On a recent (May 2019) podcast I listened to by Thom Rainer, author & church consultant, he provided 8 Reasons You Should Consider Becoming a Church Consultant and here is the first and main reason for doing so:
The deteriorating condition of our North American churches according to his research leads in his estimation to believe that 3/4 of these 240,000 churches need an intervention.
Rainer goes on to say in his podcast that many of today’s churches are asking the question “how do we go from where we are to where we need to be?” This is a legitimate question? This is where your church consultant can be of assistance to that local congregation. While it is biblically true that a church is a living organism empowered by the Holy Spirit, it is also an organization. Churches have budgets, bylaws, mission and/or vision statements, officers, staff and volunteers just like marketplace organizations that many of us are employed by.
Rainer’s observations on the state of the North American church needing intervention are mindful of the opening statement from Cameron & Quinn’ book Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture, in which these authors wrote:
No organization in the twenty-first century would boast about its constancy, sameness, or status quo compared to ten years ago. Stability is interpreted more often as stagnation than steadiness, and organizations that are not in the business of change and transition are generally reviewed as recalcitrant. (p. 1)