Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive

Thom S. Rainer. Nashville. B&H Publishing, 2014. 102 pp. (Hardback).

We all know of churches that have dwindled in membership until they finally closed their doors and we know of those that are now on the verge of dying. How sad to see a once-thriving church gasping for breath as it heads for extinction.

Thom S. Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, wrote “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” from what he has learned in 25 years of working with churches that were on a downward trajectory. Rainer first details the signs of decline in churches, citing things like refusing to look like the community, living on past glories and having no clear purpose. Obvious, right? Not always, apparently. Not to those who are entrenched in a dying church.

So what can be done to stop the decline? Rainer is not overly optimistic, pointing out that most churches that are well into a state of decline never recover. He offers a dozen actions to take depending on how sick a church is. 

The frightening estimate that as many as 150,000 churches in this county are in danger should be enough to send church staff and church members scrambling for a solution. Rainer offers solutions but acknowledges the attitudes and actions that allowed the decline to begin in the first place are likely to keep needed changes from taking place.