[English Disciple 1 - Monday] Book Reports on "Autopsy of a Deceased Church" and "Anatomy of a Revived Church" (2) > 제자학교

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Thom Rainer Book Report

Kris Kim

Reading Autopsy of a Deceased Church makes me reflect critically on our own church—especially our EM ministry (mainly Agape)—and how we can grow into a healthier body of Christ. What shocked me most was how slowly the decline happened in those deceased churches, so gradually and subtly that members barely noticed what was happening.

The book also challenged us to have the courage to examine our church honestly and to be willing to make necessary changes and I was compelled that is what we need in our ministry.

One area that feels like a significant hurdle for our church is what Chapter 4 discusses: the church no longer resembling its community. When we go to Living Water, most of the people we share the gospel with are Hispanic, yet we have no space to invite them in, nor do we have connections to Hispanic churches to help refer or support them. However, even in this challenge, I feel hopeful because our church has made genuine efforts to welcome our neighbors through the recent Fall Festival and Awana. Perhaps we can build on this and make more intentional efforts to integrate the community that surrounds our church.

Another point that stood out is the importance of having a clear vision, one that is communicated to every member and reflected in everything we do as a church. If we are truly “bearers of the good news of Jesus Christ,” then our ministries, priorities, and actions should align with the Great Commission, yet I feel that is what is lacking most in Agape.

Ultimately, I ask myself what I can do to help turn our church around and stop it from declining in health and move forward? Instead of wishing the church would do this or that, I can begin with myself. I can choose to be that welcoming presence. I can embrace a clear vision for the church and apply the Great Commission in my spiritual walk.

In Anatomy of a Revived Church, the line that impacted me most was: “The revitalization began with prayer.” That’s right.  We can begin with the power of prayer. Not by our own effort, but by the Holy Spirit, through prayer, we can turn around our church.

A church can change. A church can turn around, and that renewal begins with me.

Reflections on Accepting Responsibility 

by TJ Kim

There were so many useful insights in both books by Thom Rainer, but if I had to pick my favorite chapter it would be Chapter 1 of the Anatomy of a Revived Church: Accepting Responsibility. Rainer said that “church leaders and members who refuse to accept their God-given responsibility to reach and minister both inside and outside the walls of the church buildings are on a clear path to decline and likely death.” Churches are not perfect, and I love NCBC, but it is not a perfect church. It’s so easy for anyone to blame other people or external factors for the flaws and problems that we see in our church. However, the root cause of these flaws is often the members of the church, starting with me. During my time at NCBC, God has given me grace and shown me what accepting responsibility means.

CONVICTION and REPENTANCE

I still remember reading a devotional on 1 Corinthians 12:27, which says “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” The scary fact was that many churches are closing because their members are unwilling to serve.” I surely didn’t want my church to die. I was convicted as I was reflecting on how each member of the church has a unique role that is important for the whole body to function well. For many years, I sat on the sidelines and was happy to just attend Sunday worship service and the occasional volunteer events. I was not contributing to and serving other believers as God wanted me to. I prayed, repented, and promised God that I would sign up for the first open ministry opportunity I could find.

OBEDIENCE

I think God didn’t want me to forget this promise, so He wasted no time. That same evening, I received a message saying that they were looking for volunteers to serve in Awana. As soon as I realized what I had done, I said “God! Not the children’s ministry. I’m not very good with kids. I will help with anything else… please!” But God didn’t open up other opportunities to serve so I signed up, and through this He taught me to be obedient.

TRUST

As the first day of Awana was approaching, I was stressed as I felt inadequate to teach and still had doubts. I had no formal training and was worried I would not be a good teacher for the kids. During a teacher meeting, one brother shared that no matter how much we prepared for the class it is all up to God to work on the hearts of the children. I realized that I had to trust that God could use an imperfect teacher like me to show His power and grace.

JOY

After a few weeks, I noticed that I began to actually enjoy preparing for my Awana class and I was looking forward to seeing my students on Friday nights. I really enjoyed getting to know my students and still talk to them now. I have no other explanation for what changed in me other than God was slowly shaping my heart to be more like His and to have joy serving Him. 

Through this experience, God gave me strength through the phases of accepting my responsibility as a church member: conviction, repentance, obedience, trust, and joy. I’ve struggled, and still struggle, to fully accept my responsibility as a member of my church. I pray that God will continue to shape my heart and use me as an instrument for my church and for His Kingdom.

