The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church’s
Spectators Into Active Participants
Book Review
Scott Thumma and Warren Bird have recently published another work
for the Leadership Network group that appears to be just in time for
most of our American churches. This is a great resource that provides
an important service to the local church, at a time when it is certainly
needed. This book will enable church leaders to strengthen their
communities, and to implement a more effective style of leadership.
Bill Easum president of 21st Century Strategies and church health
author says: “If you're discontent with 20 percent of your flock
participating in spiritual development and 80 percent being spectators
on the sideline, you need to read this book over and over. It will show
you surprising yet practical ways to draw the marginal 80 percent into
ministry and spiritual development. The extensive research alone is
worth purchasing this book.” The authors do a great job of clearly
describing the problem, and more significantly offering concrete and
helpful ways to address the issue of church involvement. The content
within this book is stimulating and challenging. As a church planter,
pastor, association missionary and author, I found that the allencompassing research and logical examples within this resource
useful in both contemporary and traditional ministry settings. Right
here in central Florida the shocking realities outlined within this book
give readers an opportunity to reflect on his leadership style and
practices.
The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into
Active Participants goes on to describe the characteristics of the
committed 20 percent and the characteristics of the less-committed 80
percent. Because the causes of non-involvement are complex and
differ from church to church, the authors advocate creating a listening
team to listen to the 80 percent and a learning team to learn from
them. They then suggest a range of ways, starting with prayer, in
which you can seek to address the problems and reach towards
spiritual maturity for 100 percent of your congregation.
The author’s premise is posed in a question: “How can you shift
more of your church members from sitting to serving, from
being spectators to engaging more deeply? Would doing so
help more people to grow and develop spiritually?”
Gary L. McIntosh, professor of Christian ministry and leadership,
Talbot School of Theology, Biola University remarks: “Who is not
interested in seeing more people involved in their church? Then place
The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church's Spectators into
Active Participants at the top of your reading list. Employing fresh
research, authors Scott Thumma and Warren Bird offer insights that
will empower your work with your less-active people.”
The Other 80 Percent is a practical guide for church leaders written
by respected researcher Scott Thumma and noted author Warren Bird.
The authors draw upon new research across a broad range of
Protestant attenders and churches of all sizes. They have listened to
thousands of church members' voices to discern what motivates lessconnected, inactive members to move toward a life of discipleship and
of living out the faith in community. The authors explore societal
norms influencing involvement and identify distinctive qualities of
churches that shape patterns of better volunteer participation. They
also examine the sometimes faulty and limiting perspectives leaders
have about ways to increase involvement.
The book proposes practical steps to develop listening and learning
teams to assist clergy in uncovering membership patterns, cultural
norms, and leadership blind spots common to Evangelical and mainline
congregations alike.
The Other 80 Percent includes a wealth of creative ideas that can
expand what it means for people to engage more fully with their
church. Thumma and Bird reinforce the idea that spiritual growth is
directly related to participation and involvement and that spiritual
nurturance of the entire congregation should be at the heart of this
effort.
In a typical church 20 percent of the people does 80 percent of the
church work, but that does not mean that all of your focus should be
on the 20 percent. In business you can often maximize profits by
concentrating your energies on the top 20 percent of your clients, but
the biblical standard for kingdom ventures if different.
The authors' research reveals that the general trend to lack of
participation in the life of a church is attributable to a number of
causes:
 Individualism and consumerism have infected the sheep
and made them less willing to follow.
 Some Christians have experienced disappointment with the
church as they know it, and now want a life of faith apart
from the church.
 Church leaders are partly to blame for setting expectations
to low and exercising leadership poorly.
 The problem is partly an organizational one, requiring
rethinking of the activities of volunteering and committee
work.
 The problem is also a spiritual problem, arising from a lack
of understanding of what it means to be a follower of
Jesus.
Pick this book up right away, read it as soon as possible, and begin
putting it into practice immediately. I found the book very helpful, and
highly recommend it to all our church leaders around central Florida.