Thom S. Rainer

Thom S. Rainer

Op-ed Contributor

Latest

  • 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.

  • 5 trending developments on sermon length

    5 trending developments on sermon length

    One thing is for certain regarding the proclamation of God’s Word: preaching is still primary for both pastors and church members.

  • 7 massive changes where churches must respond

    7 massive changes where churches must respond

    These seven massive changes are dramatically shaping our churches today.

Most Popular

MUST READ