Mindy

While reading through Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Anatomy of a Revived Church by Thom S. Rainer, I found myself making mental notes of any signs of sickness in our church.  As I continued I quickly became critical and judgemental which made me sad and hopeless in some ways.  But as I kept reading, just as Rainer pointed it out, there is no one silver bullet and the solution starts with each individual member like myself.

I am all the more convicted after reading these two books that prayer is essential and our church needs to pray more.  I need to start by making prayer more of a priority by spending more time in personal and corporate prayer.  God accomplishes His will through the means of prayer and so how would we know His will for our church if we’re not praying together?  Our church has started this season of prayer and has been praying together more, but we are still not praying enough.  I hope that this season of prayer will become our lifestyle and it will unite and move us as one in His Spirit.

The other thing that our church has been doing that has really helped grow our church is going on missions.  It has really helped our church to unite, be outwardly focused and grow.  Agape has been blessed by those joining the church mission trip but I think we can be even more outwardly focused.  I think we are more inwardly focused by catering to the comforts, preferences and traditions of the congregation.  While I understand this is necessary in some aspects, I believe it has become somewhat of a culture.

The book doesn’t mention this but I also believe that teaching, learning and understanding the word of God deeper is essential.  We have to know what God’s word says to know whether our church and personal life is aligned with His ways.  I think Agape can do better in this area and would really benefit in growing spiritually.  Now that we have Peitho, Ginosko and Disciple available, I hope that this will help us to get there.

Josh Chung

Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Anatomy of a Revived Church Book Report

NCBC Disciple class (Fall 2025-Spring 2026)

This book report is on two books; Autopsy of a Deceased Church and Anatomy of a Revived Church by Thom Ranier. Thom Ranier is a pastor and founder of Church Answers Consulting, a church consultant company  helping churches improve health, growth and effectiveness. Autopsy of a Deceased Church shares Mr. Ranier’s experience with hundreds of churches and identifies 10 common attributes causing church decline and death.  Anatomy of a Revived Church discusses 7 common attributes that have reversed church decline to revitalize churches. Thom Ranier lists health categories of healthy, sick and very sick/dying with associated definitions and symptoms/characteristics. Based on Ranier’s criterion, Agape ministry specifically would be diagnosed as unhealthy. (Please note: There is subjectivity in assessments.)

First and personally, I confess that I am part of the problem.  I am guilty of several of the contributors to church decline listed in the book.  I don’t pray enough for my church.  I need to be more outwardly-focused.  (Ranier points out that no sustained church revitalization has occurred without meaningful prayer and churches die when they are inwardly-focused.)  I lack a sense of ownership for my church.  I have been apathetic as it relates to church.  I need to be more focused on the Great Commission.  (Ranier says this is core for a thriving church.)  I should have been taking responsibility for and fixing my issues first, focusing on obeying and glorifying God and being willing to have difficult but necessary conversations.

As mentioned above, Agape has a mixed bill of health as defined by Ranier.  Ranier says healthy churches focus on the Great Commission.  I think this is one of Agape’s healthier areas.  EM has good participation in the various church mission trips and serves in the various ministries throughout the church as well as special events (ex. VBS, Easter Fun Fair, Awana, Operation Christmas Child, etc.).  I’m thankful for members stepping up to serve and pray more will serve. Agape also puts an emphasis on prayer and has offered various opportunities to do so as a church body.  But for some reason, participation has been lacking. 

Agape also has areas for improvement.  As a church body, I believe we could be more firmly under the full counsel of Scripture in how we operate as a ministry and talk about living it out. We need more robust resources in place to grow the congregation in biblical spiritual maturity. This is starting to take place with the offering of Ginosko, Peitho and Disciple classes.  We need to pray more for our congregation and pastor/leaders. Prayer has become more of a focal point in our church. Praise God! I pray more Agape members will develop a passion for communing with God through prayer. Regarding church budget, Agape's church budget is inwardly-focused.

These are potentially some of the areas where we may be able to grow but Ranier states there is no one cure-all or what Rainer calls a “silver bullet” for church revitalization. And while these may be areas of possible improvement, it is God who does any legitimate revitalizing, not man.  

So what is a church to do if it performs this health check up?  Ranier’s recommendation is for churches to have an honest audit of the church’s health and how members spend their time and money at church.  (Rainer states that while keeping a “scorecard” to maximize numbers isn’t the goal, numbers (ex. attendance, giving, etc.) are very helpful as a tool and provide insight to help move a church in the right direction.)   Once an audit is performed, the church has to be able to acknowledge its current state and be willing to and actually execute changes with God’s wisdom and strength.  

