Recently, I was given a copy of Thom Rainer’s book Autopsy of a Deceased Church. It is a very short read, but something that I believe is needed for most churches in America, especially those in the Bible belt. The book is filled with real life illustrations and scenarios of churches that, through bitter disunity or lackadaisical Christian living, ended up dying. What I found interesting was the meter Rainer used for checking the condition of a church. It ranged from healthy, symptoms of sickness, very sick, to dying. For example, a very sick church would be one that had continual numerical decline, stints of apathy, little impact in the community, lack of new members, short tenure of pastors, and an attitude of only reflecting on the past glory days of the church. It is a sobering read, but oh how needful it is for those of us who are Christians to examine ourselves and our churches with...