Lyle Schaller, Preeminent Church Consultant, Dies at 91

No one may have advised more churches in the 20th century. Mine was one.

Because he was born April 19, 1923, and reached retirement age in the last century, he is best known to America’s senior church leaders. Schaller outlived many of those whom he most influenced, dying on March 18, 2015, at the age of 91.

Lyle certainly was a major influence in my life and ministry. And a long time personal friend. When he was at the peak of his career we led conferences together, co-authored an audiobook for Abingdon Press (The Best Is Yet to Come: For Churches Ready To Change) and made the dedication pages of each others’ books. After his retirement, we exchanged letters (he wasn’t much into computers) and every year Charleen and I went to visit Lyle and Agnes in their Naperville, Illinois, and Oklahoma City homes. We wanted them to know that they were important to us long after the spotlight of fame moved to others on different stages. Keep reading

I first discovered the writings of Lyle Schaller in the mid-1980s on a visit to the New Orleans Baptist Seminary Bookstore. When my family and I came here to western Kentucky for holidays, I would make a special trip to Nashville to pick up his latest book at the Cokesbury Bookstore. Schaller influenced my thinking in a number of areas--affinity networks, church attendance, church planting, church revitalization, new member assimilation, and small membership churches to name a few of these areas.  

Photo credit: Christianity Today