Dr. Thom Rainer is currently President of Lifeway Christian Resources. He is also a well know church consultant with a focus on revitalizing local churches. He has written a number of articles and books on the subject. Plus he makes available a large amount of free resources by way of the internet.
One of these websites http://www.revitalizedchurches.com/ has a number of resources, especially the free video, audio, and notes of his “Four Steps to Revitalize your Church”. We also recommend that you check out his free resource “114 Things You Need to Know About Revitalizing Churches“, available on the same website.
He has written a number of very informative articles. Just do a “google search” on the phrase “Thom S. Rainer”. Not only will you find a long list of articles and information about/from Thom, you will also find the following link to his personal website: http://thomrainer.com/
He has written many great books and articles and one book highly recommended to read that helps address the topic “revitalizing the local church” is his book “Simple Church“.
One book reviewer stated “The “Simple Church” philosophy is wrapped around four words:
• Clarity—the ability of the process to be communicated and understood by the people.
• Movement—the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment.
• Alignment—the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process.
• Focus—the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process.
These four words and the four steps from above are great eight great “check points” for a church’s health.