Rainer, Thom S. Effective Evangelistic Churches: Successful Churches Reveal What Works and What Doesn’t. Broadman and Holman, 1996.
Referenced in: Guides to the Practice of Evangelism – Effective Evangelistic Churches
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Although this is an older book, the findings are still quite relevant for the typical established church. Like most of the works authored by Thom Rainer, it is based on a comprehensive survey of growing churches. Data was gathered from 576 churches ranging in size from less than 100 to over 1,500 (nearly 40% from churches averaging attendance of 100-299) from 41 states. The parameters for determining “evangelistic church” was 26 baptisms per year and a baptismal ratio (resident members / baptisms) of less than 20:1. This was the same research that eventually resulted in Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them, but at a less developed stage (576 churches vs. over 2,000 when research was concluded). The research at the stage of Effective Evangelistic Churches had focused primarily on Southern Baptist Churches, but the findings came to be utilized universally among many other evangelical groups.
The following is a sketch summary of pages 1-48. The remainder of the book expounds on these and other findings.
Among the helpful insights are the methodologies used by effective evangelistic churches. First was the “Big Three.”
- Preaching – Pulpit Preaching consistently received the highest response in rating evangelistic methodologies.
- Prayer Ministries – Second only to preaching in evangelistic effectiveness, the leaders of these evangelistic churches stress that their personal prayer lives and the prayer ministries of the church are inevitably tied to winning souls to Christ. This is often tied to prayer vigils for revival that span several years.
- Sunday School – The pastors of successful evangelistic churches were amused at the prophecies of the decline and death of the Sunday School. These churches found that if the Sunday School is intentionally evangelistic, it is very effective.
Alongside these, the following methodologies emerged as major instruments in evangelism:
- Relationship Evangelism – This includes witnessing to friends in the workplace, schools, and homes apart from the Sunday School environment. While this was important for all churches (52%), Rainer’s study revealed that the larger the church, the more likely it was to consider relationship evangelism a significant factor in its evangelistic effectiveness.
- Traditional Outreach – e.g. gather people once a week to visit the lost, visit those who visited the church, or visit those who may not have a church home. Over one-half (50.2%) ranked weekly outreach as one of their most effective evangelistic tools.
- Youth Ministry – A large number, 50.1%, of leaders use intentional youth evangelism as one of their primary evangelistic methodologies. This builds upon a key principle of the church growth movement, that of receptivity. At a given point in time, people are more receptive to the message of the gospel than others. [This is supported by research among different faith groups that 85-90% of those who become Christians do so before the age of 18 – CG].
- Music Ministry – Music is an effective tool, especially music that encourages people toward commitment to salvation or to evangelize. No single music or worship style predominates in these evangelistic churches, except that a formal, liturgical style was unlikely in most of these churches. Around 40% described their services as “traditional,” 30% as “contemporary,” and 30% as “blended,” with the latter being the fastest growing. Surprisingly, there was general aversion to services being designed explicitly for seekers. One has to keep a balanced perspective on this. Rainer’s research has often been misquoted as if to say a church should not pay attention to changes in worship. In reality, most of the churches were achieving such excellence in worship in their chosen styles that it simply was not a distraction to more important attractional elements. Most churches, however, reported having some concern for making their worship more indigenous to the changing climate.
Another helpful contribution is the data on popular methodologies that did not factor as significantly as some might think:
- Weekday Ministry – e.g. day care, mom’s day out, Christian schools. Only 11% responded that these were important to evangelism.
- Targeting – Only 19% of the churches viewed “intentional positioning that targeted a specific population” as a worthy evangelistic approach. In fact, targeted evangelism had one of the highest negative ratings of any of the methodologies. Nearly 44% saw this approach to evangelism as one of absolutely no value. Their objections were both theological and pragmatic.
- Event Evangelism – Only 7% of the churches use event evangelism (e.g. well-known speaker or singer) as a significant tool for reaching people.
- Busing Evangelism – Era of busing for growth has ended, but almost 10% of these evangelistic churches continue to use some form of busing to reach people for Christ, a little more frequently than event evangelism.
- Revivals – More than four out of ten of these churches use regularly scheduled revivals as an evangelistic tool. Slightly less than half of the most evangelistic churches in America continue to hold regularly scheduled revival meetings.
- Increase Staff – Multiple staff increases evangelistic effectiveness for larger churches. Yet, smaller churches that have lay leadership for evangelism indicate better baptismal ratios than the larger churches.
Also related are ten surprises:
- Few Evangelistic Churches Use Event Evangelism
- Revival Evangelism is Alive and Well
- The Best Baptismal Ratios Were in Medium-Sized Churches
- Effective Evangelistic Churches Advocated Evangelistic Training More Than They Practice It.
- Weekday Ministries are Not Effective for Evangelistic Outreach
- Traditional Outreach is Alive and Well
- The Age of the Church is not Related to Evangelistic Effectiveness
- Location is Not a Factor in the Churches’ Evangelistic Growth
- Few Evangelistic Churches Offer Seeker Services
- Offering Choices Does Not Necessarily Help the Church’s Evangelistic Effectiveness
Based on these and other findings, Rainer arrives at five conclusions about effective evangelism among the established churches:
- Evangelistic Effectiveness Calls for Renewal of the Basics – Preaching, Sunday School, traditional outreach, revivals, etc.
- Assumptions are not Always Reality – Assuming that visitation is ineffective, etc. just because a preacher of a large church says so, may hinder effectiveness.
- Intentionality and Repetition are Critical – A methodology in itself does not engender evangelistic results. The leaders of these churches make certain that methodologies are evangelistic. And they keep that message before the people of the church repeatedly.
- Leadership Attitude is the Key – A clear pattern of positive, encouraging leadership proved to be vital in using tools effectively.
- Balance is Important – The leaders at these effective churches believe God uses a variety of people and ways to lead others to Christ. They did not see methodologies as the ultimate solution to their church’s needs. The true source of their effectiveness was our Lord Himself. These leaders were able to keep that healthy tension of using human-devised methodologies in the power of and dependence on a sovereign God.
From the Publisher
Part research project, part detective story, this book presents results from the most comprehensive study of successful churches in history. These 586 churches across America all excel in winning new souls for Christ, and have a remarkable range of things in common. Some stereotypes are shattered, some results are astonishing, and everything is written in a readable, non-technical style. — Includes churches with at least one baptism per 19 members annually — Churches range from 60 to 6,000 in membership; more than 2/3 claim 100-499 members — Reveals the seven evangelism tools most important to successful churches — Discusses popular misconceptions about church location, size, event evangelism and more
About the Author
Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, one of the largest Christian resource companies in the world. He has consulted with more than five hundred churches, served as pastor of four churches and interim pastor in seven churches, and spoken in hundreds of venues worldwide. Among his publications are hundreds of articles and nineteen books including the national bestseller Simple Church as well as Essential Church?, Raising Dad, and The Bridger Generation. Rainer and his wife, Nellie Jo, have three grown sons and live in Nashville, Tennessee.
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