Thom S. Rainer

Latest

• 
  Oct 2, 2015

  7 Internal Barriers to Church Growth

  There is rarely a simple explanation for the decline of a church. It is often a complex mix of cultural, theological, attitudinal, and internal issues. In this article, I address the latter issue.

• 
  Sep 27, 2015

  20 More Really Weird Things Said to Pastors

  If you get a group of pastors and church staff together, you will inevitably hear some pretty unusual comments they received from church members. So I did an informal Twitter poll to get some of these comments in writing.

• 
  Sep 24, 2015

  5 Problems With Church Committees

  At some point in my ministry, I became allergic to committee meetings. I realized I was spending a lot of time in those meetings that could be used for productive ministry.

• 
  Sep 20, 2015

  What If I Could Only Have 25 Books in My Minister's Library?

  I recently gave away thousands of my books in my library. I only have a few left. In the exercise of deciding which few books I would keep, I asked myself a hypothetical question: What if could keep only 25 of the books?

• 
  Sep 13, 2015

  25 Really Weird Things Said to Pastors

  Few people are truly aware of the constant requests, complaints, and criticisms pastors and other church leaders receive. I must admit, however, I was surprised when I asked church leaders on Twitter to share some of the more unusual comments they have received.

• 
  Sep 6, 2015

  7 Steps Churches Are Taking to Replace the Stand-And-Greet Time

  I would have never expected the response to a topic that seemed so innocuous. On this blog many people were very vocal that they really didn't like the stand-and-greet time during the worship services.

• 
  Sep 3, 2015

  6 Reasons Leading Your Church to Growth Is More Difficult Today

  Growth is indeed more difficult today in American congregations. And there are some clear reasons why this reality is true.

• 
  Jun 14, 2015

  5 Types of Change Resistant Churches

  One of the more frequent questions I get is somewhat related to leading change in the church. The expressions of frustrations are often the result of different expectations. For example, a pastor search committee may tell a pastoral candidate they want to see change in the church. But their understanding of the level of change is far different than the perception of the candidate.

• 
  Jun 12, 2015

  7 Factors That Stop Momentum in a Church

  I will then ask the obvious question: "What happened?" My question is straightforward because I know most church leaders will identify a singular event that precipitated the momentum reversal. In this article, I identify seven of the most common "momentum stoppers."

• 
  Jun 11, 2015

  11 Things Pastors Need to Know Their Spouses Are Thinking

  Many of the comments I have received have been shared in anonymity, and I certainly understand the need to keep names confidential. But the comments are real and verbatim. And many times I can feel the hopes and hurts that come with these comments. Here are the eleven most frequent thoughts from pastors' spouses: