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We Didn’t Mean That Kind of Change

(Book Review of “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” part 4. Part 1 and Part 2  and Part 3)

Continued review/critique of Autopsy of a Deceased Church.

Chapter 8: Pastoral Tenure Decreases

Thom Rainer has written about the tenure of pastors for many years. He has studied, contemplated and written about this critical issue with integrity. I’ve read many things he has to say about this and agree with his assessments.

Rainer identifies stages and characteristics as he reports from the autopsy table.

  • Year 1: Honeymoon – here, Rainer talks about the adjustments of both pastor and church in getting to know each other. I personally have never like the term ‘honeymoon’, but I understand what it communicates. Marriage is a life long commitment, until death. I don’t like the use of it because it cheapens language we use to describe marriage. I would prefer a term like ‘start-up’ or ‘adjustment’ stage. However, I agree with his assessment of that new day era. He does report that he season does not usually last long. Where the church was excited about ‘change’ they didn’t mean that kind of change.
  • Years 2 and 3: Conflicts and Challenges – because no pastor is perfect and no church is perfect all parties discover imperfections quickly. It is in this stage that most problematic churches and pastors decide to part ways, either kindly or with great disruption.
  • Years 4 and 5: Crossroads, Part 1 – Rainer calls this among the most critical days in the relationship of pastor and church. Both have to either agree to part ways or come to an agreed upon conclusion that both are satisfied to stay the course.
  • Years 6-10: Fruit and Harvest – He concludes that his research is not complete but he argues that these are some of the best years in the relationship. Both can trust each other and love each other more deeply.
  • Years 11 and beyond: Crossroads, Part 2 – Here again, Rainer admits that his research is incomplete in that he sees in this stage the pastor either goes through a ‘reinvigorated’ vision or becomes complacent.

Apparently most churches and pastors rarely get past stage 2 (2-3 years) and it is a cycle repeating itself again and again and again until the church finally dies.

Personal evaluation: I’m in that rare place of being in the last stage of his examination. I could see that his observation of the stages are fairly accurate. The timing was slightly different for me in some of the stages but as a whole, it seems to be a representation of my experience here. I don’t think my church is interested in coasting along. I don’t want to be blind and ignore to potential pitfalls of being in a place this long.

I pray for a day of wide spread revival. I also know that the effect of revival may be an outbreak of awakening. This chapter had a soberness to it for me in that I appear to be in a critical stage in the life of the church I pastor. I’ve weighed the report from the autopsy room and head the warning of the report with interest.

Chapter 9: The Church Rarely Prayed Together

I was glad to see this chapter here. Rainer did a good job on this matter. He posted some questions he’s asked churches before and offered responses that gave helpful evaluation of the condition.

“Did the church members pray together?” I’m sure most churches would answer this with a “yes, of course we prayed together.”

Probing deeper to answers like that must be made, and he did.

“Describe your prayer times.” This is where the discovery and revelation to the first question came.

His description of these prayer meetings are likely fairly common across the landscape of the church. A list was presented to those present and someone prayed for all those on the list and then they went home.

This may describe many prayer meetings, but his probing deeper was looking for meaningful prayer meetings. A meeting that is more ritual or routine can hardly be described as meaningful. Praying only for the sick grows weary.

Rainer is correct, “when the church is engaged in meaningful prayer, it becomes both the cause and the result of greater church health.

I still want better definition. The word ‘meaningful’ is subjective. Is prayer looked at by the church the same way the bible describes it. Would anyone in Twin Falls know where to send someone if they were asked where a church gathers for prayer?

The New Testament does give a good example of this and Rainer does refer to Acts 2:42 “and they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.” This is not a book on prayer, so I go easy on him here.

“Prayer was serious stuff for a serious group of people. Prayer was the lifeblood of the early church.”

When a church stops praying with an urgency for the aid of the Holy Spirit to fall upon them, then the church is in dire trouble.

Oh, Lord, teach me to pray.

Chapter 10: The Church Had No Clear Purpose

Where it is true that purpose is critical. Purpose is a buzz word that can be misleading. I appreciate that Rainer wasn’t advocating that a church ought to discover her unique purpose or niche in the church market. The church must have a biblical purpose. A gospel partnership linked to the marching orders of that first church era. Not one encouraged to find herself or find her voice in the sea of others. Rainer did good to clarify the clear purpose a church must have must be a biblical purpose.

The church has no reason to define herself as anything other than the bride of Christ. And that is clearly shown to us in Scripture. Yes, I see that a church in Twin Falls, Idaho will look somewhat different than a church in New York City or Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. But the church must know her clear purpose or she’ll try to identify herself in some niche way that limits her global scope.

