Customer Reviews

High Expectations: The Remarkable Secret for Keeping People in Your Church

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This book is basically an explanation of a survey done on 287 southern Baptist churches. The main secret to keeping people in your church is to assimilate them into the Sunday School program. The author spares no words to describe the importance of having an evangelistic Sunday School program. He points out that churches have often seen Sunday school as a discipleship or educational program, but that we need to learn from these SBC churches that long term health and growth are best secured by giving the Sunday school department a revamped, evangelistic thrust. The survey results also suggest that if you communicate that Sunday school attendance is expected of all new members, then you will have a greater chance of keeping them active once they are assimilated into a class.

But it should be kept in mind that every church culture is different. Pastoring a church where Sunday school is an available option is nice. But to make it an expectation of all members can risk the ire of some of the long standing members of the congregation. In short, some of the suggestions the author makes will be easier to assimilate into your church than others. You have to know your people and have a sense of what the Holy Spirit is saying, and a sense of what will and will not fly in your parish.

High Expectations is a great resource for those seeking to understand the dynamics of evangelistic growth and effective discipleship. The many graphs and charts provide a visual checklist of the characteristics of high assimilation congregations. The book is more of a companion to "Effective Evangelistic Churches" rather than a stand-alone resource. At times Rainer jumps to conclusions that are out of character, such as "Mission Statements are more important than vision statements"... which is based upon research showing high assimilation churches tend to have mission statements (64.3%) rather than vision statements (42.9%).

Rainer here addresses the problem all too often found in American churches: losses through the "back door." Many books can be found on how to attract newcomers to a congregation, but what is the key to keeping them? The author answers this question with solid research and Biblical values. In a nutshell, Rainer's research reveals that the secret to keeping members is expecting more of them. Other insights from his research are presented here as well, but the focus of the book is powerful effect of "raising the bar." This title is a keeper for my pastoral library.

If you're involved in church leadership, either on staff or on a board, you owe it to yourself to read this book. There are many books out there based on opinion or the experience of one church--often a mega-church--and that's fine. But the detail and research behind this book make it unique and remarkable because it applies to every church of any size anywhere in the world. It's not the only book you'll use to develop a leadership strategy, but it may save you ten years of trial and error and hundreds of hours of meetings. Buy it for yourself, read it, and then get copies for everyone in leadership. I did.

For some this book will appear to just be a series of numbers and facts. However, the diligent will learn that Dr. Rainer goes beyond the stats to help them to see what is indeed working in our country and culture in the quest to reach people for the Kingdom. There is both encouragement and conviction to be found here. There are also some great ideas that perhaps the reader has not thought of doing. I recommend it be read by every pastor and church leader.

This is a great small group study book fot churches looking to grow and not become a statistic. There are quite a few graphs explaining the authors point. This book was very helpful to the members of our leadership commitee in our church. We used and continue to use it as reference points of conversation on ways to improove our church makeup. Even though we are now an extremly small church we are on the grow . Not just because of this book but because we were using a great deal of this books sugestions before we ever started using it. I would highly recomend this book to anyone involved in church leadership.

High Expectations is a book which should prove helpful to every pastor and church staff member if you are interested in discipling and keeping people active in your church. In fact, purchase one for all members in your church and make it available to new members as they join. A great book backed up by reliable research.