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Where will your church be in January 2019?
Will it be unified, thriving, and reaching its community for Christ? Or will it be divided, struggling, and almost irrelevant to the community?
I have long had a watchful eye on churches that can be classified as “breakout churches,” meaning they have moved from struggling to thriving.
I have seen some specific traits common in many of these churches. Today I will identify four of these traits that I consider unique and vital to the health of these congregations.
To be clear, these four characteristics are by no means an exhaustive list of traits of healthy churches. Instead, they are unique characteristics that became both the cause and the result of the breakout.
These church leaders and members understood that the days of easy growth and cultural Christianity were ending. As a consequence, they increased their efforts, their spending, and their time by fourfold to reach their communities.
While the factor of four is not a magic number, something close to that figure was common among breakout churches. Reaching and ministering to their communities became a very high priority.
Not all the congregations prayed Christ’s prayer of unity specifically, but they did pray for church unity in one way or another. Many churches fail to have a gospel witness because of infighting, self-serving behavior, or tepid commitment. The breakout churches prayed—sometimes for a year or more—for unity in the church.
Too many congregations have become “religious country clubs,” where the members pay their dues and get their expected perks. The breakout churches made intentional efforts to abandon that mentality. And although it’s self-serving for me to say this, I am grateful nearly 1.5 million church members have used my book, I Am a Church Member,to guide them in these kinds of intentional efforts.
Please hear me clearly. Your church will either change or die. I know. You don’t change the truths of God’s Word. Yet, many of the methodologies and paradigms that describe the way we “do church” today (or did yesterday) will not be here tomorrow. The breakout churches deemed themselves mission churches, and they knew sacrifice and change was critical to the mission heart.
Even though this new year is quickly slipping into history, it is not too late to see a new opportunity to embrace new attitudes and renewed efforts.
I am beginning to see a number of churches move toward breakout. In God’s power, your church can be one of those churches.
My prayer for your congregation is that 2018 will be your best year ever.
In God’s power, it can be done.
Photo source: istock
 | Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers, and online community and resource for church leaders. Prior to founding Church Answers, Rainer served as president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Before coming to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Learn More » |
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