Book Review: Effective Evangelistic Churches

Thom Rainer is a great writer and a tireless researcher.  In Effective Evangelistic Churches, he has once again proven his salt.  The downside for those of you outside of the Southern Baptist Convention, is that this book focuses solely on the Southern Baptist Convention.  In an attempt to find a homogenous group with easily identifiable results, Rainer turned inward to his own denomination.

That asided, this is a honest and open book that shows, through study of nearly 600 churches, what works and what doesn’t in church growth.  The study covered a wide range of churches from average attendance of sixty to more than six thousand, which makes this book a must read for pastors of small churches, mega-churches, and everything in between. 

Rainer is open and honest about telling that some of their finding surprised them, such as the fact that location is not a factor in a church’s evangelistic growth.  This surprise, as well as 9 more like it, are found in the second chapter of the book called, 10 Surprises. 

Other chapters show that the pulpit is still primary, prayer still matters, and, contrary to much public opinion, Sunday School (done right) still works.  I was also very encouraged that Rainer saw fit to include a chapter called Mission-Minded Churches Baptize More. 

One down-side of this book is that baptism seems at times to be separated from regenerate church membership, regular attendance, and discipleship.  For instance, some of the churches in the study showed incredible baptism numbers and yet seem to remain very small.  This should never be the case of baptism is being followed up with proper assimilation and discipleship. 

That weakness aside, this is a great book that shows what works and what doesn’t.  Pastors should read this book.