Pauline's Bookshelf: Autopsy of a Deceased Church

"Springtime" by Claude Monet

I’ve been in a sort of intermission in life, waiting for the next term of college to start so I can proceed with education for a career change. During this time, I’ve been trying to read – not for entertainment, but for the improvement of my mind. A survey of my bookshelf showed me that I had lots of books that I picked up out of interest, but which I had not yet read. I thought I’d start a new series and share what I’ve been learning.

So here I am, with a few thoughts about Thom Rainer’s Autopsy of a Deceased Church. It’s a short book (102 pages) and very readable. I’d originally picked it up after hearing an apologetics forum lecture by Eric Barger on how postmodernism is infecting the church (I highly recommend you look him up too, by the way), and I wanted to know what warning signs of a church’s demise looked like. This book is an expansion of a blog post Rainer wrote in 2013, so I'll spare you the list and instead let you check it out over here.

The point that made an impression on me is the problem of a congregation not praying together. How can one expect a church to grow at all when it is not engaging in serious prayer? Sure, someone likely prays a blessing over the meal at church potlucks, but Rainer asks, “Is that really a meaningful time of prayer? Do you think that’s how the New Testament church prayed?” This is a personal challenge for me as well, since I’m still learning the discipline of prayer.

Related to the topic of prayer, at the end of each chapter is a “Prayer Commitment,” which are brief sections that contain what points to pray about specifically for your church. I appreciate this, because it’s a reminder that church health begins with the members who ought to be praying for and building up the church. Remember, we’re a priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:9), all meant to minister to one another, and one of those ways is through prayer to the Most High God.

There are also at the end of each chapter three questions for further thought and discussion, which are useful either for small group discussion or for personal pondering. In the last three chapters, Rainer also outlines four responses each to three different scenarios the reader may be facing: a church which is showing symptoms of sickness, a church which is very sick, and a church which is dying. All responses are simple and practical. However, this does not mean they are easy, especially in the case of the very sick church that must pray for strength to make drastic changes and the dying church that may decide the best route is to disband and hand over the facilities to a growing church.

I would give this book a 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is concerned about some of the things they see in their church (I will warn you, it may prove to you that you have nothing to worry about) and definitely to everyone who is in church leadership in any capacity.