Thom S. Rainer

Latest

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  Feb 9, 2014

  7 Reasons Very Active Church Members Drop Out

  During my 25 plus years of church consultations, I have interviewed a number of these active-to-inactive persons. Most of them shared freely and openly with me what took place in their lives, and how it impacted their ultimate decision to stop attending church.

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  Feb 7, 2014

  7 Observations on Church Discipline

  Yet the topic of church discipline seems to be primarily reserved for the theologians and a few pastors. Those of us who write about practical ministry and church health rarely mention this topic, even though it is a clear biblical practice. Allow me to note seven observations about church discipline.

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  Feb 5, 2014

  10 Common Topics of Church Member Arguments

  For many years I served as a consultant to churches and denominations, a role I relinquished when I became president of LifeWay over eight years ago. Part of our consultative process was interviewing church members. Inevitably I would hear issues of concern and issues among church members over which arguments took place.

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  Feb 3, 2014

  11 Reasons Pastors Are Trusted Less Today

  Why are pastors no longer held in high esteem? What is behind the precipitous drop in favorable ratings almost every year? Allow me to offer eleven possible reasons. As you will see, they are not mutually exclusive.

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  Jan 31, 2014

  7 Paradigm Shifts in American Churches

  I know I'm not smart enough to have predicted all of these major changes in churches the past decade or so. The changes have been profound in many churches, and they seem to be lasting changes. For clarity, please understand I am not making qualitative assessments of these paradigm shifts; I am merely noting them. And I understand fully that all of them are not operational in all churches. Nevertheless, they are pervasive on the congregational landscape of American.

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  Jan 30, 2014

  11 Things I Learned from Pastors' Wives

  Several months ago, I wrote a post about pastors' wives. The responses and comments were numerous and incredible. One of the greatest blessings about this blog for me is how much I learn from others. As I read the comments and the interactions, I came away with a greater appreciation for pastors' wives, as well as a greater concern for these ladies. I have attempted to summarize the primary issues the pastors' wives discussed. I am sure I've missed something. For now, here are eleven things I

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  Jan 18, 2014

  14 Sentences That Brought Joy to Pastors

  I just received a letter from a delightful lady. She was a member of a church where I was ordained in the ministry. What I remember most about her was the way she offered encouragement to the pastors of that church. The letter reminded me of so many good laypersons who served sacrificially in churches where I have been. With that in mind, I asked several pastors to recall something very positive said to them by church members. I asked them to try to summarize it in one sentence. Though I should

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  Jan 15, 2014

  An Open Letter to My Denomination: Have We Lost Our First Love?

  Dear Southern Baptists: Please hear me clearly. I am not writing out of any sense of superiority. Indeed, many of you could put me to shame. But my heart is breaking with what I perceive to be a loss of passion for those who do not know Christ. Many of you have seen the numbers. We are reaching fewer people for the gospel today than we did decades ago when we were a much smaller group.

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  Jan 11, 2014

  7 Things We Learned From Pastors' Kids

  It was not the response to a blog post I expected. Back in June of 2013, I wrote a post speaking on behalf of pastors for their kids. I summarized seven major things pastors wanted you to know about their children. The article had a big response when it was first posted. But, for reasons I have not completely fathomed, the post went viral a few weeks ago. Now almost 200,000 views and hundreds of comments later, we can see a pretty clear picture.

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  Jan 6, 2014

  14 Predictions for American Churches for 2014 (Part 2)

  The order of the trends is random. They are not ranked in any particular priority. On Wednesday, I shared the first seven predictions. I conclude today with the final seven.