social media, my organizational life, and all
that I write. Thank you, team.
If you know me at all, you know I love my family. I love
my wife, Nellie Jo. I love my sons, Sam, Art, and Jess. I love my
daughters-in-law, Erin, Sarah, and Rachel. And I love my seven
grandchildren whose names are at the forefront on the dedication
page. I fully expect more grandchildren will be on the way
by the time this book is published. No pressure.
Though I stand amazed that any of you readers would
actually read my publications, I thank you for it. And though I
don’t know what expectations, hopes, or burdens you bring to
the reading of this book, I pray God will use it greatly for you
and your congregations.
Ultimately, my greatest gratitude goes to my Lord. This
book is about His church. He cares about His church. He loves
His church. I pray that my simple words will be used in some
small way to help His churches in His power and strength. And
if this tome is used in such a way, I know where the credit will
go and to Whom the glory belongs.
PART 1
The Autopsy
3
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
I knew the patient before she died.
It was ten years ago. She was very sick at the time, but
she did not want to admit it.
There was only a glimmer of hope at best. But that hope
could become a reality only with radical change. She wasn’t
nearly ready for that change. Indeed, she was highly resistant to
any change. Even though she was very sick.
Even though she was dying.
I told her the bad news bluntly: You are dying. I hope I said
those words with some compassion. I did feel badly sharing the
news. But it was the only way I could see to get her attention.
I even told her that, at best, she had five years to live. At the
time I said those words, I don’t really think I was that optimistic.
I would not have been surprised if she died within the year.
4 AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH
But she was not only in denial; she was in angry denial.
“I’ll show you,” she said. “I’ll prove you are wrong. I am
not dying.”
Her words were fierce. Defiant. Angry.
It was time for me to leave. I had done all I could.
I left.
I was not angry. I was sad. Very sad.
Now to her credit, she was right up to a point. She did not
die in five years. She proved resilient and survived another ten
years. But her last decade, though she was technically alive, was
filled with pain, sickness, and despair.
I’m not so sure her longer-term survival was a good thing.
She never got better. She slowly and painfully deteriorated.
And then she died.
The Autopsy
She, of course, is a church. A real church. A church in the
Midwest.
A church that was probably born out of vision.
A church that died because she no longer had a vision.
I was the church’s consultant over a decade ago. The church
had reached its peak attendance many years earlier. The worship
attendance of 750 in 1975 took place during “the good old
days.” We’ll talk about those days shortly.
INTRODUCTION 5
By the time I arrived, the attendance had fallen to an average
of eighty-three. The large sanctuary seemed to swallow the
small crowd on Sunday morning.
The reality was that most of the members did not want
me there. They were not about to pay a consultant to tell them
what they refused to hear. Only when a benevolent member
offered to foot my entire bill did the congregation grudgingly
agree to retain me.
I worked with the church for three weeks. The problems
were obvious. The solutions were difficult.
On my last day the benefactor walked me to my rental
car. “What do you think, Thom?” he asked. He could see the
uncertainty in my expression, so he clarified. “How long can
our church survive?” That was the moment I gave my foreboding
declaration of five years at most.
Of course, I was wrong on the exact number of years. The
church has only recently closed. Like many dying churches, it
held on to life tenaciously. The church lasted ten years after my
declaration of a terminal diagnosis.
My friend from that church called me a week after the
church officially closed its doors. We talked for over an hour. I
took no pleasure in discovering that my diagnosis was correct.
Together, my friend and I reviewed the past ten or more years.
We were able to piece together a fairly accurate autopsy.
We learned with even more clarity why the church died.
We performed an autopsy.
6 AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH
It was not fun, but we thought it was necessary.
Why Go Through the Pain?
My sister died before I was born. I only recently learned
that my father convinced the attending doctor to perform an
autopsy, and that he convinced the doctor to let him be in the
room while the autopsy was performed. My grieving father had
to know why his beloved Amy died. He had to know why her
little heart had failed.
He had to know. He just had to know.
Why should I take you through the pain of discovering
why churches die?
Because we need to know.
Autopsies are performed on humans to find out why they
died. The discoveries might give surviving family members
information they need to avoid the same path as their loved one.
Sometimes a forensic pathologist performs an autopsy to
discover how a murder was committed, or how an accident happened.
The information is always useful. It sometimes brings
people to justice.
But that does not mean autopsies are pleasant.
I plan to take you through the results of fourteen church
autopsies. I won’t bore you with a church-by-church report
because there is much redundancy. I will instead summarize my
findings of all the deceased churches.
INTRODUCTION 7
I owe much gratitude to those who talked with me freely
and openly, those who performed the autopsies with me. Each
of them was a member of a church that was once alive, but now
is dead. Each of them went through the pain of an autopsy
with me.
The churches are diverse in their denominational or nondenominational
backgrounds. They are diverse in their locations.
They are diverse in their local and regional demographics.
But they are all similar in one significant way: they followed
paths that caused them to die.
Jesus told Peter that the Church will never die: “And I also
say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My
church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it” (Matt.
16:18). Indeed the Church will never die. But churches have
and are dying.
It is my prayer that these autopsies, though painful to
watch, will prove helpful to leaders and laity of churches today.
As many as 100,0001 churches in America are showing signs of
decline toward death.
May God give us the courage to make the changes necessary
to give new life to our churches.
The Prayerful Commitment
In every chapter, you will be asked a simple question: “Will
you make a prayerful commitment?”
8 AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH
The commitment is really between you and God. Perhaps
God will raise up an army of church members who are no longer
satisfied with business as usual.
The trauma of observing an autopsy is only beneficial if it
is received as a warning to the living. This book is not about
dwelling on the past, but bearing fruit in the future. The prayer
commitment in each chapter is a positive challenge to take the
hill, so to speak, where others may have failed. The commitments
are vital in this book. Because if we heed the warnings
of the autopsy, we stand to benefit far greater than we could
otherwise imagine.
Prayerful Commitment 1
God, open my eyes that I might see my church as You
see it. Let me see where change needs to take place,
even if it is painful to me. And use me, I pray, to be
an instrument of that change whatever the cost.
INTRODUCTION 9
Questions for Further Thought
1. If your church was given a “physical exam” today, what
do you think the doctor’s diagnosis would be: healthy, slightly
sick, very sick, or dying? Why?
2. Why do many church members in dying churches refuse
to see the decline in the health of the church?
3. Explain how churches can die in the context of Matthew
16:18, which says Hades will not prevail.
Note
1. This number is based on the foundational research for my book
Breakout Churches.
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