Personally, I ask God for forgiveness for failure to do my part as a member of the body.  I will work to be part of the solution in whatever role God calls me to in my church. To God be the glory.

Joseph Park

            Autopsy was a sobering read. One of its core themes for me was the danger of assuming that a church is healthy simply because its ministries feel positive or productive. The chapters on “praying together” and especially “having a clear purpose” had the heaviest impact on me. As a person who is often led by emotions, I can get caught up in thinking that the church is doing well because our ministries “feel right”, are enjoyable, and appear to be comforting and building up others according to God’s Word. While these things can be good, the book also says that the church must remember its purpose is to live for and proclaim the gospel (p.75). This is not only for the health of the church, but because this is the purpose that God established for the church to the world. In the past, I learned that the gospel is not something that I ever outgrow: I need to remember its humbling message of grace and mercy every day. These chapters helped me to see how important it is that God’s people clearly hold onto the purpose of church together.

            From Anatomy, the chapter on “Accepting Responsibility” was the most personally convicting. I am often easily overwhelmed by the demands of responsibility, and so I find immense comfort in waiting for others to act first. Yet, God has graciously placed me in ministry and surrounded me with people who have helped me grow in this important area. I know that I am not alone in this struggle. The same Holy Spirit is given to all believers and has made us a royal priesthood, and God can use small numbers of faithful people to start a much larger movement of revival and Spirit. My prayer is that God will carry this good work of taking responsibility in me to completion, and that we would hope in God and witness His work in many others.

Together, these books reminded me that God has saved us by grace, and also called us by grace to build up the body of Christ. Our calling has a clear purpose, to live and proclaim the gospel inside and outside the church, and therefore, each of us has an important role to play.

            Church is defined as “a building used for public Christian worship” from Google search.  It is a building where people of Christian faith come together to worship God and have fellowship with other fellow Christians.   As followers of Christ then why is there always disagreements, arguments, and heartaches within the church when we are called to love one another and our enemies?  What is the reason where the church, the body of Christ, can’t obey the new commandment given by Jesus Christ even at my church to love your neighbor?  I believe it is due to the fact that we forget the reason why a church exists.  Even at my church, we sometimes forget but still strive to be a revived church in Christ.

            In 1 Corinthians 6:19 states “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God.” God calls each one of us to be a temple for the Holy Spirit which should be a holy place.  From that holy place sometimes, our sinful nature comes in between us and God.  Like stated in the book of Anatomy of a Revived Church, “the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I” comes into play at church.  We can’t lay down our pride or past experiences and biases and bring that to church as well.  I witnessed an elder at the church berate someone until tears started flowing from her eyes as she was serving the church.  My initial thoughts were: is this a church of Christians or just a gathering of a lot of Koreans.  If we act like this at church, how much worse are we outside of church?  Sometimes we fall down but we must be able to correct others mistakes and be able to repent our mistakes as well.  We must be able to keep ourselves, an individual church right with God so that when we come together, all our individual churches can be able to show the light of Jesus Christ in all of us as a whole.

Seung Lee

A church is one body as stated in Romans 12:4-8.  We are all part of one body in and each have different functions and different gifts to serve the church.  As the church grows, so does the inner parts and the needs of the members. Everyone’s faith is at a different level or stage and the church needs to accommodate everyone is what I believed for a long time.  If we accommodate everyone, the church would cease to function.  The church needs as a cornerstone the faith in Jesus Christ and the power of prayer.  Each part of the body needs to pray and look for guidance from God or we would lose our focus and vision.  We come together to function as one but if one part of the body is weak or struggling, the other parts or members need to help while the body recovers.  Even when we struggle individually, we pray for help and guidance from God.  Prayer brings us closer to God and helps us overcome problems that we are currently facing.  Our church has increased our prayer times and meetings so revitalize ourselves and the church.

I believe we are a revived church but we still have our own set of challenges that we must deal with.  More and more people are taking bible/disciple classes, myself included, and more are devoting themselves to prayer.  As long as we keep the cornerstone of faith in Jesus Christ, pray without ceasing, and serve our community, I believe God will strengthen our church and let us be a blessing to others.  Individually we must take the cross up daily and be able to pray and serve selflessly without thinking of personal gains.