How do churches breakout?
In his new book Breakout Churches (Zondervan), Thom Rainer and his research team examined more than 50,000 churches in the U.S. to identify those characteristics that help a church “breakout” and make the leap from good to great. The project was inspired by the best-selling business book Good to Great by Jim Collins. They identified 13 churches which had made a major positive shift without a change of leadership. In the process they discovered several things that were not present in such “breakout” churches:
• “The pastor involved in the transition was not leading by the sheer force of a charismatic personality. . . .
• “The breakout churches were surprisingly slow in adopting new methodologies and latching on to the latest and hottest trends in the national church scene.
• “A deliberately created and clearly articulated vision statement had little or nothing to do with the breakout to greatness. . . .
• “The name of the church and any decision to remove or keep the denominational identity was not a factor in breaking out. . . .
• “The breakout churches were conservative theologically, but the comparison churches were almost as conservative. Our earlier studies confirmed the importance of clear doctrine in evangelistic churches, but doctrine alone does not move churches to greatness.”
So what does move churches to greatness? Among the factors Rainer cites: a bold, passionate leader who “is willing to take incredible steps of faith and make the tough calls that few others will;” leaders who “seek to equip others for the work of ministry while deflecting recognition for themselves;” an “environment of excellence;” and much more.
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