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

• 목록

Autopsy of Deceased Church 

In Autopsy of a Deceased Church, Thom Rainer investigates the different factors that ultimately

lead to a church’s demise in the hopes that it would be received as a warning to living churches.

He finds repeating patterns and factors that generally exist for years befre the church closes its

doors and asks the question, “Why do many church members in dying churches refuse to see the

decline in the health of the church?”

From the data, he notices that the decline of prayer in the lives of the members and the decline

in the connection with the community are common culprits that weaken the church. With

weakened prayer with God, members no longer have a clear vision of God’s direction for the

church and instead become more focused on themselves and their needs. As people stop taking

prayer seriously, churches begin to die.

He also notices that, with most dead churches, groups of members resist change fiercely,

leading to a divided church and resulting in the dissenters abandoning the church. Rainer

recognizes that, in the Bible, heroes of faith were so because they obeyed God despite not

knowing the consequences of their obedience. “They sacrificed their comfort, their homes, their

ways fo life, and their possessions because they knew that this life was only temporary, that a

better and eternal life awaited them.” On the contrary, dying churches focus on their own needs

instead of others, looking inwardly, and idolizing the thriving days and methods of the past.

“When a church ceases to have a heart and ministry for its community, it is on the path towards

death.”

This self-centered focus is reflected in their finances as the last expenditures to be reduced are

those that keep the members most comfortable. The first to be cut are budgets allotted to

ministries and programs that are outwardly focused and support the Great Commission. Sickchurches must admit and confess their sins and their need for God, they must pray for wisdom

and strength, and churches must be willing to change radically and action towards an outward

focus need to take place.

Anatomy of a Revived Church

In the introduction Thom Rainer reports that many people and leaders in the church would

rather choose death if life requires substantive change. “They simply do not choose to make the

changes that are clear and available. When confronted with the choice to change or die, they

choose to die.” They choose tradition, comfort and preference over change. To overcome these

comforts and fears, Rainer recommends the below steps.

A dying church must accept resonsibility for the poor health of their church instead of blaming

outside factors. Churches will blame “competing” churches, worship music, leadership, and

even the changing communities in which they live. However churches that embrace the Great

Commission and Great Commandment for their lives will not just survive but also thrive. A

church must adapt to meet the needs of the community as well as of the members, and this often

requires changes to tradition. Traditions are held in many forms: worship music, order of

worship service, worship service time, role of the pastor, role of the committees, ministries,

church buildings, business meetings and staff! The church needs to stop “worshipping the unholy

trinity of me, myself, and I.

Rainer also discusses the benefits of keeping score, not for the sake of keeping score and

boasting, but to identify patterns and symptoms of a dying church.

Another step to take by churches to be healthy is committing to power prayer. “I have yet to see

a sustained church revitalization that was not undergirded by a powerful movement of prayer.”

This step requires prayer warriors who not only believe in the power of prayer but also seek to

mobilize others to fight the spiritual warfare. Powerful prayer movements are active in every

sustained revitalization, but rarely result in immediate fruit, and God is the one who revitalizes.Healthy churches must take the difficult steps to deal with toxic people via difficult, honest, and

loving conversations and actions. Toxic people cannot be ignored for their toxicity is contagious.

Healthy churches do not seek a silver bullet to solve all of their problems! There is no silver

bullet.

Healthy churches understand the importance of meaningful membership. As apostle Paul

reminds us, every part has a function and are individual members of the body of Christ.

“Ultimately, membership is about belonging and contributing. Biblical membership is about

giving instead of receiving, serving instead of being served.” Membership class of healthy

churches was not solely about information, but was also about expectation of members as well as

assimilation of members into ministries and groups. “Becoming a part of the church carries both

opportunities and responsibilities.”

Bottom line: Change or die; revived churches choose to live.