Unveiling the Concept of Church Growth

UNVEILING THE CONCEPT OF CHURCH GROWTH
BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES OR MISSIONARY STRATEGIES?

BY
REV DAIRO, AFOLORUNSO OLALEKAN PhD
DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
OLABISI ONABANJO UNIVERSITY
AGO- IWOYE [e-mail] 08034001020

Being a lecture delivered at Methodist Theological Institute, Shagamu, on the 21st of June, 2013 by 11.00 am.

Unveiling the Concept of Church Growth
Biblical Principles or Missionary Strategies
Introduction
Tremendous Church Growth is going on in the world today. We live in the age of most rapid forward advantage of Christianity that history has ever known. As the years go by, the proportion of Christians to non-Christians is gradually increasing, especially in the Third World.
Today the Church Growth Movement is recognised as one of the most influential movements of the 1970’s. At many major theological institutions it is now established as a discrete academic field of study. It has strong sociological and anthropological foundations, as well as an ongoing emphasis on being a pragmatic rather than a purely theoretical discipline (Moreau 2008:2, 3).
Since the advent of the modern Church Growth Movement - which dates from the 1950’s - pastors and local churches have been under great pressure to do something to facilitate church growth. The movement was founded primarily by two people, independently of each other, namely, Donald McGavran and Robert Schuller. Donald McGavran wrote The Bridges of God in 1955, which, according to C. Peter Wagner, launched the Church Growth Movement. Rick Warren cites McGavran‘s book as being influential early in his ministry. About the same time Robert Schuller started his ministry in California, which became the Crystal Cathedral. Later, in 1970, Schuller founded the Robert Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership, where he has trained many key leaders in the Church Growth Movement including Bill Hybels and Rick Warren. It is accurate to say that McGavran is the

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