Chapter 11: The Church Obsessed Over the Facilities

Oh, this is touchy territory. Rainer was good to go here. The dreaded ‘memorial’ funds or ‘memorial’ furniture, flowers, trees, etc…

In this short chapter the reader gets a close look at the reality of the autopsy. It’s ugly here.

Church fights over stained glass windows, pews, draperies, paint color, carpet color, sound systems, and more. “Dying churches, more often than not, experience severe battles over facility obsession before her demise.

This exposes severe problems, doesn’t it. It exposes not a need for change, but repentance. Anytime a person or church puts focus on a material matter above spiritual matters and unity, she is in serious danger of dying soon. A focus on things and not repenting of this sin finds the church with one foot in the grave I suppose.

There must be hope. The good news is, that’s the next focus on the remaining fourth of the book. The book is only 102 pages long. Rainer devoted 82 of these short pages to the autopsy room. The word count of my review/critique may be more than the entire book.

As a whole I was pleased and thankful for his assessment. Where I took issue with a few matters of semantics, I agree largely with his autopsy report. I would recommend any church read it. I’m most curious for the final push, the conclusion; Is There Hope for the Dying Church? Twelve Responses.

Follow the Money

(Book Review of “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” part 3. Part 1 and Part 2)

Chapter 5: The Budget Moved Inwardly

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

When the autopsy shows  a drifting of spending from giving to self sustaining then this can be a helpful diagnosis of when a church should hear the warning.

I’m not one to say that financial tightness is necessarily an unhealthy state or that financial liberty is a reflection of  health. But I do think there are things to discover in the financial money trail that a church should pay attention to.

Chapter 6: The Great Commission Becomes the Great Omission

“Thriving churches have the Great Commission as the center piece of their vision…”

I agree with Rainer’s autopsy report here on this matter; however, I wish the standard for words were more consistent.

Words like “thriving”.

What does a “thriving church look like? I realize I may be moving where Rainer had no intention for the discussion to go, but this is where a lot of breakdown happens for me and I start getting nervous with a church growth/health book.

I visited a church in a neighboring state recently on my way to visit my parents. It was a Wednesday night. I had looked up online to make sure this church had a mid week bible study or prayer time, sure enough it was posted on the churches website that they began at 6:30 p.m. When I arrived in the parking lot I could not believe how full, even packed the parking lot was. I thought, “wow, I didn’t know churches still had this kind of attendance on Wednesday nights.”

The next 45 minutes was among the most awkward moments I had in a church in recent years.

There was activity everywhere. And yet no one seemed to know where the adult bible study/prayer gathering was. I was ushered around the building buzzing (maybe thriving) with activity. But still no one could find the room, or the leader, of the adult bible study/prayer gathering. Eventually, I was left, alone, in the room where they thought the gathering took place. For the remainder of the time I sat in the room, alone.

Would that church be called a “Thriving church”? Likely even placed in front of other churches as a leading church. What about the church that has a small band of faithful, praying every week for their city, community, nation and the nations of the world? Would that nearly empty parking lot prove a “dying” prognosis?

This is why I wish greater care was given to ‘buzz words’ or language that pastors and church leaders get so quickly derailed on. And I, admittedly, get lost with. I was able to curb my frustration with the one-word hang up to hear Rainer’s autopsy report clearly. Maybe even helping me remember that “thriving” activity doesn’t necessarily mean Great Commission work is happening.

This was a good chapter, even with my hang up on the word “thriving”.

Chapter 7: The Preference-Driven Church

Rainer explains some of the horror of what happens when preference is placed above submission to Christ.

I’ve heard this kind of story over and over and over. I’ve even lived through some of these nightmarish congregational meetings where individuals put their preference out as if a style of music is what is worshiped here, time of the meeting takes place, what translation of the bible belongs in the pews, to build debt free or go into debt, brick exterior or siding…

This autopsy report is ugly, it’s like a cancer.

It’s more than just the “old guard” wanting to hang on to the memories of a nostalgic day of the past. It’s as much the cancer of wanting something new and fresh.

Right now Rainer is only giving the autopsy report, I’ll hope when he gets to the response portion of the book he’ll be talking about the need for not only individual repentance, but corporate repentance as a solution for the selfish, sinful behavior we all have tendency for.

I’m holding out hope.

I’m past the halfway point of this short read. My halftime assessment is still positive. I think it is a good book and to be as fair as possible to Thom Rainer, I think this book does have helpful and healthy reports from the autopsy table of the deceased church.

 

 

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