In the last article for Church Health Today I looked at the first three stages in the arduous task of finding breakout churches in America. My research team and I compared thirteen "breakout churches" of our study with a carefully selected control group of churches that failed to make the leap. In this article we will look at the final two stages in the process of finding and examining these churches to see what happened in the "chrysalis factor."

Stage Four: Discover the Chrysalis Factor

My first high school biology teacher was Mary Carlson. Mrs. Carlson was an outstanding teacher who could make the sciences fascinating. I remember one of her lectures on caterpillars becoming butterflies. While I recall few of the details of the process, I do remember that she called the transition "one of the great miracles of nature."

The chrysalis is the pupa of a butterfly encased in a cocoon. It is the former caterpillar and the future butterfly. It is the stage when that wormlike, slow-moving larva called a caterpillar becomes a beautiful, free-flying butterfly.

We sought to discover the chrysalis factor in the breakout churches. What took place when a church moved from mediocrity to greatness? What factors could we isolate that were unique to the breakout churches?

Such was our quest: to identify as clearly as possible the events, patterns, plans, strategies, crises, and other factors that took place when a church made the transition to greatness.

We did not limit the research to mere data. Our research included volumes of interviews with pastors, church staff and laypeople in the churches. Where we could find outside information, we categorized and sorted the articles or books according to specific areas in the chrysalis factor.

During each step of the process we kept asking, "What is the chrysalis factor?" What is taking place in these breakout churches in the transition? What is taking place in these churches that is not taking place in the comparison churches? In an attempt to answer these questions we started with the findings outlined by Jim Collins in "Good to Great," and the resulting book, "Breakout Churches," was patterned on those ideas.

We had something of an advantage in this search in that we thought the earlier research of Collins would provide some guidelines and insights. Such was the case. The process used by Collins' team was very helpful in our quest.

We were particularly struck in chapter 1 of "Good to Great" by how Collins captured readers' interest by highlighting not just what his team found, but also what they did not find—which in a tip of the hat to Sherlock Holmes he called "dogs that did not bark."

Similarly, we think you may be as fascinated as we were to discover what was not present in churches that moved to greatness. Look at a few examples:

• The pastor involved in the transition was not leading by the sheer force of a charismatic personality. Indeed a surprising modesty typified most of these leaders.
• The breakout churches were surprisingly slow in adopting new methodologies and latching on to the latest and hottest trends in the national church scene.
• A deliberately created and clearly articulated vision statement had little or nothing to do with the breakout to greatness. The comparison churches were just as likely to have a vision statement as the others.
• The location of the church, by region of the country or demographic patterns in the community, was not a factor in the breakout process.
• The name of the church and any decision to remove or keep the denominational identity was not a factor in breaking out.
• The development of a strategic plan was just as likely to take place in the comparison churches as in the breakout churches. (While we see merit in developing strategies, we do not see this process as part of the chrysalis factor.)
• The breakout churches were conservative theologically, but the comparison churches were almost as conservative. Our earlier studies confirmed the importance of clear doctrine in evangelistic churches, but doctrine alone does not move churches to greatness.

Stage Five: Apply what we learned

The research team was motivated by much more than curiosity and intellectual stimulation. We wanted not only to find out what happens to churches that move to greatness, under the sovereignty of God, but also to apply what we learned for the benefit of the kingdom and other churches.

In the pages of "Breakout Churches," you can find illustrations and explanations of the breakout progression. Nearly all of the principles are very similar at times to Collins' "Good to Great."

We expected similarities since we patterned our research on his work. But there are also some departures from the "Good to Great" conclusions. Churches are quite different from any other kinds of organizations, including other nonprofit entities. Those differences, we believe, account for some of the divergent conclusions.

Thom S. Rainer, Ph.D., is president of Church Central Associates LLC and founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Rainer's book "Breakout Churches" (Zondervan) is available on ChurchCentral.com and at most Christian retailers.