Thom S. Rainer
Auteur van Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples
Over de Auteur
Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. 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. Rainer graduated from the University of Alabama in 1977. He earned toon meer his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to speaking in hundreds of venues, Rainer led Rainer Group, a church and denominational consulting firm, from 1990 to 2005. Rainer is the author of twenty-two books, including Breakout Churches, Simple Life, Simple Church, Raising Dad, The Millennials, and Essential Church. His book, I Am a Church Member, hit #1 on the CBA best-seller list. (Bowker Author Biography) toon minder
Werken van Thom S. Rainer
The Unchurched Next Door: Understanding Faith Stages as Keys to Sharing Your Faith (2003) 398 exemplaren
Effective Evangelistic Churches: Successful Churches Reveal What Works, and What Doesn't (1996) 282 exemplaren
The Unexpected Journey: Conversations with People Who Turned from Other Beliefs to Jesus (2005) 166 exemplaren
The Post-Quarantine Church: Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation (2020) 144 exemplaren
Giant Awakenings: Making the Most of 9 Surprising Trends That Can Benefit Your Church (1995) 58 exemplaren
Sharing the Gospel with Ease: How the Love of Christ Can Flow Naturally from Your Life (Church Answers Resources) (2022) 18 exemplaren
I Am a Christian: Discovering What It Means to Follow Jesus Together with Fellow Believers (2022) 18 exemplaren
Tools For An Essential Church 12 exemplaren
Rainer on Evangelism: Reversing a trend of evangelistic decline personally and corporately 2 exemplaren
Great Commission Resurgence 2 exemplaren
When the People Pray: An Invitation to Intercede for Your Pastor and Revive Your Church (Church Answers Resources) (2023) 2 exemplaren
Experiencing Personal Revival: A Guide to Renewing Your Relationship & Enlightening Your Talk with God (1996) 2 exemplaren
Great Comission Resurgence 1 exemplaar
I Am a Christian Participant’s Guide: Eight Sessions to Help You Discover What It Means to Follow Jesus Together… (2022) 1 exemplaar
A new Way to know your Community 1 exemplaar
In Real Time: Authentic Young Adult Ministry as It Happens [Paperback] [2009] (Author) Mike Glenn, Thom S. Rainer (2009) 1 exemplaar
Soy Miembro de la Iglesia ¿Y Ahora Qué?: I Am a Church Member, Now What? (Spanish Edition) (2015) 1 exemplaar
I Could, I Might, I Can, I Should, I Will! 1 exemplaar
Gerelateerde werken
Evangelicals Engaging Emergent: A Discussion of the Emergent Church Movement (2009) — Voorwoord — 87 exemplaren
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Though the information in this book isn't wrong, per se, it's incomplete and unbalanced.
Rainer says: "You are [in your local church] to meet the needs of others. You are there to serve others. You are there to give. You are there to sacrifice. Get the picture?" (p 34)
While at first glance that might sound biblical, the Bible, in fact, uses one-another terminology to describe what we "should" be doing in the Church body. "Love one another, forgive one another, serve one another..." As in, our church should be a place where we love and are loved, serve and are served, give and receive. Rainer's "do more, more, more" attitude will lead many members (who are already serving at capacity) to burnout.
There was also an undue emphasis on how hard pastors or those in leadership positions work and all of the ways we lowly parishioners make life even harder on them. The point Rainer was trying to make is that they need prayer. True - the Bible tells us to pray for our leaders. But again, it also tells all Christians to pray for one another.
Chapter 4 details the true story of a pastor who's overwhelmed with the "needs" of his congregation, and while reading it, I couldn't overlook the fact that the pastor in this account had very poor boundaries. A pastor should not be neglecting his nuclear family to attend to the needs of the church family - if he is, that's a sign that he is trying to do too much. In my experience, it's because the pastor has taken on the role of savior instead of leading people to our true Savior, Jesus Christ. If you set yourself up with poor boundaries and tell everyone that they need you to save them, of course some undiscerning members will believe you and become too needy at some point. Pastors should be setting and enforcing healthy boundaries for themselves, modeling what those look like, as well as teaching those boundaries outright, to church members. Not only will it ease the burden on everyone serving in the church, but it will help to reinforce the truth that pastors and other leaders are finite human beings, just like the rest of us. They are not extra-special-holy and extra-special-capable. (I highly recommend all church members - laypeople and leaders alike - read [b:Boundaries|944267|Boundaries When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life|Henry Cloud|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348423991l/944267._SX50_.jpg|55483783].)
Chapter 5 is titled, "I will lead my family to be healthy church members" - so, obviously, this focuses on marriage and parenting. As an apparent afterthought, Rainer says, "Many church members are single. They have no immediate family with whom they can worship in the church. Regardless, there are still people watching them and how they love the church. They are to be an example to others." (Gee, really? How insightful!) Considering 50% of American Christians are single, it's frustrating that we're still disclaimers in books that are about the Church, the eternal family of God that will continue on even as the nuclear family ends with Christ's return.
Overall, I feel like this book is far too short and superficial to fully address some of the issues that it brings up. Incomplete truths can be dangerous.
