Thom S. Rainer > Quotes

“Introverts don't like small talk conversation, but they typically don't mind writing. The more people can "see" you on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or a blog, the more they will feel like they know you, even though you don't have one-on-one interaction with them.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“Confident and courageous leaders have no problems pointing out their own weaknesses and ignorance.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“If outside forces and culture were the reasons behind declining and non-influential churches, we would likely have no churches today. The greatest periods of growth, particularly the first-century growth, took place in adversarial cultures. We are not hindered by external forces; we are hindered by our own lack of commitment and selflessness.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference

“The churches were purposeless. They were engaged in an activity called, “This is the way we’ve always done it.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“If you have been expending lots of energy mingling, counseling, or socializing, you need some down time to recover. Put it on your calendar so you can be intentional about it. And for an hour or so, go to a place by yourself. Read, relax, or do nothing. No one is there to talk to you for those minutes. Enjoy your blessed aloneness for a brief season.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“Fearful leaders love to stay in the morass of insignificant details. Because the details are usually unimportant, it is difficult to make a mistake of consequence. Of course, it's impossible to do anything of consequence when your focus is on those things that really don't make a difference.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“the health of the church is directly tied to the health of groups in the church. If you are not in a small group, a Sunday school class, or some other type of group, you are not contributing to the health of the church.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Will: Nine Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian

“Thriving churches have the Great Commission as the centerpiece of their vision, while dying churches have forgotten the clear command of Christ.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“Matthew 28:19–20: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The imperative in those verses is “go.” But as we go, there are several sub-commands. We are to make disciples. We are to baptize. We are to teach.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“A failure to pray was tantamount to a failure to breathe.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“church members who became involved in some type of group in the churches were five times more likely to be active in the church five years later compared to the worship-only attenders.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Will: Nine Traits of the Outwardly Focused Christian

“If given a choice between life and death, most people and leaders choose death if life requires substantive changes.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Anatomy of a Revived Church: Seven Findings of How Congregations Avoided Death

“Prayerful Commitment 1 God, open my eyes that I might see my church as You see it. Let me see where change needs to take place, even if it is painful to me. And use me, I pray, to be an instrument of that change whatever the cost.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“A church without a gospel-centered purpose is no longer a church at all.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“Members of the dying churches really didn’t want growth unless that growth met their preferences and allowed them to remain comfortable.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“Membership in the church is not country club membership. It’s not about paying your dues and getting perks.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“The members at Philippi knew what they were supposed to do. They were to live the gospel. They were to proclaim the gospel.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“Unity in the church will not happen if members have unforgiving hearts.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference

“So, unlike the heroes of Hebrews 11 who held onto nothing of this life, these dying churches held onto everything, at least everything that made them comfortable and happy. Such is the reason we speak of them in the past.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“Make me the father, O Lord, who will show my sons enough of a sense of humor, so that they will always be serious, but never take themselves too seriously. Give them humility, so they will always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.”
― Thom S. Rainer

“The most pervasive and common thread of our autopsies was that the deceased churches lived for a long time with the past as hero. They held on more tightly with each progressive year. They often clung to things of the past with desperation and fear. And when any internal or external force tried to change the past, they responded with anger and resolution: “We will die before we change.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“The money, though, was symptomatic of a heart problem. The church cared more for its own needs than the community and the world.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“When a church ceases to have a heart and ministry for its community, it is on the path toward death.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“A simple church is a congregation designed around a straightforward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Simple Church

“With a country club membership you pay others to do the work for you. With church membership, everyone has a role or function. That is why some are hands, feet, ears, or eyes. We are all different, but we are necessary parts of the whole.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference

“I am suggesting that congregations across America are weak because many of us church members have lost the biblical understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference

“Seven out of ten guests will go to a church website as a determinative factor in where they will choose to visit.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Becoming a Welcoming Church

“For where the money of the church goes, so goes its heart.”
― Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

“The world will know if we are Christians or not by the way we who are believers act toward one another.”
― Thom S. Rainer, I Am a Church Member: Discovering the Attitude that Makes the Difference

“Research shows that when you receive frequent interruptions while working on a task, your performance drops the equivalent of ten IQ points. In other words, when you multi-task you are ten points dumber on the core task than you are if you just focused on the core task. Some of us cannot afford to multi-task.1”
― Thom S. Rainer, Simple Church