[English Disciple 1 - Saturday] Book Reports on "Autopsy of a Deceased Church" and "Anatomy of a Revived Church" - Kyu Jang > 제자학교

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Disciple 2025-2026, Saturday morning class

Kyu Jang

Book report 1 - Autopsy of a Deceased Church & Anatomy of a Revived Church, both authored

by Thom Rainer

As a church consultant and former pastor, Thom S. Rainer has seen and consulted many

churches in his time, but they tend to fall into 4 major states: healthy, signs of sickness, very

sick, and dying.

These two books explore the fate of 2 categories of churches in America, the dying or deceased

church and the church that found a way to avoid dying and get back on the road to life.

In “Autopsy of a Deceased Church,

” the author points out 10 major behavioral red flags of a

church that point to a seriously sick or dying church. From idolizing the “good ole days,

”

forgetting the purpose/vision of the church or leading by preference rather than by the Word,

long time church goers will probably recognize at least one of the red flags of a sick church.

Chances are we have attended at least one church that fell into the sick or dying category.

The real eye opener in this book was the volume of church leaders who decided to approach

the problem of a sick or dying church with worldly, rather than Biblical solutions. From hiring

consultants, changing pastors, trying new programs, they used human, business school

techniques to try to improve their situations. Unsurprisingly, none of these approaches worked

and churches continue to close their doors.

Even more disheartening than the fact that so many of these sick or dying churches are closing

their doors is the fact that this doesn’t have to happen.

In his follow on book “Anatomy of a Revived Church,

” Thom Rainer covers some of the changes

a church needs to face and go through in order to give themselves a chance to revive and

thrive, through God’s power and grace. He presents a list of 7 different areas for sick churches

to focus on to help drive a turnaround. From accepting responsibility rather than blaming

circumstances, not idolizing traditions and putting in work rather than looking for silver bullet

solutions, each of these focus areas have revived church examples to offer hope.

The danger here is that a person could easily mistake these recommendations and areas of

focus as another program of items to do on a checklist. The power in all of these warnings and

recommendations is in the submission and obedience to the teachings of Jesus. And this is my

primary complaint about the two books. The author does not explicitly draw a clear line between

his recommendations and the teachings of Jesus. Every one of the red flags in “Autopsy of a

Deceased Church” is an example of idolatry, seeking to be served rather than to serve, and

pursuing the good of I, me and my.

Equally obscure on the other side, the recommendations of “Anatomy of a Revived Church”

embody humility, constant and consistent prayer, putting the needs of others higher than one’s

own, etc. are all precepts that are taught by God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.Ultimately, a church community is like so many other human relationships, friendship, marriage

etc. If Jesus and obedience to His commands are not at the core of the relationship, then self,

ego, the I, me and my come to the forefront and make any relationship difficult, if not impossible.