Of the 13 books professor and church growth expert Thom Rainer has written, Breakout Churches excites him most, he says. He’s found a handful of churches that have been able to stem a decline without changing pastoral leadership. In business terms, they’re “good to great” churches. In fact, Rainer based his research methodology on the study of dramatic business turnarounds reported in Jim Collins’s popular book, Good to Great (Harper, 2001). Familiarity with that book isn’t required to appreciate Breakout Churches, but it helps. Rainer refers frequently to Collins’s research and strives to translate it for the church.
The book is not a study of great churches in general, but those rare congregations that had stagnated or declined for years, then turned around to experience evangelistic growth. Specifically, Rainer sought churches that broke out without changing leaders. He wanted to dismiss the idea that a church had to call a new pastor in order to ignite significant growth.
Of an estimated 400,000 congregations in the U.S., Rainer’s research team found data for about 50,000. Of those, Rainer located 13 churches that matched their breakout criteria. The team studied the churches’ growth patterns, histories, and leaders to determine what preceded and resulted from the time of the breakout. The 13 churches reflect a variety of denominations, ethnicities, and community demographics. By looking at the commonalities of these congregations, Rainier discovered a pattern:
Acts 6/7 Leadership: Leaders “seek to equip others for the work of ministry while deflecting recognition for themselves.” They build the ministry to outlive themselves.
ABC Moment: Awareness develops that something is not right in the church. Belief results that these inadequacies must be confronted. Finally, a crisis is “created in the leader’s heart because of this gap.”
Who/What Simultrack: Leaders determine what the purpose of the church is, and who it will take to accomplish that purpose.
 Breakout Churches by Thom S. RainerZondervan,272 pp.; $22.99 |
VIP Factor: Vision is discovered at the intersection of three factors: leader passion, community needs, and congregational gifts.
Culture of Excellence: “Everything the church does gets measured against a barometer of excellence.”
Innovation Acceleration: “Innovations were accelerators but not solutions of all of the church’s needs.” Change occurred but fads weren’t chased.
Three concerns emerged from my reading of Breakout Churches. First, how reliable are conclusions distilled from only 13 out of 50,000 congregations? Even if there are more than one hundred possible breakout churches in America, as Rainer suggests, the percentage is still quite low.
The optimist in me sees this as reason for hope. Perhaps we don’t have to change pastorates to experience growth. The pessimist in me, however, fears it’s unrealistic to believe my church would be one of these rarities.
Second, the book is intended to be a presentation of research results, meaning it is far more descriptive than prescriptive. Chapter 10 is titled “To Become a Breakout Church,” but few practical answers emerge on how to apply what these leaders did in order to experience similar results.
Finally, the results of Rainer’s research seem suspiciously similar to those of Collins. He appeared eager to integrate Collins’s findings from Good to Great with what he discovered in the 13 churches. It’s one thing to replicate a research methodology, but another to get the same results. I have to wonder if Rainer’s favorable bias toward Good to Great influenced his own conclusions too highly.
Despite these reservations, Breakout Churches is a recommended read for pastors and lay leaders in congregations that have seen little growth and desire to change direction without changing leaders. Denominational staff and church consultants will appreciate Rainer’s determination to share research results and not just opinions. While the sampling of breakout churches is small, their stories and values are a helpful guide.
Alan Nelson, Scottsdale, Arizona
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