I think this would be best read in a small group or Sunday School or new member's class, where time can be allocated to discuss the issues more in-depth and fill in some of the glaring holes this book leaves.… (meer)
Rainer says: "You are [in your local church] to meet the needs of others. You are there to serve others. You are there to give. You are there to sacrifice. Get the picture?" (p 34)
While at first glance that might sound biblical, the Bible, in fact, uses one-another terminology to describe what we "should" be doing in the Church body. "Love one another, forgive one another, serve one another..." As in, our church should be a place where we love and are loved, serve and are served, give and receive. Rainer's "do more, more, more" attitude will lead many members (who are already serving at capacity) to burnout.
There was also an undue emphasis on how hard pastors or those in leadership positions work and all of the ways we lowly parishioners make life even harder on them. The point Rainer was trying to make is that they need prayer. True - the Bible tells us to pray for our leaders. But again, it also tells all Christians to pray for one another.
Chapter 4 details the true story of a pastor who's overwhelmed with the "needs" of his congregation, and while reading it, I couldn't overlook the fact that the pastor in this account had very poor boundaries. A pastor should not be neglecting his nuclear family to attend to the needs of the church family - if he is, that's a sign that he is trying to do too much. In my experience, it's because the pastor has taken on the role of savior instead of leading people to our true Savior, Jesus Christ. If you set yourself up with poor boundaries and tell everyone that they need you to save them, of course some undiscerning members will believe you and become too needy at some point. Pastors should be setting and enforcing healthy boundaries for themselves, modeling what those look like, as well as teaching those boundaries outright, to church members. Not only will it ease the burden on everyone serving in the church, but it will help to reinforce the truth that pastors and other leaders are finite human beings, just like the rest of us. They are not extra-special-holy and extra-special-capable. (I highly recommend all church members - laypeople and leaders alike - read [b:Boundaries|944267|Boundaries When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life|Henry Cloud|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348423991l/944267._SX50_.jpg|55483783].)
Chapter 5 is titled, "I will lead my family to be healthy church members" - so, obviously, this focuses on marriage and parenting. As an apparent afterthought, Rainer says, "Many church members are single. They have no immediate family with whom they can worship in the church. Regardless, there are still people watching them and how they love the church. They are to be an example to others." (Gee, really? How insightful!) Considering 50% of American Christians are single, it's frustrating that we're still disclaimers in books that are about the Church, the eternal family of God that will continue on even as the nuclear family ends with Christ's return.
Overall, I feel like this book is far too short and superficial to fully address some of the issues that it brings up. Incomplete truths can be dangerous.
I think this would be best read in a small group or Sunday School or new member's class, where time can be allocated to discuss the issues more in-depth and fill in some of the glaring holes this book leaves.… (meer)
The book “I Am a Christian” begins by reminding us that all who follow Jesus must “fully grasp what it means to say, ‘I am a Christian.’” We must know what it means, who we are, and what we believe. This—and orienting our priorities around this—are urgently needed in our day.
Rainer states, “‘I am a Christian’ and ‘I am a church member’ go hand in hand.” He writes further, “When Christians become committed church members, the church becomes healthy. When the church becomes healthy, communities become healthy. When communities become healthy, the world is transformed.”
The book’s seven chapter highlight different “I am” statements related to being a Christian such as:
* I am a church member.
* I am a disciple.
* I am a servant.
* I am a witness.
* I am a prayer warrior.
Though I wasn’t a fan of the writing style, “I Am a Christian” provides helpful clarity concerning what the church is and is not, and how we are to walk out our lives as Christian, especially alongside a local body of believers.
This book would be especially suitable for new believers or new church members. I could easily see it being used to disciple believers or in a new members’ class, as it covers many important beliefs that all Christians should hold.
I received a review copy of this book for free from Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.… (meer)
Rainer states, “‘I am a Christian’ and ‘I am a church member’ go hand in hand.” He writes further, “When Christians become committed church members, the church becomes healthy. When the church becomes healthy, communities become healthy. When communities become healthy, the world is transformed.”
The book’s seven chapter highlight different “I am” statements related to being a Christian such as:
* I am a church member.
* I am a disciple.
* I am a servant.
* I am a witness.
* I am a prayer warrior.
Though I wasn’t a fan of the writing style, “I Am a Christian” provides helpful clarity concerning what the church is and is not, and how we are to walk out our lives as Christian, especially alongside a local body of believers.
This book would be especially suitable for new believers or new church members. I could easily see it being used to disciple believers or in a new members’ class, as it covers many important beliefs that all Christians should hold.
I received a review copy of this book for free from Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions are my own.… (meer)
Absolutely fabulous resource for pastors, staff and laypeople of the non-mega church variety. This is a very practical book to help your church find it's focus and reach the community right where you live. You are where you are for a purpose and you are surrounded by the people in your community who have a need... Christ... and you are there to help show Him to them. Be a scrappy church (and this book will guide you step by step) and reach your community for the Kingdom right now!
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Church membership carries with it great responsibility and blessing in the life of the Christian. This small tome shares how the right attitude can make church life a great success. Highly recommend.
***January 14, 2024***