Book of the Week: Evaluating the Church Growth Movement

This week’s book of the week is entitled Evaluating the Church Growth Movement.  Edited by Gary McIntosh and Paul Engle, they gather five differing views on the Church Growth Movement.  Many churchgoers are probably unaware that great controversy exists on whether or not churches should try new things or incorporate new methods in order to see a greater harvest.  This book puts five different perspectives together on the present church growth movement.

Top 5 Thoughts:

  1. McGavran’s simple statement is critical for one to understand the Church Growth Movement: “Church Growth is simply the expected result of being obedient to the Great Commission” (15).
  2. Towns’ and Falwell’s mission for Liberty University was daunting yet biblical.  He stated they wanted to train pastors “who would endeavor to build superaggressive churches that would saturate their area with the gospel and capture their towns for Christ” (38).
  3. Van Engen raised a great point when criticizing proponents of the Church Growth Movement solely emphasizing on Caucasian congregations in the suburbs.  America is made up of more than solely that dynamic (56).
  4. Snyder formulated a valid argument against Towns by stating that many churches view the Great Commission merely to growing their individual church versus growing the Kingdom of God (63).
  5. Snyder’s approach for a church to “build a balanced ecology of worship, community, and witness” is simple and biblical (227).